Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

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Simon "the fox" Fraser

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (* around 1667 ; † April 9, 1747 in London ) was a Scottish clan leader of the 18th century. Fraser was executed for participating in the Battle of Culloden . He was the last man to be beheaded on Tower Hill in London .

Life

Fraser came from the communities of the Frasers that a larger area of Inverness to over Loch Ness ruled out. In the east the area of ​​the Frasers bordered that of the Grants , in the west on the area of ​​the Clan of the MacKenzies .

He was the son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort (1636-1699) from his marriage to Sibylla MacLeod, daughter of Ian Macleod, 16th Laird of MacLeod. His father was a younger son of Hugh Fraser, 7th Lord Lovat († 1646). After his cousin Hugh Fraser, 9th Lord Lovat had died in 1696 without male heirs, disputes over his estate arose. Simon Fraser then kidnapped the daughter of the 9th Lord, Amelia Fraser († 1763), but she was able to flee. Simon and his father were ostracized and sentenced to death for it in 1698, but in 1700 on the invasion of the 10th Earl of Argyll by King Wilhelm III. pardoned. The title and lands of Lord Lovat were awarded by judgment of the Court of Session Amelia in 1702 .

His father had since died in 1699, leaving him Beaufort Castle .

In the controversy for the throne between the Jacobites and the House of Hanover , Fraser often switched sides. When he was again accused of kidnapping Amelia in 1701, he fled to France, where he made contact with the exiled Stuarts . They sent him on a Jacobite secret mission in 1703, which he promptly betrayed to the Secretary of State of Scotland, the Duke of Queensberry . Upon his return to France, his betrayal was discovered and he was placed under house arrest. In 1715 he managed to escape to Scotland. There the Jacobite uprising of 1715 was in progress, in which Alexander Mackenzie of Fraserdale († 1755), Amelia's husband, took the side of the Jacobites with the Fraser clan. Fraser managed to convince his clan's contingent to defer to the British government (House of Hanover) and, after a short siege, to take Inverness Castle, held by the Mackenzie clan . Following the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion, he received parts of the Lovat lands that the British government of Alexander Mackenzie of Fraserdale had confiscated for supporting the Jacobites. In 1721, 1722 and 1727 he tried unsuccessfully as Lord Lovat in the elections of the Scottish Representative Peers for the British House of Lords . First the Court of Session ruled in his favor and retrospectively awarded the title of Lord Lovat to his father as 10th and him as 11th Lord. He was officially Chief of Clan Lovat. Until 1733 he was able to bring all of the former Lovat lands into his possession.

Later he turned again to the Jacobites and from 1737 secretly participated in the planning for the landing of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland. Whose father James III. In 1740, Stuart awarded him the Jacobite titles of Duke of Fraser , Marquess of Beaufort , Earl of Stratherrick , Viscount of the Aird and Strathglass and Lord Lovat of Beaulieu . When Bonnie Prince Charlie finally landed in Scotland in August 1745, he was cautious. Only after the latter had destroyed a British army in the Battle of Prestonpans in September 1745, did he send his son Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat, with his clan Lovat to support him. He tried himself to the appearance of loyalty to King George II. On December 11, 1745 he was arrested in his estate Beaufort Castle by British government troops and brought to Inverness Castle , from where he was able to escape on January 2, 1746. He fought in the Battle of Culloden and then fled with Bonnie Prince Charlie to the Highlands , whom he unsuccessfully urged to continue the campaign in partisan combat. At Loch Morar , Fraser was eventually captured by the British.

On December 11, 1746, he was indicted by the British Parliament and on March 19, 1747, he was unanimously found guilty of high treason . He was sentenced to death and ostracized , with all of his titles and possessions being confiscated from the Crown.

Marriages and offspring

In his first marriage he was married to Margaret Grant († 1729), daughter of Ludovic Grant, Laird of Freuchie and Grant, from December 1716. He had two children with her:

In his second marriage in 1733 he married Lady Primrose Campbell († 1796), granddaughter of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll . With her he had a son:

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Thomas Fraser Lord Lovat
1699-1747 		Thomas Fraser
personal data
SURNAME Fraser, Simon, 11th Lord Lovat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fraser, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish clan leader
DATE OF BIRTH around 1667
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1747
Place of death London