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Peter Fraser (classicist)

British historian (1918-2007)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ14945552
Source-derived summary

Peter Marshall Fraser, (6 April 1918 – 15 September 2007) was a classical scholar and historian specialising in the Hellenistic age of Greece. He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and acting Warden of the college from 1985 to 1987. He served as Director of the British School at Athens from 1968 to 1971.

Early life

Fraser was born on 6 April 1918. He was brought up in Carshalton, Surrey. He was educated at the City of London School, boys' private day school in the City of London, England. He won a classical scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford where he studied for mods the first part of Literae Humaniores. His studies were interrupted by his military service in World War II. He returned to Oxford after the war. He wrote a thesis on Hellenistic Rhodes, which he entered for and won the prestigious Conington Prize.

Military service

With World War II interrupting his studies, Fraser joined the Seaforth Highlanders, British Army in 1941.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Peter Fraser (classicist)” as british historian (1918-2007). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Peter, Fraser and classicist.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1918, 2007, 1985, 1987—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1918-04-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Peter, Fraser and classicist providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Peter Fraser (classicist)”, the useful work is to connect “british historian (1918-2007)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14945552. VIAF identifies the subject as 267505871. The Library of Congress control number is n82048719. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 2007, 1985 and 1987.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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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  • Building a first chronology
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

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  2. Expand the search: follow Peter Fraser (classicist) primary sources, Peter Fraser (classicist) archive and Peter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Peter Fraser (classicist)” 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.