Allen Fraser was born in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire on 21 February 1918, the son of James Fraser (a Coppersmith in the Vickers Shipyard in Barrow) and Mary Fraser (née Bald) – they had been married in the Trinity Presbyterian Church, School Street, Barrow, in 1916. His mother died a few days after he was born. Allen Fraser was educated in the Barrow Island School and the Alfred Barrow Grammar School for Boys in Barrow. After leaving school he was apprenticed as a coppersmith and qualified as a coppersmith in the Vickers Shipyard in June 1938 and then worked in London.

When the 1939 Register was taken Allen Fraser (Coppersmith) was living at 28, Edenvale Street, Fulham with the Washington family including nineteen year old Miss Lily Washington (a paper bag maker). Allen Fraser was married to Lily Washington in 1940 and, in August 1940, he joined the Royal Navy as a ‘Direct Entry‘ Acting Engine Room Artificer 4^th Class. It is not known when he joined submarines but in December 1941 he was serving in HMS H31. The submarine sailed from Falmouth on 19 December 1941 for a patrol in the Bay of Biscay, some 250 miles north of Cape Finisterre. No more was heard from H31 after she left her escort and the submarine was reported overdue on 26 December 1941 and was assumed to have been lost with all hands.The reason for her loss is not known but it might have been due to striking a mine or possibly an accident sometime between 19 and 24 December 1941.

Allen Fraser is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial on Panel 46, Column 2 and on his parents’ headstone in the Thorncliffe Cemetery in Barrow in Furness.