Kate Fraser

Miss Kate Fraser

Nurse, Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), British Red Cross

Date of Birth: Quarter 2, 1876
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon

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Miss Kate Fraser of Brimley, Teignmouth, Devon.

Kate's Mother was Mary Fraser (née Geake born c. 1843 in Launceston, Cornwall, her father was Mathew Fraser (born c. 1843 Honiton, Devon). Her family owned a drapers business.¹

Kate was born in Teignmouth in the second quarter of 1876.

Kate's brothers and sisters who died before she was born

1875 was a sad year for the family as three of the youngest chidren died.

There is a gravestone in Teignmouth Cemetery with the following inscription:

"Donald Fraser who died March 25th 1875 aged 9 months
and Harry Fraser died March 13th 1875 aged 2 years and 5 months, also Mary Gardner Fraser died December 13th 1875 aged 8 months,

Beloved children of Matthew and Mary Fraser also Alice and Walter who died in infancy and Jane Northey age 72, age 29 years also Ellen. "

Gravestone Teignmouth Cemetery. Inscription: Mary the beloved wife of Matthew Fraser died April 20th 1913 aged 70 years also of Matthew Fraser J.P. died June 28th 1927 aged 85 years

In 1891, Kate's had two brothers Herbert aged 9 and Alexander 6, they were at home with their parents at 10, Wellington Street, Teignmouth, Devon.²

At this time Kate was attending 'Milton Mount College', Gravesend, an educational institution for the daughters of Congregational ministers (other pupils were also accepted)^.2

In 1911, Kate was living with her parents, Matthew and Mary, and brother Alexander. They had two servants (a cook and a housemaid) living with them. Kate and Alexander were both partners in the family drapery business.³

Kate's brothers Herbert and Alexander both served in WW1 as Gunners in the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). They were posted to the 201st Seige Battery⁴ and left Devonport for Alexandia, Egypt on Christmas Day 1916.⁶ (Alex later qualified as a Signaller). Both men survived the war.

Kate Fraser was engaged with the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) as a Nurse from October 1914 to March 1915. During that time she worked part-time at the Dawlish V.A. Hospital and Belgian Nursing Home for 768 hours.

Victoria Hall V.A. Hospital and Belgian Nursing Home, Dawlish

Kate was a Nurse at the Dawlish V.A. Hospital.⁷

Germany declared war on France in WW1, and to attack France whilst avoiding French fortifications the German Army crossed Belgium, they did so by force and invaded Belgium on August 4th 1914.

Almost 9,000 Belgian civilians were deliberately killed by the Germans. An estimated 1.5 million Beglian civilians left their country and 150,000 of those people sought refuge Britain.

Many of the soldiers of Belgium's small army were injured or killed and 25,000 wounded men came to Britain to convalesce.

Fugitives from Antwerp following the occupation of the city on 10 October by German forces.© IWM (HU 52449)

The patients and refugees were shipped across the Channel and were allocated housing in towns and villages including Teignmouth, Shaldon and Dawlish.

The Dawlish V.A. Hospital and Belgian Nursing Home was opened in the Dawlish Victoria Hall to help treat the Belgian refugees.

Approximately 35 people from the local area became engaged with the Voluntary Aid Detachment and worked at the hospital as Nurses and in other supportive roles.

In 1915 a new hospital was opened in Dawlish and the Victoria Hall VA Hospital closed.

More about the Belgian refugees in Teignmouth and Shaldon

"hundreds of thousands of refugees, their goods on barrows and hand-carts and perambulators and wagons, moving with infinite slowness out into the night, two unending lines of them, the old men mostly weeping, the women with hard drawn faces, the children playing or crying or sleeping.

That's what Belgium is now: the country where three civilians have been killed for every one soldier… It's queer to think one has been a witness of one of the greatest crimes of history. Has ever a nation been treated like that? And how can such a stain be wiped out?"

Rupert Brooke, Poet describing the scene in a letter home
(He saw action near Antwerp)