Scotland back in the day: The story behind Clan Fraser ... of the Lowland side

Indeed they are, but the Frasers are a hybrid clan, consisting of Lowland Clan Fraser of Philorth whose chief is Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun, and Highland Clan Fraser of Lovat, whose chief is Simon Fraser, the 18th Lord Lovat and 25th MacShimidh. Both clan chiefs are members of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and both clans are recognised as separate and distinct entities while still all being Frasers. Confusing, you may think, and as I’ll explain next week, there has been much debate over Fraser clanship down the years.

Though other clans such as Clan Donald have branches and chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Frasers are unique in having two clan chiefs of that name from either side of the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands. In order not to annoy any Fraser, I am going to deal with the two clans separately as they both have fascinating stories to tell. As the Lord Lyon recognises, the Lowland Frasers is the senior line – Lady Saltoun was named in 1984 by the Lord Lyon as “Chief of the whole name and Arms of Fraser” – this week’s column will be devoted to them, and next week I will deal with the Frasers of Lovat.

READ MORE: Outlander: How it gets it wrong – and right – on Scottish history

I am indebted to the excellent websites of both the Clan Fraser Society, clanfraser.org and Lady Saltoun herself, fraserchief.co.uk for some of the information contained in this column, but – as always – I carried out my own research and therefore responsibility for any mistakes is mine alone.

Both clans have a common ancestry, it must be emphasised, and the name of Fraser was hugely important in the time when Scotland was asserting itself as a nation.

No-one knows precisely where on the Continent the Frasers originated, but tradition has it that they came from Anjou, seat of the House of Plantagenet as it would later be called, and crossed to Great Britain in the late 11th century, maybe even as part of William the Conqueror’s vast importation of Norman knights. Where exactly they landed and how they came to be in Scotland is unknown, and also uncertain is the source of the clan’s name. It is usually stated to be Norman in origin and may derive from the French surnames Fresel or Freseau, or it may come from fraise, the French word for a strawberry – the clan chief’s arms have traditionally featured three strawberry flowers against a blue background.

It is a fact that King David I of Scotland, who reigned from 1124 to 1153, encouraged the immigration of nobles and knights from Anjou, Normandy and Flanders, and gave them lands across Lowland Scotland as he developed a feudal society with the monarch at its summit.

The clue to the Frasers being part of what some historians call the Davidian Revolution is the fact that the first Fraser in written history is found in 1160, when one Simon Fraser is recorded as having given a church at Keith in East Lothian to the Tironensian monks of Kelso Abbey – where King David’s son Henry was interred after his death in 1152. That same Simon Fraser may even have accompanied King David, who had met many Anglo-Normans during his exile at the English court of his patron King Henry I, on his return to Scotland in 1113 to claim his inheritance of much land in the southern part of the country.

The king also may have made Fraser his sheriff for the Tweeddale area, suggesting a continuing link between the Frasers and the royal family. Simon Fraser may also have fought for David in the various civil wars he undertook – and perhaps he even assisted David on his various forays into England – but there is no direct evidence of this Simon Fraser being a noted warrior.

There is plenty of evidence that the Frasers were a powerful and growing family, as Sir John Fraser and his son Sir Richard Fraser are mentioned in English accounts of the early 13th century as holding lands in Stirlingshire. Owning this land – named Tulchfraser – gave rise to the Touchfraser branch of the clan.

READ MORE: Rating The Tragedy of Macbeth's Scottish history ... and explaining 'thanes'

Over decades, the Frasers acquired more land, sometimes through marriage, as far apart as the Scottish Borders and Inverness. It was in the former that Oliver Fraser made Oliver Castle the powerbase of the family, as shown by the fact that two Fraser knights – Sir Bernard and Sir Gilbert – were based there and were sheriffs of Tweeddale.

As I have stated, both Clans Fraser have these early nobles as their ancestors, and the split did not come until the Wars of Independence which featured a legendary Fraser, Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver and Neidpath. Various members of the Fraser family were involved in the rigmarole that surrounded the accession of John Balliol to the throne of Scotland – they sided with Toom Tabard – and like just about every other noble family, their allegiances changed during that uncertain time. Sir Richard Fraser of Touchfraser, for example, swore fealty to Edward but was also made sheriff of Berwick by John Balliol in 1293, and would later fight for Robert the Bruce – as did his cousin, Sir Simon, known as the Patriot.

Sir Simon was not the clan chief but was recognised as a formidable knight and warrior and undoubtedly would have had his own retinue of fighting men. When the Scots finally rose up against King Edward Longshanks, Sir Simon fought at the disastrous Battle of Dunbar in 1296 and was captured. He was released the following year on condition that he fought for Edward on his expedition into France. He may even have fought for Edward at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, but there is no direct evidence that he did so, except that Edward restored all his lands and he took part in the English siege of Caerlaverock in 1300.

He definitely came over to the Scottish side around 1301-02, for in 1303, Simon was one of the two co-leaders of the Scottish army which inflicted a devastating defeat on the English at the Battle of Roslin, the other being John “the Red” Comyn.

John of Fordun in his Chronicle of the Scottish Nation describes the battle thus: “John Comyn, then guardian of Scotland, and Simon Fraser with their followers, day and night, did their best to harass and to annoy, by their general prowess, the aforesaid kings officers and bailiffs ... But the aforesaid John Comyn and Simon, with their abettors, hearing of their arrival, and wishing to steal a march rather than have one stolen upon them, came briskly through from Biggar to Rosslyn, in one night, with some chosen men, who chose rather death before unworthy subjection to the English nation; and all of a sudden they fearlessly fell upon the enemy.”

Sir Simon was now a sworn enemy of Longshanks and he joined Robert the Bruce when he rose against the English king and asserted his right to the Scottish throne. Sir Simon paid dearly for that allegiance as he was captured by the English and was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1306.

It was now that the ancestor of the Frasers of Philorth appeared in history. Simon’s cousin Sir Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie fought for the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314, and was Bruce’s Lord Chamberlain from 1319. Three years earlier he had married the king’s sister Mary, who had been imprisoned in a cage at Roxburgh Castle. In 1320 he was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Arbroath, and is recognised as the founding father of the Philort Frasers. Next week, I’ll show how his brother Simon became the founder of the Frasers of Lovat.

According to the Clan Fraser Society, Sir Alexander died fighting for Robert the Bruce’s son and successor King David II at the Battle of Dupplin Moor in 1632, and his three younger brothers died, including Simon, in the even-more disastrous Battle of Halidon Hill in 1633.

Alexander’s son Sir William Fraser of Cowie was the next chief of the Lowland Frasers, but died at the Battle of Neville’s Cross near Durham in 1346. Alexander’s grandson, also called Sir Alexander, inherited the Fraser lands and added to them greatly when he married Joanna, daughter of the Earl of Ross, who brought with her the lands of Philorth in Aberdeenshire as well as Cairnbulg Castle which he rebuilt. It became the seat of the Frasers of Philorth and their ownership was celebrated by the poet Thomas the Rhymer – “While a cock craws in the north, there’ll be a Fraser at Philorth.”

The Frasers of Philorth expanded their holdings in 1504 when they bought the small fishing community of Faithlie in Aberdeenshire. Sir Alexander Fraser the 7th Laird of Philorth built a harbour there and his son, also Sir Alexander, then developed the town around Faithlie and by royal charter it became a burgh of regality called Fraser’s Burgh, soon known as Fraserburgh. At one point the town looked set to have its own university, but Aberdeen’s rivalry put paid to that idea.

Building a castle at Fraserburgh bankrupted the 8th Laird and he had to sell Philorth which was only brought back into the family when the 20th Lord Saltoun bought it back in 1934. There is some confusion, it has to be said, over the ordinal numbering of the Lords of Saltoun due to the fact that back in 1668, the 10th Lord Saltoun died and his sister Margaret succeeded to the title only to died about ten weeks later, her time as Lady being missed by historians and genealogists. I have gone with the numbers provided by the present Lady Saltoun.

The Saltoun title came to the Frasers in 1669 when the 10th Laird of Philorth became the 11th Lord Saltoun due to the fact that he was married to Margaret Abernethy, the family that originally held the title.

One of the most famous incidents in Fraser history featured the 10th Laird and took place at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Fighting for the Royalist side, he was seriously wounded and looked set to die until his servant James Cardno intervened, carried him from the battlefield and somehow got the Laird home to Fraserburgh.

READ MORE: Atlas of Scotland: Five lesser known aspects of the country's history

The murder of James Sharp, the Archbishop of St Andrews, by presbyterian extremists in 1679 proved to be fortunate for the Frasers of Philorth as the 12th Lord Saltoun was married to his daughter, Margaret Sharp, and her inheritance helped with the family’s chronic money problems.

The Frasers of Philorth played no part in any of the Jacobite Risings but various Lord Saltouns went on to be heroes in the British Army, not the least of them the 17th Lord who played a crucial role at the Battle of Waterloo. It was he who spotted Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, who had been concealing themselves, and alerted the Duke of Wellington who swiftly made the necessary strategic decisions to save the day.

The 20th Lord Saltoun (1886-1979) served as Captain in the 1st Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross. His son Alexander, the Master of Saltoun, was killed in action in 1944, also winning the Military Cross like his father.

The Philorth line is now headed by his sister Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun, 91, who was an elected working peer in the House of Lords until she retired in 2014. Her eldest daughter Katharine is the heir to the peerage and the leadership of the Clan Fraser of Philorth.