Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser | |||
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Na Frisealaich | |||
Motto | All my hope is in God. Seat Philorth Castle (Cairnbulg Castle) | | |
Historic seat | Oliver Castle Pitsligo Castle Castle Fraser[2] | ||
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Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.[3] It is not to be confused with the Clan Fraser of Lovat who are a separate Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands (though with a common ancestry). Both clans have their own separate chief, both of whom are officially recognized by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.[4]
History
Origins of the clan
The exact origins of the surname "Fraser" can not be determined with any great certainty.[5] The Frasers are believed to have come from Plantagenet Anjou in France.[3] 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".[6] The name Fraser may be an altered form of the French patronymic Fresel.[3] The French surname Fresel meant "ribbon, braid" in Old French and was probably the nickname for such merchants.[7] In fact, the surnames Fresel and Frezel are now centred on Normandy and Artois/French Flanders [8][9] and not in Anjou because Fresel/Frezel were historically Plantagenet.[6] It sounds like a derived form of fraise which means "strawberry" in French and such
Wars of Scottish Independence
About five generations after the first Simon Fraser, another
Frasers of Philorth
In 1592,
The eighth Laird of Philorth built Fraserburgh Castle, which later became the Kinnaird Head lighthouse.[3] This bankrupted him and Philorth Castle was lost from the family for over three hundred years until 1934 when it was bought back by the 19th Lord Saltoun.[3]
Lords Saltoun
17th and 18th centuries
The ninth Laird of Philorth married the heiress of the Abernethy Lords Saltoun.[3] Their son, Alexander Fraser, 11th Lord Saltoun, was severely wounded at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.[3] He survived thanks to his servant, James Cardno, who rescued him from the battlefield.[3] In 1666 the tenth Lord built Philorth House a mile from Fraserburgh which remained the family seat until it burned down in 1915.[3]
Sir Alexander Fraser of Durris was personal physician to Charles II of England.[3] He was educated at Aberdeen and accompanied the king on his campaign throughout 1650.[3] After the Restoration he sat in the Scottish Parliament and he featured in the diaries of Samuel Pepys.[3]
The Fraser family took no part in the
19th and 20th centuries
The sixteenth Lord Saltoun commanded the Light Companies of the First Guards at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.[3] The nineteenth Lord Saltoun was a prisoner of war during World War I in Germany.[3] Later, in 1936 he became a member of the House of Lords and promoted the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.[3]
See also
- Clan Fraser of Lovat
- Scottish clan
- Georgina Fraser Newhall, author of "Fraser's Drinking Song"
References
- ^ a b Clan Fraser - ScotClans scotclans.com. Retrieved 31 August 2013
- ^ "Castle Fraser". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 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). Published in 1994. Pages 142 - 143.
- ^ Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs – Select either "Fraser" or "Fraser of Lovat" Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine clanchiefs.org. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- ^ Fraser Name Meaning ancestry.com. Retrieved on 14 June 2015.
- ^ a b Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, Peter McClure (2016). The Oxford History of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Volume 2. Oxford University Press. p. 970.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Albert Dauzat (préface de Marie-Thérèse Morlet), Noms et prénoms de France, éditions Larousse 1980, p. 269b.
- ^ Géopatronyme : repartition of births with the name Fresel before WW I [1]
- ^ Géopatronyme : repartition of births with the name Frezel before WW I [2]
External links
Fraser Societies