The following is extracted from Volume II of the 1986 edition of South African Music Encyclopedia (J.P. Malan, ISBN 0 19 570285 9)
FLORENCE DOROTHEA FRASER, soprano, born 29 August 1868 in Philippolis, died 13 July 1928 in Johannesburg
Florence Fraser was the first child of Sir John G Fraser, Member of the Free State Volksraad (1880-99) and Senator of the Union of South Africa (1910-20). While she was at school at the Ladies' Institute Eunice, the possibilities of her voice were discovered by the music teacher, Miss Hamma. Miss Hamma was so insitent on an overseas training that Florence was taken to Munich in 1884 by Miss Hamma herself, who arranged for accommodation for Florence with her parents. Mr Hamma was professor of singing at the Conservatoire in Munich and handled all the arrangements in connection with her vocal training. For the next five years she stayed in Germany (1884-89) and then returned to South Africa where she sang with great success up to 1894. Starting her career in Bloemfontein on 20 February 1889, she visited the Transvaal and Natal and finally Cape Town, where she sang at a Mozart centenary festival held on 9 December 1891. After this tour the newspapers started referring to her as the Free State Nightingale - a fitting appellation for a coloratura singer. But her voice gradually began to change, took on depth and eventually became a soprano with an exceptionally wide vocal range. Her programmes indicate that she was equally at home in opera, oratorio and songs, especially those of English origin.
In 1894 she left for a second period of study in Europe, this time in Stuttgart, where for about two years she was a pupil of Mme Niklas-Kempner, and then in London, where Sir Charled Santley guided her interest towards oratorio. She returned to South Africa in 1898 and her second tour of the country was a triumph. Shortly before the outbreak of war, she was still singing at concerts in the Western Transvaal, at Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom. She was befriended by Thomas Darrow-Dowling and often sang with his Choral Society in Cape Town in performances of e.g. Messiah and Elijah.
Florence Fraser was the gifted child of a prominent and well-to-do family and, practically without exception, employed her vocal gifts to benefit charities or to support meritorious causes. This was especially apparent after the British troops had occupied Bloemfontein, when she used her voice to support funds for widows and orphans, or to solace wounded soldiers. From the public's point of view, each occasion was regarded as a special and fashionable affair. At the farewell reception to Miss Fraser and on the occasion of her forthcoming wedding (1905), the Mayor of Bloemfontein handed her an address in which much was made of the selfless way she had placed her vocal gifts at the disposal of her fellowmen. Apart from this aspect, Dr J Human finds much to praise in the integrity and good taste which marked her programmes.
In May 1905 she married Thomas Burnham-King of East London and checked her public career. Instead, she devoted herself to charity. In later years she was president of the Presbyterian Church's women's association (1919-22). She died in Johannesburg where she had gone for medical treatment, but is buried in Bloemfontein. On her gravestone are the words:
"Whose I am and whom I serve".
