Angus was born in 1869 the sixth child of Thomas and Ann Fraser or Inverness Scotland. Virtually nothing is currently known about his childhood. It is believed that he went to Merkinch School.
It is also believed that his future wife, Lizzie MacKay was a friend of Angus' sister Kate, although Kate would have been at least 10 years her senior.
Contrary to some beliefs, he joined the army several years before Lizzie married
William Munro, in fact Lizzie would have been only 12 when he signed up.
His pay book (see
picture) shows that he joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the 19th August 1886, and
states his age as 19 years and 6 months. Although obviously going by the dates, he
could have only been 17 years old at the most.
He signed up for 7 years in the army and 5 years in the reserve. It appears that his recruitment pay was £8-1s-9d and his service number 1837.
He is described as 5 feet 61/8 inches tall with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. It appears that he also had several tattoo marks on his arms.
His first pay for the month of August ( after deductions ) was 2 1/2d ie: twopence halfpenny which rose to 1/6d in October but fell to a more normal 'NIL" by November. He embarked to the East Indies on October 7th, 1887 and served in India until at least the entry in his pay book marked Armritsar March 1894 - pay 'NIL'.
We
know very little of the next stage of his life although his daughter Ann always
claimed that he was at the Relief of Mafeking in May 1900 in the Boer War.
This would just fit with his 5 years reserve service following his 1894 service
ending in India.
He eventually returned to Inverness, living at Foyers, on the south bank of Loch Ness and continued his trade as a stone mason. He met Lizzie and following her return from Muir of Ord they married on 30th April, 1908. Lizzie already had 8 children by Munro.
Angus Fraser married Lizzie Munro at 26
Madras Street on the 30th April 1909, when Angus was 40 years of age and Lizzie was 36.
Although he was a journeyman stonemason, the highlands suffered chronic economic
depression and Angus was unable to support the family. Virtually destitute
Lizzie was forced to simply walk away from the family home that she owned
at Madras Street and moved at some later stage to Glasgow.
The photograph on the right depicts the slum conditions of inner Glasgow that
Lizzie and Angus would have encountered. Their youngest daughter Ann, recounts that she was born in a two room (note not 2 bedroom)
tenement which housed her 11 brothers and sisters and her parents.
Angus once again served in the army during the 1914-18 'The Great War'.
His later life was typical of his people, poverty and alcohol were the dominant themes. Angus died in 1936 aged 67.
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