William Archibald Kenneth Fraser


William Archibald Kenneth Fraser, was an officer in the British Indian Army during the First and Second World Wars.

Military career

Born in British India, Fraser was the son of Colonel James Fraser of the Royal Army Medical Corps and Susan Alberta Graves of County Waterford. His father died in 1899 and the family returned to Ireland, where he was educated in Dublin. He attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and then joined the Indian Army in 1905. He served with the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and 16th The Queen's Lancers on the Western Front during the First World War, taking part in the Great Retreat in August 1914, the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and the Battle of Arras in April 1917.
Fraser became Commanding Officer of the South Persia Rifles in 1919, Assistant Quartermaster General in 1920, and Inspector General of the South Persia Rifles later that year. He went on to be military attaché in Kabul in 1922, military attaché in Teheran in 1924 and military Secretary to the Governor of Bengal in 1930. He was made Commandant of 12th Cavalry and Commander of the Jubbulpore Brigade in 1935, a General Staff Officer Grade 1 at Lahore District in 1936 and Commander of the Mhow Brigade in 1937.
Fraser served in the Second World War and, having been promoted to major general on 26 December 1940, he became Commander of the 10th Indian Infantry Division on 15 January 1941.
During the Anglo-Iraqi War in 1941, the ground forces from India that landed in Basra were initially part of an operation codenamed Operation Sabine and, as a result, the force itself was known as Sabine Force. Fraser, commander of the 10th Indian Infantry Division, arrived in Basra on 18 April with his headquarters, one brigade of infantry and a regiment of artillery and assumed command of all ground forces in the Kingdom of Iraq. The name Iraqforce replaced Sabine Force and, as force levels built up, Fraser was succeeded as commander of Iraqforce on 8 May by a more senior commander,Lieutenant General [Edward Quinan. On 16 May, having fallen sick, Fraser was replaced as commander of the 10th Indian Infantry Division by Major General William Slim. Fraser retired on 1 June 1941.
Fraser was then re-employed by the British Army in the rank of colonel from 18 December 1941 until November 1945 as the military attaché in Teheran; he was restored to the rank of major general on retiring once again.

Honours and Decorations

Fraser married in 1920 Cicely Annie Bill, widow of John Hugo Hepburn Bill of the Indian Civil Service, daughter of Major Robert W. Bill and had one daughter, born 27 November 1923.

External references