The Christmas 1915 edition of the school magazine, Chronicles, the Headmaster reported that, ‘Our youngest soldier has died of wounds. Andrew Fraser, of the 7th City of London, left the Upper Fourth to join the Army last April. He was then fifteen years and a few days old. He should not have gone, for this is not a boy’s game. He would go, and he played a man’s part. Ave atque vale (I salute you and farewell).’
Born on 14th March 1900, Andrew was baptised in the non-conformist Presbyterian church in Camberwell on 29th April 1900. He was the second son of Alexander and Janet Fraser. His father worked as a travelling salesman for a printing firm. By 1911, he was living with his brother, Duncan, and two sisters, Margaret and Rachel in Toronto Road in Ilford. Duncan, also a former pupil at Ilford County High School (1908-12), served in London Rifle Brigade and survived the war.
His school record reveals that he had attended Christchurch Elementary school and that upon leaving school he entered the Royal Fusiliers 7th London (Territorial Force) and was Killed in Action in September 1915.
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.