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John Fraser (British Army officer, born 1896)

Recipient of the George Cross

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ6218574
Source-derived summary

Major John Alexander Fraser, (Chinese: 傅瑞憲, 12 February 1896 – 29 October 1943) was a British colonial officer who was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest British Commonwealth award for bravery out of combat, for his "magnificent conduct" and "outstanding courage" in resisting Japanese torture during the Second World War.

First World War

Born in Edinburgh in 1896, and educated at Trinity Academy and the University of Edinburgh, Fraser was commissioned into the Royal Scots Fusiliers during the First World War. He served as a machine gun officer and won the Military Cross (MC) in 1916. The MC was announced in the London Gazette on 20 October 1916, and the citation read:

Temp. 2nd Lt. John Alexander Fraser, R. Sc. Fus.

For conspicuous gallantry during operations. When the enemy was working round the position, he took his machine-guns up to a position in the open in a shell-hole. Here he remained for four hours, and materially assisted, first in checking, and then in stopping the enemy's attack.

Editorial summary

“John Fraser (British Army officer, born 1896)” enters the record as recipient of the George Cross. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Fraser and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1896, 1943, 1916—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1896-02-12. Its strongest next move is a source search built around John, Fraser and British.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“John Fraser (British Army officer, born 1896)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, John, Fraser and British provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6218574. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1943 and 1916.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from John Fraser (British Army officer, born 1896)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.