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Notes for JOHN WILLIAM FRASER:
John William Fraser was known as Ian. He and his sister Shona contracted diphtheria when Ian was 6 and Shona was 8 years old. Ian died in the Strathpeffer Fever Hospital on the 12th of June, 1941, and was buried in the Fraser family plot in the old churchyard at Contin.
There was an epidemic of diphtheria in the school and several others were also ill. One other child died - a 9 year old girl, the only daughter of the Maclean family who had Ullapool connections but bere living in Killearnan.
My mother once mentioned that we had not been vaccinated as my father was afraid of having it done. After our siblings became ill Elizabeth, my twin, and I, were vaccinated. From reading the old birth registers which we had in a heavy, metal safe in the house as our mother was the Registrar for Killearnan, it is evident that many people did not have their children vaccinated. This must have been quite common , at least in the Highlands, at that time, because I noticed that this was also true for the District of Shieldaig during the earlier part of the century. I was Registrar in the late 70's and early 80's for the Shieldaig District and had the birth records in my possession. A special note was attached to many of the birth entries which, if I remember accurately, read : Conscientious objection to vaccination.
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