Origins of the surname The exact origins of the surname "Fraser" can not be determined with any great certainty. Traditionally it is thought to have originated in France, but the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names (2016) notes there is no place name in France corresponding with the earliest spellings of the name – "de Fresel", "de Friselle", and "de Freseliere" – and suggests the possibility it represents a Gaelic name "corrupted beyond recognition by Anglo-French scribes". The first definite record of the name in Scotland occurs in the mid-12th century as "de Fresel", "de Friselle", and "de Freseliere", and is still concentrated in the area of
Anjou. The first annual gathering of the Clan Fraser in Canada in 1894 also recalls this connection. There is other evidence of an ancient connection with Anjou. An 18th-century document
La Dictionnaire de la Noblesse states that a Simon Frezel was born to the knightly Frezel family from Anjou and, sometime after the year 1030, established himself in Scotland. It also states that Simon Frezel's descendants multiplied and eventually became known as Frasers. This would also explain the prevalence of the name Simon throughout clan history, as all Frasers (by descent) would have the knight Simon Frezel as a distant but common ancestor. There are other suggested links with France, but these are more in the realm of myth than history: • The surname "Frysel" (vowels were at the time often interchanged) is recorded on the
Battle Abbey Roll – supposedly a list of William the Conqueror's companions, preserved at
Battle Abbey, on the site of his great victory over Harold. However, the authenticity of the manuscript is seriously doubted. • Another story claims the name derives from a Frenchman called "Pierre Fraser, Seigneur de Troile", who came to Scotland in the reign of
Charlemagne to form an alliance with the mythical
King Achaius. Pierre's son then became
thane of the
Isle of Man in 814. This origin has been disputed, and seen as a classic example of
canting heraldry, where heraldic symbols are derived from a pun on similar-sounding surname: (strawberry flowers –
fraises).
Early Frasers Around the reign of
William the Lion (r.1165–1214), there was a mass of "Norman" immigration into Scotland.
Thomas Grey, a 14th-century English
knight, listed several "Norman" families which took up land during William's reign. 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. This Simon Fraser was killed at the
Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, along with his younger brothers Andrew and James. According to some accounts the Frasers under Lord Lovat supported the Munros at the
Battle of Bealach nam Broig in 1452 which was fought against the
Clan Mackenzie. There are also accounts of Fraser Lord Lovat supporting the Munros at the
Battle of Clachnaharry fought two years later in 1454. In 1544, the Frasers fought a great clan battle, the
Battle of the Shirts ('''' in Gaelic) against the
Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, over the disputed chiefship of Clan Ranald. In the 16th century a battle took place between the Clan Fraser (with help from the
Clan MacRae) and the
Clan Logan at
Kessock, where Gilligorm, the Chief of the Clan Logan, was killed.
17th century and civil war , in their caps. In 1645, at the
Battle of Auldearn, in
Nairnshire, the Clan opposed the Royalist leader
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, and fought under a Fraser of Struy (from a small village at the mouth of
Glen Strathfarrar). The battle left eighty-seven Fraser widows. A poem about the battle reads: During the
Siege of Inverness (1650) the
Covenanter Frasers of Lovat under Sir James Fraser of Brea successfully defended Inverness Castle against the royalists. In 1650, at the
Battle of Dunbar, the Clan Fraser fought against the forces of
Oliver Cromwell. However, the Covenanters were defeated. In 1651, the Clan Fraser joined the army of
Charles II at
Stirling. They fought at the
Battle of Worcester where the King's army was defeated by Oliver Cromwell's
New Model Army. In 1689, the
Glorious Revolution deposed the Roman Catholic King
James VII as monarch of England, replacing the King with his
Protestant daughter
Mary and her husband and cousin
William of Orange. Swiftly following in March, a
Convention of the Estates was convened in
Edinburgh, which supported William & Mary as joint monarchs of Scotland. However, to much of Scotland, particularly in the
Highlands, James was still considered the rightful, legitimate King. On 16 April 1689
John Graham of Claverhouse,
Viscount of Dundee, later known as Bonnie Dundee, raised the royal standard of the recently deposed King James VII on the hilltop of
Dundee Law. Many of the Highland clans rallied swiftly to his side. The chief of the Clan Fraser,
Hugh Fraser, tried to keep the members of his clan from joining the uprising, to no avail: The Clan marched without him, and fought at the
Battle of Killiecrankie.
18th century and Jacobite risings Jacobite rising of 1715 During the
Jacobite rising of 1715,
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat "the Fox", Chief at the time, supported the
British Government and surrounded the Jacobite garrison in Inverness. The
Clan MacDonald of Keppoch attempted to relieve the garrison, but when their path was blocked by the Frasers, Keppoch retreated. The Inverness garrison surrendered to Fraser on the same day that the
Battle of Sheriffmuir was fought, and another Jacobite force was defeated at the
Battle of Preston. In 1719 during the
Jacobite rising of that year the British General,
Joseph Wightman, passed through Fraser country en route to the
Battle of Glen Shiel and gathered with him Fraser of Lovat's men as he went.
General Wade's report on the Highlands in 1724, estimated the clan strength at 800 men.
Jacobite rising of 1745 In 1725 the British Field Marshall
George Wade gave instructions that had come to him from
George I of Great Britain to re-establish the
Independent Highland Companies of soldiers to support the British Government. Chief
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was appointed as Captain of one of these Independent Highland Companies. Wade put up Lord Lovat's captaincy as the first to go. Wade also advised the government to remove Lord Lovat from his office as High Sheriff of Inverness-shire. Frasers were on the front lines of the Jacobite army at the
Battle of Falkirk, and the
Battle of Culloden in 1746. , 1746. At Culloden,
Charles Fraser of Inverallochy who led the clan at the battle, was mortally wounded and found by
General Hawley on the field, who ordered one of his aides, a young
James Wolfe to finish him off with a pistol. Wolfe refused, so Hawley got a common soldier to do it. Tradition states that the Master of Lovat immediately about-turned his men and marched down the road back towards Inverness, with pipes playing and colours flying. ==Fraser tartans==