|
|
|
The Black Knee Chronicles
Volume 5Letter by Joseph Frazer (1838 - 1908)
Fight for a Peerage
To the Editor "Daily Mail"
Sir,
My attention has been called to a 'special' notice on the above subject in your issue of the 20th inst.
As I am the direct descendant of Alexander ffraser, the eldest son of Thomas of Beaufort and the elder brother of Simon Lord Lovat who was beheaded in 1747 for high treason, I consider it my duty to make it known that it is my intention in the near future to bring my claim to the Peerage and Estates of Lovat, before the House of Lords, where I will be able to prove, that, in place of Alexander having murdered a fiddler, and fled to Wales to work in the mines, he chose a nobler part, and, after the death of Dundee, and the lost battle of Killicrankie in (where he fought) 1689, formed one of the hundreds of Scotch officers who fled to France to join James 2nd of England in exile at the Court of St Germaines. Here he lived for several years, and was married to a French lady, and became the father of five sons (Archibald, Alexander, Frances, John and James) and four daughters.
The eldest son Archibald joined a Troop of Horse commanded by General De Grange, and did duty in Ireland in those troublesome times of 1745, and whilst quartered in Donagmore, Queens County, met a lady of Huguenot descent to whom he was married. These were my Great Grand Parents, whose Marriage Bond was signed with the name spelt, as the father Alexander spelt it, viz "ffraser"
After Simon 12th Lord Lovat had suffered for his treasonable participation in the 1745 rebellion, the spelling of the name was changed to Frazer and not used in its old form again by him until 1788 when he signed his will.
The shame of Simon's life and end was felt so keenly by Archibald's son Robert that he refused when requested by his son Joseph (about 1820) to make his claim as the rightful heir in direct descent to the Peerage and Estates of Lovat, which were then being sought by the Strichen branch of the family, who were descended from the 6th Lord Lovat.
My object in entering these details is to vindicate the character of my ancestor Alexander and to inform all whom it may concern that he was neither a murderer, nor a miner, but a soldier who was unfortunate in espousing a cause in which he believed, and for which his descendants have had to suffer.
End of hand-written copy.