Fraser History
800 years of history
Timeline
Seven centuries in the Aird
Introduction
Early Frasers by Shimi Lovat
The earliest written record of Frasers in Scotland is in 1160, when a Simon Fraser held lands in East Lothian at Keith. In that year, he made the gift of a church to the Tironensian monks at Kelso Abbey. The Frasers mov…
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1300 – 1306
Sir Simon Fraser the Patriot and the Scottish Wars of Independence
Sir Simon Fraser of Neidpath, can be thought of as the founding father of the Lovat Frasers. Born in 1257 in Neidpath Castle near Peebles, he met a gruesome death in London in 1306. He had been captured fighting in the S…
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1300–1500s
The Birth of Clan Fraser of Lovat in the Highlands & Clan Feuds
From the early 1300s, then, Frasers established themselves in what has ever since been recognised as the Lovat Fraser homeland – Beauly and the Aird.…
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1600s
Union of Crowns & Civil Wars throughout Britain
When Elizabeth I of England died in 1603, her closest male heir was King James VI of Scotland. James united the thrones of Scotland, England and Wales, and Ireland, to create Great Britain. He became King James VI of Sco…
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1667–1747
Lovat of the 45, the Old Fox
Like an old eagle, Lovat smiles enigmatically from under hooded eyes – complete with 18th century frock coat, wig, breeches, wrinkly stockings, and shoes with silver buckles. This is Lovat as the great cartoonist Hogarth…
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1750–1800
The Frasers in the New World
A series of weak chiefs, combined with premature chiefly deaths that left child heirs to the chieftainship. These boy chiefs came under the influence of their mother’s people.…
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1899–1945
The Lovat Scouts
In 1899, Simon 16 th Lord Lovat raised the Lovat Scouts as a volunteer unit to fight in the Boer War. The officers were raised from the local Highland gentry and most of the men were stalkers, ghillies, shepherds and cr…
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1940–1946
WW2 and the Commandos
Who were the Commandos?…
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1911–1995
Shimi, 17th Lord Lovat
Brigadier Simon Fraser, 17th Lord Lovat, DSO, MC, TD, JP, DL was the 24th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat and a prominent British Commando during the Second World War. His friends called him Shimi Lovat, an anglicised …
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1915–2019
The Lovat Survivors
In the autumn of 1915, at the height of the Great War, Lochiel (Chief of Clan Cameron and a cousin of the Moniack Frasers) mournfully predicted that “another old Inverness-shire family was becoming extinct”. Of the 15th …
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1964–today
The Modern 78th Fraser Highlanders
In 1964, with Expo 67 being planned, the Montreal Military & Maritime Museum decided to re-raise this famous Regiment to take part in the colour and festivities of the World’s Fair. Colonel J. Ralph Harper undertook the …
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Outlander & The New Clan Brand
Outlander author Diana Gabaldon explains why she chose a Fraser for her hero
We are extremely grateful to Diana for taking the time to explain why she chose Clan Fraser for her hero Jamie:…
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Looking back to 1746
The Aird of Lovat in June 1746
It feels like nothing changes here…though 273 Years ago, tragedy tore, howled, screamed, burned and slashed its way through this place.…
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