Ernest Gordon Fraser was born in Bermondsey, London. His father, Frederick, was born in Hasketon, Woodbridge, and his mother, Hannah (née Orsborn), in Melton. Hannah’s father, Jeremiah, who died before 1877, was a long-term resident of Melton and worked as a shoemaker. Despite this, it does not seem that either Ernest, or his parents after their marriage, ever lived in Melton.

In 1911, Ernest was a serving soldier in the Royal Army Medical Corps in South Africa. He stayed a professional soldier throughout the war and remained in the services once it was over. We also know that he was sent to a war zone in 1916 and received the British War and Victory Medals.

When the war was over, Ernest was posted to Kurdistan and then Iraq, for which he received General Service Medals with the Kurdistan and Iraq Clasps. As a career soldier, he also received the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.