Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born Sidney Youseman in 1885 at Cliffe on the Hoo Peninsula, Kent, England to John James Youseman and his wife Isabel Murray Fraser, William Arthur Fraser as he was later known, was the second oldest of their ten children.

He had a difficult upbringing, with his father deserting the family when he was just eleven. The children were raised by their mother, and lived for several years in the Strood Workhouse accomodation for the poor. Sidney left the family and found his own way in 1898 at 13 years of age.

After working as a cement labourer in Cliffe, Sidney Youseman joined the Royal Navy. An able-bodied seaman on HMS Powerful, he jumped ship at Sydney in August 1907. Wanted for desertion, he changed his name to William Arthur Fraser, using his mother's maiden name, and appears to have avoided apprehension. His adopted christian names seem to derive from an associate he worked and lived with at Cliffe. Despite the name change, he did use both 'Sid' and 'Bill' as abbreviated first names at various times.

Enlisting in the First AIF at Brisbane in December 1915, he was subsequently posted to the 41st Battalion and promoted to Sergeant. In May 1916, just two weeks before embarking for the front, he married Nellie Jane Florence Smith at Fortitude Valley.

He went to France with the 41st Battalion in November 1916 before moving to Belgium. Sergeant Fraser was involved in the supporting role the battalion undertook at Messines on 7 June 1917. After the action at Messines, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant and from late July was involved in the defence of the new front line near Warneton in France. Enduring continual rain, flooded trenches and heavy shelling, many of the battalion's platoons dwindled from 35 to less than ten. Second Lieutenant Fraser suffered debility as a result of this action and was rested for three weeks, before rejoining the 41st in late September 1917 - just in time for Passchendaele.

He played an important role in the capture of the objectives of the 41st Battalion at Broodseinde Ridge, Belgium on 4 October 1917. The assault commenced at 6.00 am in steady rain and desultry shell-fire from the enemy, but by 9.30 am all four objectives had been secured. German machine gunners resisted the onslaught secure in their pillboxes. Historian CEW Bean records in the Volume 4 of the Official History that “Another pillbox was fired on with rifle grenades and then rushed by Lieutenant Fraser (41st) who thus set free the checked troops.”

For his gallantry at Broodseinde, where he captured a machine gun post killing ten of the enemy and taking twenty prisoner, Second Lieutenant Fraser was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. 

During leave in England, he received his Distinguished Service Order from the King at Buckingham Palace on 19 December 1917.

Promoted to Lieutenant and subsequently appointed temporary Captain, he was transferred to Dunsterforce in the Caucasus in January 1918. Dunsterforce was made up of just under 1,000 Australian, New Zealand, British, and Canadian troops accompanied by armoured cars. Its mission  to gather information, train and command local forces, and prevent the spread of German propaganda. Later it was was told to take and protect the Baku oil fields on the Caspian Sea. After a brutal short seige against advancing Turkish forces it was withdrawn in September 1918. Captain Fraser then joined McCarthy's Irregulars before transferring to the North Persia (Norper) Force .

Relinquishing his temporary Captain rank, but granted Honorary Captain status in the AIF, Lieutenant William Fraser returned to Australia in early 1919. He was discharged in May 1919.

Whilst overseas his first son was born in 1917. In the years immediately after the war, Bill Fraser and his wife were to have two more children. However, he subsequently suffered some personal health challenges, being admitted to Callen Park Mental Hospital in the late 1920s. He returned his war medals and certificates to the military authorities during this time, citing that they are only for 'Heroes and Men'. It took time, but in 1942 Bill Fraser requested the return of his medals - they were duly returned.

His oldest son, Private John Murray Fraser served with the Australian Postal Corps during World War II whilst his youngest son, Flight Lieutenant Cuthbert Leonard Fraser served with the RAAF. 

Lieutenant William Arthur Fraser DSO, late 41st Battalion AIF, died at Concord Repatriation General Hospital in 1949 - he was 64. His wife, Nellie and three children survived him.