Mann, Fraser Douglas (Fraser)
Sergeant
No. 18429, ‘A’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Thursday 16 August 1917 (aged 23)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 138 to 140 & 162 to 162A & 163A)
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
First Bangor Presbyterian Church
Family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his first forename is spelt Frazer.
Fraser Douglas Mann was born on 14 April 1894 in Easton Cottage, Ballyholme, Bangor and he was the younger son of James Macalister (sometimes McAlister) Mann and Louisa Mann (nee Douglas) who were married on 15 December 1882 in Great George’s Street Presbyterian Church Belfast. Both of Fraser Mann’s parents were born in Scotland. James Mann, a clerk from Brougham Street, Belfast was a son of James Smith Mann, a clerk. Louisa Douglas from Nelson Street, Belfast was a daughter of Peter Douglas.
The Mann family lived in Belfast and in Easton Cottage, Ballyholme, Bangor; at 81 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor and at 65 Railwayview Street, Bangor.
James Mann worked as a stockbroker’s clerk and he and Louisa had three children:
James Smith Ure (born 13 October 1883 at 21 Spencer Street, Belfast)
Martha Louisa (born 21 August 1886 in Mount Oriel, Bangor)
Fraser Douglas (born 14 April 1894 in Easton Cottage, Ballyholme, Bangor)
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Fraser Mann worked for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company in Belfast and he was an active member of the Bangor Branch of the Ulster Volunteer Force. He enlisted in Bangor and served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division. He went to France in October 1915. Sergeant Fraser Mann was 23 when he was killed in action on 16 August 1917 at the Battle of Langemarck and Lieutenant Harold Hardy wrote to Fraser’s parents to express his sympathy. In the letter Lieutenant Hardy said that Fraser was a gallant soldier who had done ‘splendid work’ in the battle during which he was killed and also during the raid before the Battle of Messines. Eight months later, on 15 April 1918, Lieutenant (by then Captain) Harold Hardy from Helen’s Bay was killed in action at Kemmel Hill.
Sergeant Fraser Douglas Mann (No. 18429) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium; on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum; in First Bangor Presbyterian Church and on the family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor.