Clan Fraser

History

The Fraser name is French in origin, though nobody has pinned down exactly where it began. Anjou is the usual suggestion. The link with the French word for strawberry, fraise, is heraldic wordplay, and it explains the strawberry flowers on the Fraser arms. The first written record in Scotland dates from about 1160, when a Simon Fraser held land at Keith in East Lothian and gave a church there to the monks of Kelso Abbey. From there the family spread into Tweeddale and later north.

The Wars of Independence made the name. Sir Simon Fraser fought for Robert the Bruce, was captured, and was executed in London in 1306. His kinsman Alexander Fraser of Cowie served as Bruce's chamberlain and married the king's sister Mary. The two main Fraser lines both trace back to this generation.

The senior line settled in Buchan. In 1375 Sir Alexander Fraser gained the castle and lands of Philorth through marriage to a daughter of the Earl of Ross. In 1592 a later Sir Alexander received charters for the fishing village of Faithlie, which grew into Fraserburgh. He was even authorised to found a university there. In 1669 another Alexander Fraser succeeded as Lord Saltoun, and the chiefs of Clan Fraser have held that title since. The present chief is the Lady Saltoun.

The other line went into the Highlands. The Lovat Frasers were settled in the Aird and around Beauly by the early 1300s and became a Gaelic Highland clan. Their chief is known as MacShimidh, son of Simon. In 1544 they fought Clanranald at the Battle of the Shirts, with heavy losses on both sides.

The best-known Lovat chief is Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord, called the Fox. He backed the government in 1715 and won a pardon. In 1745 he hedged, then sent his son out with the clan for Prince Charles. He was beheaded on Tower Hill on 9 April 1747. Castle Dounie was destroyed after Culloden and the title was forfeited. His son later raised the 78th Fraser Highlanders for the Crown. A kinsman was created Baron Lovat in 1837, and the attainder on the old title was later reversed. The Lovat Scouts were raised for the Boer War, and the 15th Lord Lovat, the 17th by the clan's own count, served as a commando officer in the Second World War.

Today the two are recognised as separate clans, each with its own chief. The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs lists both the Lady Saltoun and the Lord Lovat. We cover them on one page because they share a name and an ancestry, but neither chief speaks for the other.