Can you help find Roderick and Alexander?

Roderick John Fraser was born in 1889 in Brunswick, Victoria and his younger brother Alexander Gregory Fraser (Alick) followed in 1891 at Yarraville, Victoria. Their sister, Nellie Gertrude, was born in 1893. They were the children of Roderick Robert Fraser III (1862-1930) and Catherine (Kate) Wright (1867-1941). Roderick was born in Rosskeen, Ross-shire Scotland, and he worked as a barber. Kate was born in Bealiba Vic.

Her father was from Cheshire, England and mother from County Down, Ireland. The Fraser family spent their early years in Victoria before moving to Queensland, where both boys attended the North Bundaberg State School. Later, Kate and the children returned to Victoria, settling in St Kilda. It is likely that their parents had separated, as their father remained in Queensland and later remarried.

After their schooling, Roderick became a carpenter, while Alick worked as a blacksmith.

Roderick was the first to enlist, 6 July 1915 at Melbourne. He was 25 years old. After a short period of initial training with the 5th Battalion, he embarked for Egypt from Melbourne on 11 October 1915 aboard HMAT Nestor. Alick followed his older brother into the AIF, enlisting on 10 February 1916 at Prahran when he was 24. He was assigned to the 57th Battalion and embarked for Egypt on 4 April 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides.

With the ‘doubling of the AIF’ as it expanded from two infantry divisions to five, major reorganisations were underway at the 40,000-man training camp at Tel-el-Kebir, about 110 km northeast of Cairo. Roderick was reassigned to the15th Brigade’s 59th Battalion and Alick to the 60th. Roughly half of the soldiers in these new battalions were Gallipoli veterans, mostly Victorians, and the other half were fresh reinforcements from Australia. With both of them in the same brigade, it is likely they were able to meet up at some time while in Egypt.

Roderick’s unit was inspected by H.R.H the Prince of Wales in mid-March, after which he had a two+ day, 50 km march in thermometer-bursting heat across the Egyptian sands from Tel el Kebir to Ferry Post, near the Suez Canal. Prior to marching, only ½ pint of water per bottle was available.

Source: AWM4 23/15/1 15th Brigade War Diaries Feb-Mar 1916 p6

It was not all work, however. A 5th Division Sports Championship was held on 14 June, which was won the by the brothers’ 15th Brigade. The very next day they began preparations for heading to the Western Front. Both brothers departed aboard the Kinfauns Castle from Alexandria on 18 June 1916. After a brief stop in Malta, they disembarked at 7.00 AM in Marseilles on 29 June. By 10.00 PM they were on a train headed for Steenbeque, 35 km from Fleurbaix in northern France, arriving on 2 July.

This area near Fleurbaix was known as the “Nursery Sector” – a supposedly relatively quiet area where inexperienced Allied troops could learn the harsh realities of Western Front trench warfare against the Germans. But the quiet times and the training period did not last long. Training continued, but with a higher sense of urgency, and it now included the use of gas masks and learning to deal with the effects of large shells. The move to the front continued. On 9 July they were in Sailly sur la Lys, just 1000 yards from the trenches. Alick was into the trenches for the first time on 14 July.

The battle plan had the 15th Brigade located just to the left of the British Army. The 59th and 60th Battalions were to be the lead units for this area of the Australian attack, with the 58th and 57th as the ‘third and fourth’ battalions, in reserve. The main objective for the 15th Brigade was to take the trenches to the left of a heavily armed, elevated German defensive position, the ‘Sugar Loaf’, which dominated the front lines. If the Sugar Loaf could not be taken, the other battalions would be subjected to murderous enfilade fire from the machine-guns and counterattacks from that direction.

As they advanced, they were to link up with the 54th Battalion and the British on their flanks. The main attack against the Sugar Loaf position was planned for 17 July, but it was delayed due to bad weather. On 19 July, Zero Hour for advancing from their front-line trenches was to be 5.45 PM, but the Germans knew this attack was coming and were well-prepared. They opened a massive artillery bombardment on the Australians at 5.15 PM, causing chaos and many casualties. A fellow soldier, Bill Boyce (3022, 15th Brigade, 58th), summed the situation up well, “What have I let myself in for?”

Source: Australian War Memorial Collection C386815

The attack on the German lines began at 5.45 PM on the 19th, going over their parapet in four waves at 5 minute intervals, but then laid down to wait for the support bombardment to end at 6.00 PM. There was immediate and intense fire from rifles and the Sugar Loaf machine guns. As documented in the messages sent back to HQ just after the attacks began:

The British 184th Brigade just to the right of the 59th met with the same resistance, but at 8.00 PM they got orders that they would not continue with the attacks that night. However, the salient between the troops limited communications, leaving the Australians to continue without British support from their now exposed right flank. Official reports indicate advances were limited, but individual reports suggest that some did reach the German parapet. However, with little support being available they had to drop back. The attack was ended early on the morning of the 20th.

At roll call, out of a battalion of about 1000 soldiers each, only 94 of the 59th and 106 of the 60th reported in. The initial toll on the 59th was 26 killed or died of wounds, 394 were wounded and 274 were missing – 694 soldiers. Ultimately, 334 soldiers were killed in action or died from their wounds from this battle. 239 soldiers were unidentified. For the 60th, the final impact of the battle was that 395 soldiers were killed or died of wounds, of which 315 were not able to be identified.

To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean, Australia’s official war historian, attended the battlefield two and half years later, he observed a large quantity of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield.

The days and months following the Battle of Fromelles were filled with anguish for Kate Fraser, with both of her sons reported as missing. The Red Cross Wounded and Missing witness statements in October 1916 contain statements suggesting each may have been seen alive after the battle, but these reports were later found to be mistaken identities (below), only deepening the family’s uncertainty and grief.

Kate’s ordeal was described in the 29 December 1917 The Herald:

A year after the battle, Courts of Enquiry held in the field finally declared both sons as killed in action on the night of 19 July 1916. Roderick was 26 years old, Alick was 25. Neither brother was ever recovered from the battlefield. Their names are etched on the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial at Fromelles, just a few panels apart – Roderick on Panel 16 and Alick on Panel 20. For their mother, these stone inscriptions became their graves.

Their sister Nellie carried the memory of her brothers for the rest of her life. In August 1918, she married Mr Alexander Horner (late A.I.F.), a solemn milestone that her brothers never lived to see. Nellie had a son Alexander and two daughters. Their mother published notices of remembrance in Melbourne newspapers. One in The Argus read simply:

For Kate, the grief of Fromelles never ended. Her two boys, the carpenter and the blacksmith, rest together in name only, at VC corner, remembered side by side forever.

After the battle, the Germans recovered 250 Australian soldiers and placed them in a burial pit at Pheasant Wood. This grave was discovered in 2008 and since then efforts have been underway to identify these soldiers by DNA testing from family members. As of 2024, 180 of the soldiers have been identified, including one of the 239 unidentified soldiers from the 59th Battalion and two of the 315 unidentified soldiers from the 60th.

We welcome all branches of the family to come forward to donate DNA to help with the brothers’ identifications. We hope that one day Roderick and Alick will be named and honoured with a known grave.
If you know anything of Roderick or Alick’s family contacts in Australia, England, Ireland or Scotland, please contact the Fromelles Association.
Please visit Fromelles.info to follow the ongoing identification project and the brothers’ story.