John Fraser, doctor and lawyer of the Karoo

In time the herbalist healers were joined by highly-educated, well-qualified counterparts who arrived armed with degrees from top European universities. Among them was John Fraser, the eldest son of Beaufort West’s Dutch Reformed minister Rev Colin Fraser, and his second wife, Maria Elizabeth Sieberhagen. John studied medicine at Kings College, in Aberdeen, Scotland, returned to the Karoo to practice as a doctor. He once acted as a locum for Richmond’s Dr Maurice Hoffa, one of the first German doctors to come to South Africa. John later switched to law and in 1871, he was appointed Private Secretary to John Brand, President of the Orange Free State. Fraser was later knighted for his services to the Free State.

© Rose’s Roundup, April 2012.

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