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- 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders



   1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders was based in China when war broke out in 1939. they went on to serve in Malaya and India.

   location map


If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.



Those known to have served with

1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Douthwaite Maurice. Pte. (d.18th April 1943)
  • France John. Pte (d.26th April 1943)
  • Fraser MID. Howard Jeffrey. Sgt.
  • Hardiment John Dennis. Capt.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders from other sources.



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Want to know more about 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders?


There are:1318 items tagged 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Sgt. Howard Jeffrey Fraser MID. 6th Btn. Gordon Highlanders

My grandfather, Howard Jeffrey Fraser (1924-1961) of the 6th Gordon Highlanders, likely served alongside the Seaforth Highlanders. He served in Java and at Monte Cassino.

He was born in Dehra Dun, India in 1924 the younger of two brothers. His mother, a nursing sister met her husband to be, George Fraser, a dentist working in the same area and they became engaged and subsequently married in India. They decided to send their sons home to the United Kingdom for schooling at Panel Ash College and as parents saw very little of their children between the ages of 8 to 17.

On leaving school Jeff Fraser returned to India briefly to visit his parents following which, he returned to the United Kingdom and joined the Gordon Highlanders, 6th Battalion as a private soldier to fight in the Second World War.

He was a jocular individual not much taken with authority to all accounts but nevertheless acquitted himself with some distinction being Mentioned in Dispatches and receiving some extensive wounds from shrapnel in an action that was fought at Monte Cassino in Italy.

Following a period of convalesance, he was posted to the Far East where he saw further action against the Japanese. During this period he was attached to the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders and had reached the rank of Sergeant in charge of a mortar platoon.

In Java he contracted pneumonia. When he resumed service the pneumonia returned and left him in a weakened state. Nevertheless, he completed his service in 1946 returning to the United Kingdom on conclusion of hostilities.

Post war, he secured employment as a trainee manager on a tea plantation and returned to India living and working in the Darjeeling district. On a brief home leave, he met his future wife and they married in 1951 returning to India together where they had three children and he was promoted to Tea Plantation Manager on the Teesta Valley Tea estate.

Sadly, his war wounds and the damage caused to his lungs by pneumonia impacted on his health and he died in December 1961 at the age of 37 while still in India.

Duncan Fraser



Pte. Maurice Douthwaite 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (d.18th April 1943)

Maurice Douthwaite, my uncle was killed in action in Burma. I was recently visiting Thailand and while in the Kanchunaburi War Cemetery I discovered that he is listed on the Rangoon Memorial.

Brian Douthwaite



Capt. John Dennis "Ben" Hardiment 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders

John Hardiment served with the 1st and 2nd Battalions Seaforth Highlanders

Hilda Phillips









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