192 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2»<» S. VI. mo, Sept. 4. '58. 



is thus mentioned in the Inve7'ness Courier of 

 1 April, 1858: — 



" At New York, on the Ctli ultimo, aged C6, the Rev. 

 Alex. G. Fraser, A.M., late of Scotland." 



He claimed the attainted title on the ground of 

 Lis assumed ancestor not having been included in 

 the Act of Attainder of 1747 ; and could he have 

 clearly proved his legitimate descent from the 

 above John Fraser, would have had grounds for 

 so doing : a strong personal resemblance which he 

 bore to the Lovat family was considered by his 

 supporters as a great point in his favour, — on 

 such slight circumstances do some people found 

 their claims to dormant peerages ; and from per- 

 sonal knowledge, I can testify to his having been 

 an agreeable and gentlemanly person, with, I be- 

 lieve, a sincere faith in his own claims. The late 

 decision, however, of the Plouse of Lords, restor- 

 ing this ancient Scotish title to the present pos- 

 sessor (who had been previously created, in 1837, 

 a British peer by the same title, and having been 

 by Act of Parliament, passed in 1854, relieved 

 from the original attainder, had the title formally 

 adjudged to him by the House of Lords in 1857, 

 with precedence, in the Scotish peerage, from the 

 first creation of the barony in 1472), has finally 

 settled the point. This nobleman, the undoubted 

 representative of the clan Fraser, and so de- 

 servedly popular in the north of Scotland, is li- 

 neally descended from Thomas Fraser of Strichen, 

 in Aberdeenshire, second son of Alexander, sixth 

 Lord Fraser of Lovat, 1544—1558. 



The latter part of Me. Feasee's Query refers 

 to the records of the proceedings of Simon Lord 

 Lovat, in support of his claims to the title ; they 

 must exist in the registers of the Court of Session 

 in Scotland; but I shall, even at the risk of being 

 prolix, give an account of his descent and right to 

 the barony of Lovat, as the circumstances con- 

 nected with his claims are both interesting and 

 romantic, and show the exceedingly loose manner 

 in which Scotish peerages formerly descended, or 

 were assumed. 



Hugh, eleventh Lord Fraser of Lovat (as the 

 possessor of the titles was generally styled), suc- 

 ceeded his father in 1672, and died at his resi- 

 dence of Castle Downi^ iu Inverness-shire, 14 

 Sept. 1696, at the age ofihirty, and without male 

 issue ; on which, though the barony was undoubt- 

 edly a male fief, the title was assumed by Emilia, 

 the eldest of his three daughters and co-heirs, 

 who thereupon was styled Baroness Lovat ; being 

 supported by all the influence and power of her 

 maternal uncle, John, then Earl of Tullibardine, 

 and afterwards first Duke of Athole, who, as 

 Lord High Commissioner of Scotland, from 1696 

 to 1700, possessed almost regal power there. She 

 married Alexander Mackenzie, of Fraserdale, son 

 of Lord Purtonhall (an influential Scotish judge), 

 Tvbo also took the title of Lord Lovat on his mar- 



riage ; a decree both for the estate and title being 

 granted by the Court of Session, 2 Dec. 1702; 

 and the name of Fraser, with arms of Lovat, was 

 also bestowed upon him by another decree of 23 

 Feb. 1706 ; all which procedure was a stretch of 

 arbitrary power, and contrary to. the wishes of the 

 clan. The titular Lord Lovat, having engaged in 

 the rebellion of 1715, was attainted ; but escaping, 

 was outlawed, forfeiting his life-rent in the estates. 

 This forfeiture, however, did not affect his wife, 

 Emilia, Baroness Lovat; and on her death, in 

 17 — , the title was accordingly assumed by her 

 son, Hugh, as 13th Lord Lovat, in terms of the 

 decision of the Court of Session in 1702. But this 

 " decreet" was finally " reduced" (in Scotish legal 

 phraseology) or i-eversed, and the right of the 

 actual male heir to the peerage finally acknow- 

 ledged, 3 July, 1730. 



On the death, as above-mentioned, of Hugh, 

 11th Lord Lovat, s. p. m. in 1696, the male heir 

 was his grand-uncle, Thomas, fourth son of Hugh, 

 9th Lord Lovat, (1633—1646,) who was born 

 in 1631 ; he accordingly assumed the title of his 

 family, though his right was never legally acknow- 

 ledged ; and as " Letters of intercommuning " (a 

 fearful weapon in those days) were issued against 

 him by the legal authorities, 18 Nov. 1697, and 

 proceedings instituted in the Court of Justiciary 

 for his seizure in the following year, he was 

 obliged to take refuge with his brother-in-law, 

 Macleod of Macleod, at Dunvegan Castle, in the 

 Isle of Sky ; where he was nearly as secure from the 

 power of the royal executive as if he had passed 

 over to America. 



Thomas, de jure 12th Lord Lovat, died in his 

 retreat at Dunvegan in 1696, and was interred in 

 the churchyard of the parish of Durinish, in Sky; 

 where his tomb, of a pyramidal shape, still exists. 

 In 1736, his son Simon erected a handsome monu- 

 ment to his memory in the church of Kirkhill, co. 

 Inverness, with an inscription, partly in Latin, 

 and commendatory of himself! The title now 

 properly descended to his eldest son, Simon, styled 

 "Master of Lovat" from 1696, and who now as- 

 sumed the title as 13th Lord: but the power of 

 his opponents proved too strong for him, and 

 " Letters of intercommuning" having also been 

 issued against him in 1702, he was forced to flee 

 into France, where he remained an outlawed exile 

 till 1714. His pardon was not finally granted till 

 10 March, 1716 ; and he also then succeeded in 

 obtaining from the crown a " life-rent escheat'' of 

 the estates forfeited by Alexander, the nominal 

 12th Lord, for his share in "the '15." And in 

 1730, he finally was declared Lord Fraser of 

 Lovat, and his right to the peerage was recog- 

 nised by all the branches of the British legisla- 

 ture, after a full investigation of his claims as heir 

 male. His subsequent history and fate are too 

 well known to require recapitulation here : on his 



