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Does anyone know where Holyrood Terrace was in Edinburgh?

A Mrs Fraser who lived there in 1927 lost five sons in the Royal Scots during the war.

Thanks

Adam

Hi Adam,

Holyrood Terrace was off Abbeyhill, opposite the cul-de-sac at the north entrance to Holyrood Palace. It looks like the (1970's?) flats in Abbeyhill and Abbeyhill Crescent are on that site now.

See http://www.nls.uk/maps/townplans/edinburgh500_ne.html
View maps III.8.8 and III.8.7 on the south edge of that index page.

All the best,

AndrewP

Andrew

That's a great resource. I know where it was now.

Many thanks

Adam

Just a little follow up. Further invesigations make it look likely that Mrs Fraser only lost fours sons during the war (two in the Royal Scots and two in the Gordon Highlanders). It looks like the fifth son may have died in Australia, possibly in a lunatic assylum. Our thinking at the moment is that she pretended the son in Australia had died during the war rather than publicly admit the truth about his mental illness.

A sad tale made even more tragic.

Adam

Hello Adam,

There’s mention of Mrs. Fraser in these two books:

“The Silence of Memory: Armistice Day, 1919-1946” http://books.google.com/books?id=VvRmAA ... CCgQ6AEwAA

“Blighty: British Society in the Era of the Great War” http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22frase ... ccc5d0ee68

I can’t access the story but there also appears to be something in The Scotsman on 12th November with possibly follow-ups on 15th and 28th November.
http://archive.scotsman.com/search.cfm? ... tyType=all

Interesting story,
Alan

Alan

Many thanks for the update. Unfortunately the other two 'Scotsman' articles after the 12th aren't connected to Mrs Fraser.

It looks like "the Silence of memory" uses the 'Scotsman' article of the 12th. I'll see if the "Blighty" book has any other details but I suspect it will have taken the information from the 'Scotsman' too.

I am going to have a look at the two local Edinburgh papers from the time to see if I can find anything else out. However it looks like Mrs Fraser may have been telling untruths about how many sons died, which regiments they served in and where they served so I don't know how useful they would be.

It's hard to be too unkind to Mrs Fraser who may have got herself into an awkward situation and didn't know how to get out of it. Whatever her actions, she had still lost five sons. Four killed in the war and a fifth in an institution on the other side of the world.

Adam

It's probably worth detailing the fours sons who died. Jim Grant on the Scottish War memorial Project has identified the sons:

Donald b Cannongate , e Edinburgh ( Service file)
Name: FRASER
Initials: D
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment/Service: Royal Scots
Unit Text: 16th Bn.
Age: 25
Date of Death: 01/07/1916
Service No: 19211
Additional information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Fraser, of 7, Holyrood Terrace, Edinburgh.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. O. 7.
Cemetery: GORDON DUMP CEMETERY, OVILLERS-LA BOISSELLE

Homer b Edinburgh, e & r Leith
Name: FRASER
Initials: H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment/Service: Royal Scots
Unit Text: 9th Bn.
Date of Death: 23/04/1917
Service No: 352482
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: II. G. 26.
Cemetery: BROWN'S COPSE CEMETERY, ROEUX

Henry b Cannongate, e Leith
Name: FRASER
Initials: H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Corporal
Regiment/Service: Gordon Highlanders
Unit Text: 8th/10th Bn.
Date of Death: 31/07/1917
Service No: S/18013
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. H. 13.
Cemetery: WHITE HOUSE CEMETERY, ST. JEAN-LES-YPRES

James b Cannongate, e Edinburgh
Name: FRASER, JAMES
Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Gordon Highlanders
Unit Text: 2nd Bn.
Date of Death: 29/10/1914
Service No: 768
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 38.
Memorial: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

The fifth son in Australia was Alexander Fraser. He served in the AIF for one month in 1916 but was discharged as medically unfit for "Mental Deficiency". He was still alive in a hospital in September 1920.

Regards

Adam

Hello Adam,

I had a look at Alexander Fraser’s AIF file http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/deta ... no=4033552 When he enlisted in Sydney in 1916 he gave his address as State Hospital, Rookwood, which was actually Rookwood Asylum and State Hospital. This didn’t seem to worry the Army, the MO thought he was A1, and they took him in. A month or more later they discharged him partly for reasons of insanity. Four years later he’s 2,000 miles away and a patient in Claremont Asylum in Western Australia.

All the best,
Alan

Alan

Many thanks for the extra information. Interesting to see that he was in an asylum before he enlisted and that the doctor was still happy to pass him.

This is probably a question for the Australian section but how would I go about finding out when he died? I'm interested to find out if he had died by 1927. I've never looked into Australian registered deaths so it's a complete mystery to me.

Thanks

Adam

Hello Adam,

Each individual Australian state has its own BMD system and there is no central authority. Some states have good online systems and others do not, and information on certificates varies. http://www.jaunay.com/bdm.html

The links on this page will get you to any historical online indexes, and there’s much more within the site about Australian research. Certificates tend to be expensive and information about people who die far from family is more likely to be incomplete. http://www.coraweb.com.au/bdmindex.htm

If he did die early and his problem was one that kept him confined you might expect a death in Western Australia. (Although he managed his trip west between 1916 and 1920) If you check the WA index you’ll see a 1921 death without parent’s names and one much later in 1963 that almost fits the bill. http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au/_apps/pi ... -5779-1388

Claremont is a suburb of Perth. Here’s a cemetery search, but I don’t know how complete it is. http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/nameSearch.html The 1921 burial, age 0, may be an infant? There’s a 1920 birth on the BDM site. The 1963 burial appears to be RC religion.

Not much help,
Alan