Alexander Fraser, 11th Lord Saltoun (March 4, 1604 – August 11, 1693), was a Scottish peer and the 10th Laird of Philorth.
Fraser was born in 1604 in the young town of Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His father was Sir Alexander Fraser (1570–1636), and his mother was Lady Margaret Abernethy, daughter of Sir George Abernethy, 7th Lord Saltoun of Abernethy. He entered King's College, Aberdeen, in 1619. Upon the death of his father in 1636, he inherited the lands of Philorth as its 10th Laird. [1]
Alexander subscribed the Solemn League and Covenant at Aberdeen in 1638 and was a member of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Glasgow in 1639. Also in 1639, while serving under the Earl of Montrose, he led 200 men against the castles of Kellie and Gight. He was chosen as a commissioner for Aberdeenshire in 1643 and this capacity attended the Convention of Estates in Edinburgh. After King Charles I was apprehended and taken to England, Saltoun took part in the failed rescue mission to England in 1648, commanding a regiment of Scots. In the reign of Charles II, he is known to have lent large sums of money to the king. [2] He was a Member of Parliament for Aberdeenshire twice, first in 1648 and again in 1661-63. [3]
During the English Civil War, he fought in the Royalist cause at the Battle of Worcester (1651) in which he was severely wounded and might have been killed had it not been for his servant, James Cardno, who rescued him, saw to his recovery and returned him to his home at Fraserburgh. [4]
In 1669, Fraser served as commissioner for the visitation of the two colleges of Aberdeen. In 1670, his succession to the Lordship of Saltoun of Abernethy was ratified by King Charles II and confirmed by Act of Parliament. [5]
Alexander Fraser, now designated the 11th Lord Saltoun, was traditionally designated the 10th because after the death of the 9th Lord Saltoun (Alexander Abernethy, 1611-1668), his sister Margaret Fraser, née Abernethy (1616-1669), succeeded with the title 10th Lady Saltoun. However, she survived her brother by only two and a half months, and the title passed to Alexander Fraser, cousin of the Abernethys through his maternal line. In recent times, it was realized that Margaret had her title by the old Scots system of succession, and the decision was made to renumber the Lords Saltoun. As a result, Lady Saltoun is designated the 10th in the succession with Alexander Fraser, accordingly, moving from 10th to 11th in the succession. [6]
Fraser married twice. His first wife was Isobel Forbes of Tolquhorn, who bore him one daughter, Janet. His second wife was Elizabeth Urquhart, née Seton, widow of John Urquhart of Craigfintrie and daughter of Alexander Seton of Meldrum. She was the mother of Fraser's son, Alexander, who predeceased him in 1672, necessitating that the title of 12th Lord Saltoun pass to William Fraser (1654-1715), grandson of the 11th Lord. [7]
Alexander Fraser, the 11th Lord Saltoun of Abernethy, died on 11 August 1693 at the age of 89. He was remembered in the registry of the Episcopal Congregation of Fraserburgh in these words:
He was a man that was given to the reading of good books, and very much in the exercise of prayer, both in his closet; and when he had to meet with a minister of churchman of his profession: He would alwise [sic] desire them to pray before they parted with him. He was very civil and kind to all whom he had the freedom to converse with. He was also very charitable to the poor, at all occasions, wherever he and they did meet. [8]
He was buried at Fraserburgh. [9]
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen, was a Lord Chancellor of Scotland.
Fraserburgh, locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of the county, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Aberdeen and 17 miles (27 km) north of Peterhead. It is the biggest shellfish port in Scotland and one of the largest in Europe, landing over 5,450 tonnes in 2016. Fraserburgh is also a major port for white and pelagic fish.
Alexander Arthur Alfonso David Maule Ramsay of Mar, DL was the only child of Princess Patricia of Connaught, who renounced her royal title and style when she married then-Captain the Hon. Alexander Ramsay in February 1919. His mother was the youngest child of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His father was the third son of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie. Through the marriage of his maternal aunt, Princess Margaret of Connaught, to the Swedish prince who later became King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden, his first cousins included Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, whose son later became King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden; and Princess Ingrid of Sweden, who later became Queen of Denmark after marrying the Danish prince who later became King Frederik IX of Denmark.
Lord Saltoun, of Abernethy, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1445 for Sir Lawrence Abernethy. The title remained in the Abernethy family until the death in 1669 of his descendant the tenth Lady Saltoun. She was succeeded by her cousin Alexander Fraser, the eleventh Lord. He was the son of Alexander Fraser and Margaret Abernethy, daughter of the seventh Lord Saltoun. The title has remained in the Frasers of Philorth family ever since.
Flora Marjorie Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun, was a Scottish noblewoman and Crossbench peer. Until her retirement on 12 December 2014, she was the only holder of a lordship of Parliament with a seat in the House of Lords as an elected hereditary peer.
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Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. It is not to be confused with the Clan Fraser of Lovat who are a separate Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. Both clans have their own separate chief, both of whom are officially recognized by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.
The Frasers of Philorth are a Scottish lowlands family, originally from the Anjou region of France. Castle Fraser, their family seat, is in Sauchen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Since the time of Alexander Fraser, 11th Lord Saltoun, the heads of the Philorth family are the Lords Saltoun. The current head of the Frasers of Philorth is Katharine Fraser, 22nd Lady Saltoun, who is Chief of the Name and Arms of Clan Fraser. The family's arms are "azure, three cinquefoils argent"—three silver strawberry flowers on a field of blue. The heraldic cinquefoil is a stylized five-point leaf; the cinquefoils which appear on the Fraser of Philorth coat-of-arms are specifically strawberry flowers. Only the Lady or Lord Saltoun is permitted to display these arms plain and undifferenced.
Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Huntly, who adopted the family name of Gordon from about 1457, was a powerful 15th-century Scottish magnate. He was knighted in 1439/1440 and was Lord of Badenoch, Gordon, Strathbogie and Cluny.
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Clan Forbes is a Highland Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
William Fraser, 12th Lord Saltoun, was a Scottish peer and the 11th Laird of Philorth.
William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal was a Scottish nobleman and politician.
Charles Ferm, Ferme, Farholme or Fairholm, was a leading campaigning Presbyterian minister in the Church of Scotland, and the Principal of the short lived Fraserburgh University, Scotland.
Before the Acts of Union 1707, the barons of the shire of Aberdeen elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of the Estates. The number of commissioners was increased from two to four in 1690.
Alexander Abernethy, 6th Lord Saltoun was a Scottish landowner and courtier.
Alexander Fraser of Philorth was a Scottish landowner and founder of Fraserburgh.
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