Search For Your Scottish Ancestors

Search For Your Scottish Ancestors.


Clan Fraser. A History, Celebrating Over 800 Years of the Family in Scotland. Lady Saltoun, has packed this slender volume with goodies to tempt all who love Scotland. The lively and unpretentious style will attract readers who have yet to discover Scotland, encouraging them to explore the intricate Clan structure that has played a major role in the nation's history. Lady Saltoun tells us that that name Fraser originated in Anjou and Normandy, explaining that the French word for strawberry growers was fraisiers. Later in the book, reproductions of the Saltoun and Lovat arms and the Clan badges of Fraser and Fraser of Lovat reveal the relationship of the name with subsequent heraldic form.

The author traces the first appearance of the family in Scotland to twelfth century East Lothian and discusses three lines in close detail: the Frasers of Philorth who hold the Lordship of Saltoun, the Frasers of Lovat who hold the Lordship and Barony of Lovat, and the Fraser of Muchalls who held the now extinct Lordship of Fraser. Several pages of genealogical data support Lady Saltoun's explanation of how the Lords Lovat are Chiefs of Clan Fraser of Lovat while the Frasers of Philorth are Chiefs of the Name of Fraser. (Readers likely to muddle the horde of Alexanders, Simons, and Hughs that swarm across Fraser country will turn to these genealogies again and again!) We learn that Fraser of Lovat Chiefs are dubbed MacShimi in that they descend from Sir Simon Fraser who was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. However, the Philorth line is the senior, descending from Sir Simon's elder brother, Sir Alexander Fraser, 1st Laird of Cowie and Lady Mary Bruce, survivor of the grotesque cruelty of England's Edward I who had this sister of his Scottish rival imprisoned in a cage on the battlements of Roxburgh Castle when his forces took Kildrummy in 1306. Fraser history is red in tooth and claw!

Lady Saltoun supplies photographs and brief word sketches of Castle Fraser and Beaufort Castle, seats of the Lords Fraser and Lovat respectively. A more detailed history is provided of Cairnbulg Castle, the only Fraser seat still to be occupied by the family. It was Sir Alexander Fraser, 3rd Laird of Cowie, who acquired the Castle and lands of Philorth by marriage with Lady Joanna, younger daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Ross in 1375.

Readers will enjoy the pictures and vivid descriptions of Frasers past and present. We meet Sir Alexander Fraser, 8th Laird of Philorth who founded Fraser's Burgh by Royal Charter in 1592, and built Fraserburgh Castle, now Kinnaird Head Lighthouse Museum. Lady Saltoun's discussion of Fraserburgh introduces us to the legend of the Wine Tower, an ancient three-storey remnant of a fort about fifty yards east of the Castle. The old family legend, and the nineteenth-century ballad, have doubtless kept many generations of Frasers entertained on cold Scottish nights and perhaps kept them awake in the hours before dawn. We hear how the parsimonious King James VI wrote to Sir Alexander in 1588, asking for a loan of £1,000. He wrote again in 1596 to request the gift of his subject's prized gyrfalcon. 'No doubt he got his hawk!' Lady Saltoun quips. Also pictured is the 9th Laird, another Alexander, who wed Margaret Abernethy, daughter of the 7th Lord Saltoun, through whom the Frasers would inherit the Saltoun peerage. Here too are portraits of 'Waterloo Saltoun' who served alongside the Duke of Wellington. The book includes several pictures of the author, as a small child in a family 'conversation piece', on her wedding day, and in the gardens of Cairnbulg Castle with her eldest daughter and grandson. The late Lord Lovat is portrayed as a handsome bridegroom and, later in life, as the author of "March Past". His grandson, the present Lord Lovat, looks every inch the Highland Chief as he opens a game of Shinty, a sport with a record of Clan rivalry. Neil and Marie Fraser contribute chapters on Highland dress. It seems a pity that George IV did not have the benefit of their advice before he visited Scotland in 1822, the first British monarch to travel north since James VI inherited the English throne. Lady Saltoun tells us that Margery Fraser of Ness Castle, wife of the 15th Lord Saltoun attended the Ball given in His Majesty's honour at Edinburgh. The author relates how the obese monarch wore his kilt too short and with flesh-coloured tights rather than the traditional tartan hose. When one guest commented on the royal apparel, Marjory Saltoun remarked, 'Well, since we see him so seldom, we may as well see as much as possible of him when we do.' Marie Fraser warns that Highland dress 'is a minefield for us lassies'. However, the author and her contributors succeed in exposing a good deal of the pretentiousness that lies beneath the tartan. Lady Saltoun archly dismisses the question as to how and over which shoulder clanswomen, wives of Chiefs and women Chiefs ought to wear their sashes. She and the late Countess of Erroll, Lord High Constable of Scotland and Chief of Clan Hay, would sometimes wear them round their waists!

The book concludes with down-to-earth advice for readers contemplating tracing their own ancestry and I feel sure many will decide to make a start. As Lady Saltoun's lively narrative testifies, the study of Clan history leads to the study of genealogy and heraldry and vice versa. Moreover, combined with a measure of good humour it is never dull. This is stuff to stir the blood! Clan Fraser History.