The history of Clan Fraser has been so badly distorted
in the past that it is worthwhile to clarify a few points. Although many
fanciful stories have been attributed to our history in Scotland, it is
generally believed that the name Fraser traces its origins to the French
provinces of Anjou and Normandy.
The first generation on record included Simon Fraser in
Keith, Gilbert Fraser, and Bernard Fraser in East Lothian, although it is
not known if they were brothers or otherwise related. The Frasers moved
into Tweeddale (now Peebleshire) in the 12th and 13th
centuries and from there into the counties of Stirling, Angus, Inverness
and Aberdeen. The second generation on record, believed to have been the
sons of Gilbert Fraser in East Lothian, were Oliver Fraser, Udard Fraser,
and Thomas Fraser, whose posterity is unknown. Oliver Fraser built Oliver
Castle (no longer in existence), but died without issue. Udard Fraser,
alive in 1200 AD in East Lothian, from whom all Frasers are thought to be
descended, was the father of Sir Bernard Fraser, 1st of
Touch-Fraser, whose daughter became a nun; Sir Gilbert Fraser, 1st
of Oliver Castle; and Adam Fraser, 1st of Drumelzier & Hales,
progenitor of a large number of Frasers who later settled in
Inverness-shire and followed Lovat, although they were not descended from
Lovat, but from Drumelzier. These were the Frasers of Fruid, Tain,
Munlochy, Phopachy [Minister of Wardlaw], Dunballoch, Newton, Kingillie
and Fanellan.
Sir Gilbert’s eldest son was John Fraser (d. ante
1263), who was the father of Sir Richard Fraser of Touch-Fraser, whose son
Sir Andrew Fraser of Touch-Fraser (d. ante 1297) had four sons, namely,
Sir Alexander Fraser (k. 1332, Dupplin), progenitor of the Frasers of
Philorth, Lords Saltoun; Sir Simon Fraser (k. 1333, Halidon Hill,
Berwick), progenitor of the Frasers of Lovat, Lords Lovat; Sir Andrew
Fraser (k. 1333); and Sir James Fraser, 1st of Frendraught (k.
1333). Another son of John Fraser (d. ante 1263) and the younger brother
of Sir Richard Fraser of Touch-Fraser, was Sir Alexander Fraser, 1st
of Corntoun, progenitor of the Frasers of Corntoun, Kinmundie & Muchalls,
Lords Fraser (now extinct).
Sir Gilbert’s second son, Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver
Castle (d. ante 1283), was High Sheriff of Tweeddale 1263-66. His son Sir
Simon Fraser (d. 1291) was the father of Sir Simon Fraser the patriot,
executed in London in 1306, who had only two daughters; thus ending the
male line of the Frasers of Oliver Castle.
Although a Lowland family, the Frasers of Philorth,
Lords Saltoun, are Chiefs of the name of Fraser. Lord Lovat is the chief
of the very numerous Highland clan Fraser of Lovat, based in
Inverness-shire. "With the death of the 19th [now 20th]
Lord Saltoun on August 31, 1979, the Chiefship of Clan Fraser passed to
his daughter, first lady to head the clan." [Clan Fraser, The Chief is
a Lady by William F. Rannie, 1980]
According to the Dictionary of National Biography
[p. 656], Simon Fraser (1667?-1747), the "notorious Jacobite intriguer,
was a descendant of Sir Simon Fraser, high sheriff of Tweeddale (now
Peebleshire). Another [Sir] Simon Fraser, who fell at the battle of
Halidon Hill in 1338 [1333], came into the possession of the tower
and fort of Lovat, near the Beauly, Inverness-shire, anciently the seat of
the Bissets; and in accordance with highland custom the clan Fraser were
therefore called in Gaelic Macshimi, sons of Simon. In 1431 Hugh, grandson
of Simon, was created a lord of parliament under the title Lord Lovat…"
[John Anderson’s Historical Account of the Family of Frisel or Fraser,
particularly Fraser of Lovat, 1825, etc.]
Unfortunately, no explanation is offered as to how
Simon "the Fox" was supposed to have been descended from Sir Simon Fraser,
High Sheriff of Tweeddale 1263-66, whose line ended when his grandson Sir
Simon the patriot, executed in 1306, only left two daughters who married,
respectively, Hay of Locherwort and Fleming of Wigton.
Edmund Chisholm Batten in The Charters of the Priory
of Beauly, with notices of the Priories of Pluscardine and Ardchattan and
the Family of the Founder John Byset [1877] refers to the various
published histories of the Frasers of Lovat, noting how erroneously the
Fraser-Byset connection had been represented in order to suit the claims
of rival parties. He disputes the suggestion by Dr. Hill Burton that the
Frizelles or Frasers came into possession of the Byset lands when John
Byset was exiled to Ireland [Burton’s History of Scotland, vol. ii,
p. 89]. "Since the Frasers did not get possession of any portion of the
Bysets’ Highland estates till 125 years after 1242, and then only a third
of those estates, two-thirds of which were acquired by the Fentons and the
Chisholms, the former by the peaceful act of marrying a Byset lady, this
is strongly expressed."
Edmund Chisholm Batten notes that the charter of 1231
is a grant by William Byset, his brother John and the officials of the
church of Moray being witnesses… "The seal has the arms of Byset, ‘on a
shield plain; a bend’. The transcriber adds, ‘no crown’; the opinion then
prevailing that the crowns quartered in the Fraser of Lovat coat were the
arms of Byset: whereas they are the arms of Grant. This simple ordinary
shows the antiquity of the Byset achievement." Chisholm Batten also points
out that it does not appear from any record that John Byset was one of the
barons of the kingdom. Before the Act of 1427 no general rule can be laid
down for distinguishing between one holder of a property directly from the
Crown and another, and the expressions ‘noblis vir’ and ‘dominus’, in the
charter of subjects, at all events go for nothing in establishing any
parliamentary dignity; the premier baron of Scotland claims no higher
creation than 1436.
"A particular transaction respecting the Aid property
has been so erroneously represented that it must be stated accurately.
According to Shaw, Hugh married Margaret, daughter and heiress of William
Fenton of Beaufort; and thereby got the lands; the truth being that in
1416, Hugh Fraser married Janet, sister of William de Fenton… Seven years
afterwards, on 9th August 1422, Hugh Fraser enters into a
contract for his son and heir, who must have been an infant, marrying a
daughter of Thomas of Dunbar, Earl of Moray. On the 20th May
1455, Huchone Fraser of Lovate is mentioned as if married to Janet,
daughter of Elizabeth, Countess of Moray. His fortune was so much
increased by this marriage as to enable him to secure the peerage. There
is a charter under the Great Seal, dated 28th February 1480,
where Hugh is styled by the king, ‘Hugo dominus Fraser de Lovat ac Baro
Baroniae de Kinnell’.
"Thomas, in 1501, succeeded his father Hugh as Lord
Lovat, and married Janet Godon, the daughter of Sir Alexander Gordon of
Midmar, brother to the Earl of Huntly. Thomas Lord Lovat is said, in what
is called the Culduthel MS by Mr. Anderson (p. 76), which MS appears to
have been full of inaccuracies, to have had, by his second marriage, a son
Robert, who married Janet Gelly, the heritrix of Braky in Five, and to
have purchased the estate of Braky Kinnell. It is said Lord Thomas died at
Beaufort Castle on 21st October 1524; but this is doubtful. It
was not until 1542 that his son Hugh Lord Lovat, got a feu-charter of the
lands of Beaufort from the Earl of Argyle. The House of Lovat seems to
have been the residence of the family.
"Hugh Lord Lovat married a daughter of the chief of the
Grants, the widow of Halyburton of Pitcur, and used the connection thus
formed with the descendants of the Chisholm co-heirs of the founder of
Beauly, to acquire much of the Chisholm portion of the Byset property. In
1528 he induced George Halyburton of Gask to convey to him the lands of
Inglistown (Englishtown) and Kingslie (Kingillie), now in the united
parish of Wardlaw and Fernua; and in 1529 he got James Halyburton of Gask
to give up to him the whole barony of Erchles created in 1512.
"In 1544 Beauly Priory saw a sad funeral procession
enter the restored church, bearing the bodies of Hugh Lord Lovat and his
eldest son (by his first wife) Hugh Master of Lovat, killed in a clan
fight. Lord Lovat’s son (by his second wife) Alexander, who succeeded on
his father’s and elder half-brother’s death, before 1555 married Janet,
the daughter of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor."
We continue now with the story of the Frasers of Lovat,
a major branch of Clan Fraser, who settled in Inverness-shire, and came
into possession of the lands once owned by John Byset.
Alexander Fraser 4th Lord Lovat (1527-1557),
in addition to his eldest son and heir Hugh [later 5th Lord],
had two other sons, namely, Thomas Fraser of Knockie (1548-1612), and
James Fraser, 1st of Ardachie & Boblanie (c1550-1588).
Hugh Fraser 5th Lord Lovat had several
places of residence [Bunchrew, Kinmylies, Lovat and Beaufort]. He died on
New Year’s Day 1576 in the 29th year of his age and was the
last Fraser to be buried in Beauly Priory. By his wife, Lady Elizabeth
Stewart (d. 1594), daughter of the Earl of Atholl, Lord Hugh left a young
son, Simon, who was then only a few years old.
A dispute arose between Thomas Fraser of Knockie, the
late Lord’s brother, and William Fraser of Struy (d. 1607), the young
Lord’s grand-uncle, as to who should exercise the much coveted duties of
Tutor or guardian; the latter arguing that he had discharged the same
trust on behalf of the late Lord. Party spirit was aroused, and Mr. Donald
Dow Fraser [subsequently, 1592, parson of Wardlaw, but living at Fingask]
hastened secretly to Beaufort to get Lady Lovat to intervene by asking
Fraser of Struy to abandon his claims. The minister of Wardlaw later
claimed that so far as she was concerned the visit was a failure, and the
opposing parties settled their differences without her interference. [Wardlaw
MS]
Another tradition puts the matter differently. Much as
she respected him, she said that propriety and a sense of her own dignity
forbade her intervention or presence at their meeting, seeing they had not
considered her worthy of being consulted. She also said that if the worst
should befall them and the sword should decide it, not a drop of Stewart
blood would be shed. The minister was determined not to fail in his
mission, but his anger was aroused by her answer. He unsheathed his dirk,
the weapons of persuasion having failed, and declared that her own blood
would be the first to flow if she did not send a message to the meeting.
Awed by the attitude of the militant cleric, Lady Lovat wrote at once to
William Fraser of Struy, who withdrew his claim, and Thomas Fraser of
Knockie was appointed Tutor.
The young Lord’s mother did not long continue in her
condition of widowhood, and the minister of Wardlaw relates an unsavoury
story about her marriage in 1578 and unfaithfulness to her second husband,
Robert Stuart, Earl of Lennox, then Earl of March (d. 1593), whom she
divorced for impotency; and her marriage in 1581, while three months
pregnant, to her third husband, James Stewart, afterwards Earl of Arran
and Chancellor of Scotland.
The boyhood of young Simon was mostly spent at Strichen
with Thomas Fraser of Knockie (1548-1612), who had by 1580 married Isobel
Forbes (d. 1611), widow of Thomas Fraser of Strichen of the Philorth
family in the Buchan district of Aberdeenshire. Simon, however, proved a
somewhat undisciplined youth and became a source of considerable concern
to his guardian and friends. A private tutor was employed to supervise his
education until 1586, when he was sent to Aberdeen, and placed under the
care of the Sub-Principal of King’s College. However, he proved to be
stubborn and unruly, and ran away to Ireland. His uncle, Thomas Fraser of
Knockie, prevailed upon young Simon to execute an inhibition in 1587 to
the effect that he would do nothing to hurt the interests of his family or
prejudice his heirs, without the consent and advice of his three curators,
one of whom was Sir Alexander Fraser, 8th of Philorth (d.
1623).
Sir Alexander Fraser’s uncle, Thomas Fraser of Strichen
had been attacked and slain by Gordon of Gight on Christmas Eve 1576 over
a dispute of Isobel Forbes’ rights to the Strichen estates as widow of her
first husband, William Chalmers, held jointly by her and her second
husband, Thomas Fraser of Strichen by charter obtained in 1573. Isobel, a
widow for the second time, to avenge her cause and the death of her second
husband, turned to the Tutor of Lovat, Thomas Fraser of Knockie, then in
Stratherrick, who took up her cause and married her.
To prevent future disputes, Knockie purchased the
claims of the Chalmers family on his wife’s estate, and then bought the
interests of his two step-daughters. He entered into a contract with
Katherine and Violet Fraser, the heirs of his wife’s second marriage, with
the consent of their guardian, Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth, whereby
they were served heirs to their deceased father in the estate and barony
of Strichen and immediately divested themselves of the same in favour of
Thomas Fraser of Knockie and his male heirs, begotten by him and his wife
Isobel. Thomas Fraser of Knockie assumed the designation of "Fraser of
Knockie and Baron of Strichen" or Fraser of Knockie and Strichen, for
which he received a charter under the Great Seal of James VI in 1591.
After two years’ sojourn in Ireland, where he was
entertained by the Earl of Antrim, Simon Fraser of Lovat (1570-1633)
returned home via Edinburgh, where in the Palace of Holyrood he paid his
respects to King James. By 1589 it was the opinion of his mother and his
other curators that young Lovat should take himself a wife, and he
eventually settled upon the daughter of Colin Mackenzie of Kintail. In
April 1590, he was served heir to his father and grandfather. At the same
time, his Tutor, Thomas Fraser of Knockie, rendered an account of his
stewardship during the minority, showing the extensive land interests of
Lovat to be in a highly satisfactory financial condition. Great worldly
prosperity could not, however, ward off the shadow of death, and the young
Lady Lovat passed away at Beauly in 1593.
On a visit by Simon Fraser 6th Lord Lovat to
Court in 1595, the King announced that he was proposing to arrange a match
for him, and suggested that he should frankly "pick and chuse without
ceremony or delay which of the ladies at Court he fancied." His lordship,
after thanking His Majesty, fixed upon Jean Stewart, daughter of James 1st
Lord Doune, a maid of honour to the Queen. The lady, when approached by
the King, admitted that to wed a Lord of Lovat was an honour, but that he
was not "bonny." Her scruples may have been overcome when it was
represented to her that if his lordship was not gifted with beauty, the
Lovat acres were fair as well as broad. Lovat married his second wife in
April 1596, when he was 26 years of age.
Dame Jean Stewart, Lady Lovat, died in 1622 at her
favourite residence of Bunchrew, and asked to be buried beside her
favourite son, Sir Simon Fraser of Inverallochy (1597-1620); her second
son being Sir James Fraser of Brae (1612-1649). Her son had died at
Dalcross Castle in July 1620 and was buried in the Chapel of the Cummings
in Inverness because the River Ness was flooded and the bridge broken,
making transport to Wardlaw unsafe.
In 1624 Simon Lord Lovat married, as his third wife,
Dame Katherine Rose (1581-1658) of the Kilravock family, a match
disapproved of by his friends, involving as it did a large burden upon the
estate for a period of 30 years. During the years subsequent to his third
marriage, Lord Simon lived principally at Bunchrew. He had left the
administration of the estate to his eldest son by his first wife, Hugh,
Master of Lovat [later 7th Lord], who had in 1614 married
Isobel Wemyss (1598-1636), daughter of Sir John Wemyss, by whom he had a
large family, living in the ancient residence of Lovat. Lord Simon also
spent time in Inverness, where he had a mansion. He had built the Castle
of Dalcross as well as a residence at Bunchrew. To liquidate the great
expense incurred for these and other purposes, he placed heavy mortgages
on his lands. Lord Simon died at Bunchrew in April 1633 and was buried at
Wardlaw.
Hugh Fraser 7th Lord Lovat (1591-1645), had
the misfortune of inheriting a patrimony, great in area, but so encumbered
with mortgages and other debts as to considerably reduce its value. Lord
Lovat, finding himself in financial straits, solicited the assistance of
his kinsmen.
We find him in 1633 leaving his affairs in the Aird
district in the hands of Thomas Fraser of Struy, his heritable baillie,
and taking up residence with his household at Meickle Garth, in
Stratherrick. In the summer of 1634 he and his family and retainers are in
residence at Dalcross. Judging by his establishment, his lordship did not
suffer from stringency in money matters.
Mr James Fraser of Phopachy (d. 1639), was Master of
the Household—Fear an Tighe, as he was called— "Mr Patrick Fraser, his
cheefe gentleman; James Tarras, chaplain; David Carr, musitian; Jo. Reed
Stuart; groomes, pantry boyes, cooks, all countrymen; and the principal
families each a sone in his Court, to educate, polish and accomplish
them," &c.
The minister of Wardlaw [Rev. James Fraser, grandson of
Mr James Fraser of Phopachy] comments on the domestic expenditure of Lord
Lovat’s household: "The expenditure of this family extravagent - seven
bolls malt, seven bolls meale, one boll floure, every week; 70 black cowes
in the year, besides venison, fish, pullet, kid, lamb, duck, and mallart,
etc., with all the presents and lists unaccountable; the wines in great
quantities yearly from France, with sugar and all manner of spices, that
it is incredible how any house could spend this store and provision
yearly. For my own part, I have been amused, yea amased, in reading my
grandfather’s books of accounts, where he sets down the exact particulars
of the vast spending of this noble family; and many would consider it very
rant."
On 11th May, 1634, Hugh Lord Lovat has a
business transaction with James Glendinning, who had been Master of the
Household with Lord Simon, his father, and not improbably managed to
feather his own nest comfortably under the lax rule of that amiable
employer. Glendinning was Lovat’s creditor, or had advanced a sum of 1000
merks, and for this the latter pledged the Town and Lands of Kinmylies, in
the regality of Spiny, the annual amount payable by Glendinning being 16
bolls victual, in name of ferme or rent.
On June 13th, 1634, there is a contract
between Lord Lovat and John Fraser of Clunyvackie (d. 1675) and Isobel
Chisholm, his spouse. They had advanced to his lordship 6000 merks, and
received in security the two parts of the town and lands of Browling,
whereof the one half was occupied by Allan McRanald of Teachnok, and the
other half by Thomas Fraser of Struy (d. 1656); also the two parts of
Ochtero, and half of Muilzie.
On November 26th, 1636, Lord Lovat grants to
Hugh Fraser of Belladrum (d. c1656) a feu farm charter of the town and
lands of Belladrum and Little Culmill, of which a tack was given in 1598,
but there were added thereto the two crofts of Easter Downy, the Town and
Lands of Browlin, the Town and Lands of Muilzie and of Ochtero, and the
Town and Lands of Bencharran. In the same year, at an earlier date, there
is a tack from Lovat to Fraser of Belladrum of the following lands with
the Teind sheaves and mill multures, viz., of Belladrum, Kirkton, Convinth,
Cuidrish and Easter Convinth, for the life-time of the latter, and with
power to hold baron baillie Courts, the same to endure for the tacksman’s
life and his heirs for 13 years. The same year the lands of Crive are let
to Belladrum, with power to hold special baillie Courts [Belladrum Charter
Chest].
During 1636 Hugh Fraser 7th Lord Lovat
(1591-1645) sustained a domestic affliction, which so depressed his
spirits that he took little or no practical interest in the affairs of his
extensive property during the remainder of his years. Isabel Wemyss, Lady
Lovat, passed away after a short illness, in the 48th year of
her age, and after 22 years of wedded bliss. Four years later, his oldest
son, Simon, Master of Lovat, died in his 20th year. Hugh, Lord
Lovat’s second son, succeeded to the heirship; the administration of the
estate having for some time been controlled by his lordship’s
half-brother, Sir James Fraser of Brae (1612-1649).
In April 1642, Hugh Master of Lovat (1624-1643),
married Anna, daughter of General Leslie, later Earl of Leven, at Holyrood
House. Although Lord Lovat was not in favour of his son accepting a
lieutenant-colonelcy in the army of Scotland, arranged by General Leslie,
the Master accepted the post and, while spending the winter in Edinburgh
with his wife, suffered an illness from which he died in April 1643.
Hugh Fraser 7th Lord Lovat survived the
Master by two years, and was succeeded by his grandson, Hugh, a child of
about two years of age. Sir James Fraser of Brae continued, as Tutor, to
be the ruling spirit of the administration of all the Lovat interests. He
was a staunch Presbyterian who took a prominent part in the business of
Inverness Presbytery and the General Assembly of the Kirk, and was a
leading Covenanter. Although the success of the Royalists was short-lived,
the loss of Inverness Citadel during the struggle, broke his heart and,
after returning from the south, he died at Lovat in 1649.
Lovat Castle, passed down from the days of John Byset,
was ruthlessly dismantled in 1671. Its oaken beams, hewn stones and its
furnishings were carried over to Beauly by boat, and built into the house,
which had been the family residence since 1668. Hugh Fraser 8th
Lord Lovat died in 1672, aged 29; his wife, Anne Mackenzie (1631-1670),
having predeceased him while he was abroad, having left his wife and
family behind, to escape his financial problems and melancholy.
His son, Hugh Fraser 9th Lord Lovat
(1666-1696), who had four daughters, willed his estates to his
grand-uncle, Thomas Fraser of Beaufort [fourth and only surviving son of
Hugh Fraser 7th Lord Lovat] instead of his eldest daughter
Amelia (1686-1763). The will was contested, but the estates remained with
the 9th Lord Lovat’s eldest daughter, Amelia Fraser, Baroness
Lovat, who in 1702 married Alexander Mackenzie of Prestonhall, who adopted
the name, Fraser of Fraserdale. Nevertheless, Simon Fraser of Beaufort
(c1668-1747) became Lord Lovat in 1716, and after purchasing the rights of
Amelia’s son Hugh, and obtaining a release from Charles 5th
Lord Kinnaird, heir of his mother Anne, daughter of Hugh 8th
Lord Lovat, he [Simon], on 16th July 1838, expede a charter of
the whole lands, lordships and barony, under the Great Seal in favour of
himself, and failing him, to Simon his eldest son, Master of Lovat;
Alexander, his second son and Archibald his third son, and the heirs-male
of their bodies successively, all of whom failing, the succession to fall
to his own heirs-male, whomsoever… In 1746 Castle Dounie was burnt to the
ground; Lovat was tried for treason and executed in London on 9th
April 1747, and his estates and titles were forfeited to the Crown.
After Culloden, Castle Dounie was replaced by a small
square building costing £300 in which the Royal Commissioner resided until
1774, when some of the forfeited Lovat estates were granted by an Act of
Parliament to Simon Fraser (1726-1782), by then a major general, in
recognition of his military service to the Crown and the payment of some
£20,000. Later, two modest wings were added. On the death of General
Fraser’s younger half-brother, Colonel Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat
(1736-1815), without legitimate surviving male issue, the Lovat estates
were transferred, by entail, to Thomas Alexander Fraser of Strichen
(1802-1875), a distant cousin who was descended from Thomas Fraser of
Knockie & Strichen (1548-1612), second son of Alexander Fraser 4th
Lord Lovat (1527-1557). Knockie was sold about 1727 to Hugh Fraser of
Balnain (1702-1735).
Thomas Fraser of Strichen was created Baron Lovat in
the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1837, and the Scottish title having
been released, in 1857 he became 14th Lord Lovat, but for the
attainder. In the late 1870s his son, Simon Fraser 15th Lord
Lovat (1828-1887) commenced construction of the baronial style Beaufort
Castle by the site of Castle Dounie, on a high bank overlooking the Beauly
River, dominating the countryside to the north and to the east. In the
1881 Cenus, Lord Lovat and his family were living at 8 Beaufort Mansion
House, Kiltarlity. He was succeeded by his son Simon Fraser 16th
Lord Lovat (1871-1933) who raised the Lovat Scouts. The current Beaufort
Castle, which had been transferred by Simon Fraser 17th Lord
Lovat (1911-1995) to his eldest son and heir, Simon Fraser, Master of
Lovat (1939-1994) some thirty years earlier, was sold in 1995. The
Master’s son and Lord Lovat’s grandson, the 18th Lord Lovat and
24th chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, is a banker in London.
Family Ties
In the Preface to The Frasers of Philorth, Lords
Saltoun [1879], Alexander Fraser 17th [now 18th]
Lord Saltoun (1820-1886) made the following observation: "The
representatives of the respective lines of Philorth and Lovat were nearest
of kin to each other in 1464, with the exception of the six sons of the
Philorth line of that date; and such has been the extinction of the male
descendants in the various branches of the line of Philorth, that at the
present time, with the exception of my own two sons, my two brothers, and
their four sons, numbering eight persons in all, Lord Lovat (1828-1887) is
my nearest legitimate male connection of the Fraser name."
With the exception of Lady Saltoun’s two first cousins,
their sons and grandsons, her own grandson, and the Frasers in Finland,
that statement is still true - Clan Fraser, A history celebrating over
800 years of the Family in Scotland by Flora Marjory Fraser 20th
(now 21st) Lady Saltoun. Lady Saltoun has served as a
Hereditary Peer for Scotland in the House of Lords at Westminster since
succeeding her father as Chief of Clan Fraser, and is currently one of the
elected Hereditary Peers, dividing her time between London and her home in
Scotland.