Mrs. Alexander Fraser

Who is Mrs. Alexander Fraser?

Caroline Rosetta Small, better known by the pen name Mrs. Alexander Fraser was romance writer of Victorian era and the wife of General Alexander Fraser.

Caroline Rosetta Small was born in India on 10 February 1829 to English parents, Beaumont Dixie Small and Caroline Honora Pereira. Her father, an assistant surgeon with the East India Company's Bengal Light Infantry, died unexpectedly in 1831. Caroline's mother later married James Frushard on 1 March 1834.

With the exception of two years spent studying in Paris, Caroline spent most of her youth in India. On 11 March 1847 in India she married Alexander Fraser, at the time a Lieutenant in the Bengal Engineer Group. Fraser went on to have a long career as a civil engineer building numerous railroads and lighthouses throughout India. The couple had two sons, Alexander Bruce Siddons Fraser and Campbell Edward Fraser, both born in India.

Caroline's writing career appears to have coincided with the breakdown of her marriage. By the 1871 British Census, Caroline was living alone with her widowed mother and sons in England. English civil records indicate that Caroline applied unsuccessfully for a legal separation in 1867 and again in 1885. General Fraser returned to England, living independently with a second family, including son Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape.