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Clan Fraser

ALL MY HOPE IS IN GOD


The clan name Fraser is first recorded in Scotland in about 1160, with a Simon Fraser who owned land in Keith in East Lothian.

The Frasers gave their name to the town of Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, after Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth received charters from James VI of Scotland in 1592. More recently, clan Fraser have become famous as the stars of the TV series Outlander.

The Fraser clan motto is "Je Suis Prest" (I Am Ready) and the clan crest is a buck's head.

Scottish History

of Clan Fraser


A race of heroes

The Frasers were descended from Norman knights in the Anjou district of France and their name comes from the French Freseau family who themselves originated in a savage tribe called the Friselii in Roman Gaul.

These warriors were once renowned for savagely fighting Julius Caesar’s legions; thus establishing a military pedigree covering more than two thousand years, for the Frasers always were doughty fighters.

The French word ‘fraise’ means ‘strawberry’ and the Friselii tribal badge was the strawberry plant which grew abundantly in their territory.

One story tells how the Norman knight Julius de Berry of Bourbon entertained one of the French kings with a dish of these plump, juicy strawberries and so incurred his gastronomic delight that he ended up with a knighthood. Presumably there was more to the latter than that but a good table always helped.

Because of these connections, strawberries were incorporated into the Fraser coat-of-arms, where they have remained to this day.

The knights first settled in Tweedale in the Borders in the mid-twelfth century and gradually worked their way northwards, gaining lands in East Lothian and finally establishing strongholds in Inverness-shire and around the north-east coastline where the harbour refuge and township of Fraserburgh was eventually founded.

Sir Simon Fraser fought for both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce before being captured by the Hammer of the Scots, King Edward 1st, who had him brutally hanged, drawn and quartered, the dying patriot’s only consolation being that he suffered the same horrific fate as his hero ‘Braveheart’.

Sir Simon’s cousin, Sir Alexander Fraser of Cowie, was Bruce’s chamberlain and the elder brother of another Sir Simon from whom the Frasers of Lovat are descended.

He married Bruce’s sister, Mary, who for months had been locked in a cage by the English and suspended from the walls of Roxburgh Castle, exposed to the bitter elements.

In 1375, a grandson of this match acquired the castle of Cairnbulg and the lands of Philorth in Buchan through marriage with Joanna, daughter of the Earl of Ross.

In the sixteenth century, it was Sir Alexander, the 8th Earl of Philorth, who founded Fraserburgh which became a major North Sea oil and fishing port; and he almost succeeded in setting up a university there but Aberdeen was not prepared to countenance a close academic rival just to the north.

Sir Alexander’s son married the heiress of Saltoun, thus incorporating that title into the honours of future chiefs of his clan and into their heraldry.

When the bubonic plague struck Aberdeen in 1647, the staff and students from King’s College were evacuated to Fraserburgh for two years: but now only a street name and some lettering carved on a wall are all that remain of this early seat of learning.

Sir Alexander Fraser of Durris was the personal physician of ‘the merry monarch’, Charles II. Educated at Aberdeen, Fraser soon acquired a reputation for a broad scholarship, especially in medicine.

He accompanied Charles throughout his campaign in 1650 but incurred the displeasure of some of the more devout Royalists by his progressive scientific opinions, many of which were deemed heretical and even atheistical in that more blinkered era.

After the Restoration of Charles to the throne in 1660, Fraser sat in the Scottish Parliament, though he was still prominent in court circles down in London, to such an extent that he even featured in the diaries of Samuel Pepys.

Other branches of the Fraser family also prospered. Andrew Fraser of Muchalls was raised to the peerage in June, 1633, with the title Lord Fraser.

He completed the early work on Castle Fraser which stands south of the River Don near Inverurie. This magnificent keep, suitably reminiscent of a French chateau, is now fully renovated and is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

The field of the shirts

A young MacDonald of Clanranald was brought up at the Fraser stronghold of Castle Dounie but unexpectedly became leader of his redoubtable Highland clan.

He proved a sore disappointment, being both tactless and lacking in any leadership qualities. He even criticised the numbers of cattle and goats killed for his inauguration feast and remarked that “a few hens would have done as well!”

He was duly ostracised by his offended clansmen for whom hospitality was a cardinal virtue, being nicknamed ‘Ranald of the Hens’; and was sent packing back to his friends and protectors, the Frasers, who needed little excuse to take up arms in his support to quell a rival clan who had been raiding their lands and stealing cattle.

Both sides clashed beside Loch Lochy on a swelteringly hot July day and, because the warriors threw off their plaids in the heat, the battle came to be known as ‘Blar na Leine’ or ‘The Field of the Shirts’.

It was a ferocious encounter and the grass was soon scarlet with blood as hundreds were mown down by claymores. It was said that by the finish there were only around ten exhausted, wounded men left standing on either side.

The result was bloody indeed but tragically inconclusive.

The Frasers as a renowned fighting clan were never far away whenever there were scraps brewing in their neighbourhood. They often rallied to the colours, though this could sometimes lead to divided loyalties.

When the Stuarts were deposed and William of Orange sat on the throne, Lord Tullibardine raised a body of Atholl men which included 300 Frasers in support of the new ruler.

They paraded at Blair Castle and when their leaders addressed them it was then that the Frasers realised for the first time that they were supposed to be supporting King William.

They promptly fell out of the parade and made for the nearest burn where, Jacobites to a man, they filled their bonnets with water and drank a toast to the exiled King James, only regretting in true Highland fashion that there was nothing stronger to hand.

Then off they went to follow John Graham of Claverhouse, ‘Bonnie Dundee’, who led them to victory at the Pass of Killiecrankie when the Frasers were in the forefront of those who made that famous Highland charge down the purple glenside to rout the government forces in battle below as the sun set redly.

It was a sad victory for the Frasers, however, for their leader, Claverhouse, fell from his horse, a freak musket ball having been shot through his chest, later dying in the arms of his weeping followers. With him died this particular revolt: but there were others.

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127 Clan Fraser

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The Crests

of Clan Fraser

Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser (Lord Fraser)
Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser

69 Clan Fraser

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Divisions

of Fraser

Abernethy
Bisset
Brewster
Cowie
Fraser of Altyre
Fraser of Atholl
Fraser of Boblainy
Fraser of Lovat
Fraser of Reelig
Gilruth
MacGregor
MacIlriach
MacKim
MacTavish
Oliver
Simons
Syme
Tweeddale
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Spellings

of Fraser

Frazer
Fresell
Freser
Frew
Frezel
Friscal
Frisell
Frissell
Frizel
Frizell
Frizelle
Fraiser
Fraisser
Fraissier
Frasair
Fraseir
Frasier
Frassel
Frasser
Fraysher
Fraysser
Frazier
Fresal
Fresale
Fresall
Fresare
Frescell
Fresel
Fresill
Fresle
Fressair
Fressell
Fresser
Freyser
Frezer
Friseal
Friselle
Friser
Frisselle
Frizzell
Fryssar
Fryssell
Frysser

194 Clan Fraser

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