Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun

Lieutenant-General Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun KT KCB GCH[1]KStG KMT[2] (22 April 1785 – 18 August 1853), was a Scottish representative peer and a British Army general who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the First Opium War.

Alexander Fraser
Portrait by William Salter, c. 1837
Born	22 April 1785 London, England
Died	18 August 1853 Rothes, Scotland
Buried	Fraserburgh, Scotland
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Battles/wars	Napoleonic Wars, First Opium War

Drawing of statue by Edward Bowring Stephens (1815-1882) of Lt-Gen. Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun (1785-1853) at Fraserburgh

Biography

He served with the grenadiers in Sicily (1806), at Coruna (1808), on Walcheren (1809), and in Spain and France from 1812 to 1814. In 1815, Lord Saltoun fought as a captain in the First Regiment of Guards (later the Grenadier Guards) in the Orchard at Hougomont on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo. During the battle he had four horses shot from underneath him.[2]

"Towards the close of Waterloo day he returned to his place in the line with about but one-third of the men with whom he had gone into action. He then took a prominent part in the last celebrated charge of the Guards."[2]

After Waterloo he became a Knight of St. George of Russia (KStG) and a knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa (KMT).[2]

Fraser was described by Wellington as a "pattern to the army both as man and soldier."[2]

He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (GCH) in 1821 and a Knight of the Thistle in 1852. He was a Scottish representative peer from 1807 until his death and a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1821.[3]

He was appointed a major-general in 1837 and commanded the first brigade in the Battle of Chinkiang (1842) during the First Opium War and afterwards the whole force until 1843. He was further promoted to lieutenant-general in 1849.[3]

Family

He was the son of Alexander Fraser, 16th Lord Saltoun (1758–1793) and Margaret, only daughter of Simon Fraser of Ness Castle. Fraser married the daughter of Lord Chancellor Thurlow.[2] Fraser died in Rothes, Scotland on 18 August 1853.[3]

Notes

1. The Peerage – Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun of Abernethy
2. Dalton, Charles (1904). The Waterloo roll call. With biographical notes and anecdotes. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. p. 100.
3. "Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

References

• Burke, Edmund, ed. (1854). "Deaths—August: 18. At his shooting-seat, near Rothes, aged 68, the Right Hon. Alexander George Fraser, sixteenth Lord Saltoun, of Abernethy ...". Annual Register. 95. pp. 242–243.
• Stephens, Henry Morse (1889). "Fraser, Alexander George" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 20. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 203–204. Endnotes:
  • J. F.Foster's Peerage;
  • Gentleman's Magazine, October 1853;
  • Royal Military Calendar;
  • Hart's Army List;
  • Hamilton's History of the Grenadier Guards
  • Siborne's Waterloo.

Military offices
Preceded by Sir William Henry Clinton	Colonel of the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot 1846	Succeeded by John Wardlaw
Preceded by Sir James Kempt	Colonel of the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot 1846–1853	Succeeded by Sir John Rolt
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Alexander Fraser	Lord Saltoun 1793–1853	Succeeded by Alexander Fraser