Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat, (25 November 1871 – 18 February 1933), was a leading

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

aristocrat, landowner, forester, soldier, politician and the 23rd Chief of

Clan Fraser Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Publish ...

. While legally the 14th Lord Lovat (and 3rd Baron Lovat), he was referred to as the 16th Lord, due to two previous Lord Lovats forfeiting the title.

Early life

Born on 25 November 1871, he was the eldest surviving son of nine children born to

Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat and 2nd Baron Lovat (21 December 1828 – 6 September 1887) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier. He was responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of Beaufort Castle, and was the 22nd Chief of Clan Fraser of Lov ...

, and Alice Maria Weld-Blundell. Among his siblings were Mary Laura Fraser (wife of John Scott, Viscount Encombe and mother of John Scott, 4th Earl of Eldon), Alice Mary Charlotte Fraser (wife of Bernard Constable-Maxwell and mother of Gerald Maxwell), Etheldreada Mary Fraser (wife of diplomat Sir Francis Oswald Lindley), Hugh Joseph Fraser, a Major with the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

who was killed in the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the Firs ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

), Alastair Thomas Joseph Fraser (husband of Lady Sibyl Grimston, daughter of

James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam James Walter Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam (11 May 1852 – 11 November 1924), known as Viscount Grimston from 1852 to 1895, was a British Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892. He inherited his peerage in ...

), Margaret Mary Fraser (wife of Brig.-Gen. Archibald Stirling and mother of Sir David Stirling) and Muriel Mary Rose Fraser, who became a Catholic nun. His father served as Lord Lieutenant of Inverness and aide-de-camp to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

from 1883 to 1887. Educated at

Fort Augustus Abbey Fort Augustus Abbey, properly St. Benedict's Abbey, at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, Scotland, was a Benedictine monastery, from late in the nineteenth century to 1998 that also housed a school for young boys until 1993. Inception It owed it ...

and Magdalen College, Oxford, he was an active member of the Oxford University polo team and left with an MA.

Career

Lord Lovat was commissioned into the

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Al ...

and promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in 1890, but transferred as a Lieutenant into the

1st Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

in 1894. In 1897, he resigned from the Regular Army and joined a volunteer battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

Boer War and Lovat Scouts

In late 1899, he raised the

Lovat Scouts The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit first formed during the Second Boer War as a Scottish Highland yeomanry regiment of the British Army. They were the first known military unit to wear a ghillie suit and in 1916 formally became the British ...

for service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and from February 1900 served as their second-in-command with the rank of captain, in charge of the mounted infantry. For the Lovat Scouts, he chose the best marksmen he could find and the perfect commander in Andrew David Murray. The corps arrived in South Africa in early 1900, and was attached to the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

, but were disbanded in July 1901 while two companies (the 113th and 114th) were formed for the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

. Lord Lovat continued as second-in-command of the two companies until Col. Murray was killed in a night action with a Boer Commando on 19/20 September 1901, after which he took command of the regiment himself (now aged 29), and remained in command until the end of the war. The war ended in June 1902, and Lord Lovat relinquished his commission with the Imperial Yeomanry and was granted the honorary rank of major in the Army on 11 July 1902. He returned to the United Kingdom with the corps on the ''SS Tintagel Castle'' the following month, arriving to a public welcome in Inverness in late August. For his service in the war, he was mentioned in despatches (including the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902), was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(DSO) in 1900, and appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in October 1902. After the end of the Second Boer War, the remaining two companies (which had been attached to the

for the latter part of the war) returned to the United Kingdom and were disbanded. The unit was reformed the following year, consisting of two regiments, titled the 1st and 2nd Lovat Scouts. From these scouts a sharpshooter unit was formed and formally become the British Army's first sniper unit. Lord Lovat was appointed a Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(CVO) in 1903 by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

. He later served as '' aide-de-camp'' to King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

First World War

, he commanded the Highland Mounted Brigade of the

2nd Mounted Division The 2nd Mounted Division was a yeomanry ( Territorial Army cavalry) division that served in the First World War. At the outbreak of war it was assigned to defence of the Norfolk coast. In March 1915 it formed a 2nd Line duplicate of itself, ...

, being promoted Brigadier-General in September 1914. He was appointed a

Knight of the Thistle A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1915 for demonstrable leadership and courage. In March 1916, he took command of the 4th Mounted Division and became a Major General two months later. He became a

Rhodes Trust Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* ...

ee in 1917, the same year as

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

. In 1919, Lovat was awarded Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George and was appointed Chairman of the Army Forestry Commission, serving from 1919 to 1927.

Political career

Apart from a military career Lovat was also Chairman of the Forestry Commission from 1919 to 1927 and served in the Conservative administration of Stanley Baldwin as Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1927 to 1929.

Personal life

John Singer Sargent - The Honourable Laura Lister - FM 1943

In February 1910, Lord Lovat was rumoured to be engaged to American heiress, Edith Clark, a daughter of Charles S. Clark of New York and Grosvenor Square, London. However, on 15 October 1910, Lovat married Hon. Laura Lister (1892–1965), the second daughter of

Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale (29 October 1854 – 21 October 1925) was a British Liberal politician. Early life Thomas Lister was born on 29 October 1854 in Fontainebleau, France, the eldest son of Thomas Lister, 3rd Baron Ribblesdale ...

and, his first wife, Charlotte Monkton Tennant (a daughter of

Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st Baronet JP DL (4 November 1823 – 4 June 1906) was a Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician. Early life Tennant was the son of John Tennant (1796–1878) and Robina (née Arrol) Tennant. His ...

, MP for Peebles and Selkirk). Among the Fraser family estates was Beaufort Castle in Scotland (rebuilt by his father in the late 1870s) and 181,800 acres of land. Together, they were the parents of five children, four of whom lived to maturity: * ''Simon'' Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat (1911–1995), who married Rosamond Delves Broughton, the only daughter of Sir Henry Broughton, 11th Baronet, in 1938. * ''Magdalen'' Mary Charlotte Fraser (1913–1969), who married her cousin John Scott, 4th Earl of Eldon, a Royal Auxiliary Air Force officer. * Sir ''Hugh'' Charles Patrick Joseph Fraser (1918–1984), an MP for Stafford and Stone,

Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State. Under-Secretaries of State for the Co ...

, and Secretary of State for Air who married author Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham, a daughter of

Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...

and

Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, (''née'' Harman; 30 August 1906 – 23 October 2002), better known as Elizabeth Longford, was a British historian. She was a member of the Royal Society of Literature and was on the board of trustees ...

, in 1956. They divorced in 1977. * ''Veronica'' Nell Fraser (1920–2005), a food writer and hotelier who married Lt. Alan Phipps of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1940. After his death in 1944, she married

Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet Major-General Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean, 1st Baronet, (11 March 1911 – 15 June 1996) was a Scottish soldier, writer and politician. He was a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) from 1941 to 1974 and was one of only two men who during the ...

in 1946. * Mary Diana ''Rose'' Fraser (1926–1940), who died at age 14. Lovat died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in London in February 1933, aged 61, and was succeeded by his eldest son Simon as the 15th Lord Lovat (known as the 17th Lord), who distinguished himself during the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

in June 1944.

Descendants

Through his eldest son

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, he was a grandfather of six, including

Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat Simon Augustine Fraser, Master of Lovat (28 August 1939 – 26 March 1994) was the son of 15th Lord Lovat and the former Rosamond Broughton. He predeceased his father, and his son Simon inherited the Lordship of Lovat in 1995. He died of a heart a ...

(1939–1994), Fiona Mary Fraser (b. 1941) (wife of Robin Richard Allen), Annabel Thérèse "Tessa" Fraser (b. 1942) (wife of

Hugh Mackay, 14th Lord Reay Hugh William Mackay, 14th Lord Reay, Baron Mackay (19 July 1937 – 10 May 2013), was a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords. He was the only male Lord of Parliament to sit in the House of Lords following the abol ...

and Sir Henry Keswick), Kim Ian Maurice Fraser (1946–2020), Hugh Alastair Joseph Fraser (1947–2011) (husband of Drusilla Jane Montgomerie),"Obituary: The Rt. Hon. Hugh Fraser, farmer (1947-2011)"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' Andrew Roy Matthew Fraser (1952–1994) (husband of Lady Charlotte Anne Greville, a daughter of

David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

). Through his daughter Magdalen, he was a grandfather of three, including John Joseph Nicholas Scott, 5th Earl of Eldon (1937–2017) and Simon Peter Scott (b. 1939). Through his son

Sir Hugh "Sir Hugh", also known as "The Jew's Daughter" or "The Jew's Garden", is a traditional British folk song, Child ballad No. 155, Roud No. 73, a folkloric example of a blood libel. The original texts are not preserved, but the versions written down ...

, he was a grandfather of six, including Rebecca Rose Fraser (b. 1957), Flora Fraser (b. 1958), Benjamin Hugh Fraser (b. 1961), Natasha Fraser (b. 1963), Damian Fraser (b. 1964), and Orlando Fraser (b. 1967).

References

Bibliography

* *''Dictionary of National Biography''

External links

*
ThePeerage.com
\ {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovat, Simon Fraser, 14th Lord 1871 births 1933 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Knights of the Thistle Clan Fraser British foresters Scottish Roman Catholics British Life Guards officers Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers British Army cavalry generals of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Lovat Scouts officers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Ampleforth College Fraser, Simon Fraser, 6th Lord Lords Lovat