| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | REL32798 |
| Collection type | Heraldry |
| Object type | Personal Equipment |
| Physical description | Animal bristle, Wood |
| Maker |
Unknown |
| Date made | c 1890 - 1900 |
| Conflict |
South Africa, 1899-1902 (Boer War) |
Clothes Brush : Sergeant Major Robert Fraser, 1 New South Wales Mounted Rifles
Description
Wooden handled clothes brush with ten longitudinal rows of black bristles. The wooden face of the brush has been engraved RDF.
History / Summary
Clothes brush used by Staff Sereant Major Robert Donald Fraser during his military service in the Boer War and afterwards until his death in 1907. He has engraved his initials into the wood of the handle. Robert Donald Fraser was born at Rose Valley, NSW, on 30 October 1873 and was a permanent soldier with the Australian Light Horse. He volunteered for service in South Africa and served with the 1 NSW Mounted Rifles as a Sergeant Major. Fraser was chosen for further military training after the war, and leaving his wife and young children in Australia in 1906, sailed to England but contracted pernicious anaemia in his last week of training and died on 8 June 1907 in London, aged 34 years.