Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Alexander Mackenzie Fraser (1758 – 13 September 1809) was a British General. He was known as ''Mackenzie'' until he took additional name of ''Fraser'' in 1803.

Family and early life

The family of Fraser of

Castle Fraser Castle Fraser is the most elaborate Z-plan castle in Scotland and one of the grandest 'Castles of Mar'. It is located near Kemnay in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland. The castle stands in over of landscaped grounds, woodland and farmland ...

, in Aberdeenshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

are descended, on the female side, from the Honorable Sir Simon Fraser of Inverallochy, second son of Simon, eighth

Lord Lovat Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat, Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, altho ...

, but on the male side their name is Mackenzie.Scotland Fraser's History
/ref>

Military service

Educated at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

,Alexander Mackenzie Fraser at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> he was commissioned into the 73rd Regiment of Foot in 1778. He distinguished himself at the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

. He later served during the

American war of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

where he was wounded, and serving during the British Campaign in Flanders where he temporarily commanded a brigade under

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

. He participated in the Cape of Good Hope expedition in 1796, and served in India from 1796 to 1800. From 1803 to 1805 he was assigned to the Home Staff, temporary commanding one of the infantry brigades (Hanoverian) of the

King's German Legion The King's German Legion (KGL; german: Des Königs Deutsche Legion, semantically erroneous obsolete German variations are , , ) was a British Army unit of mostly expatriated German personnel during the period 1803–16. The legion achieved th ...

in the

Hanover Expedition The Hanover Expedition, also known as the Weser Expedition, was a British invasion of the Electorate of Hanover during the Napoleonic Wars. Coordinated as part of an attack on France by the nations of the War of the Third Coalition, Third Coa ...

in 1805. In 1806 he served under General

James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. Early life and military service Craig came from a Scottish family whose father was a judge of the civil and military cour ...

in the

Anglo-Russian invasion of Naples The Anglo-Russian occupation of Naples was the stationing of British and Russian forces in the Kingdom of Naples from the summer of 1805 until January 1806 during the War of the Third Coalition. Background A previous cooperation in July 1799 be ...

during his service in Sicily. He commanded the Alexandria expedition in 1807, invading Egypt on 16 March 1807 with 6,000 British troops. Mackenzie Fraser did first occupy Alexandria to secure the port as a base for Mediterranean operations and to prevent the French from making strategic use of it. Attempts to push inland, however, were not a success, with Fraser losing the two

engagements An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

at Rosetta (modern Rashid) on 29 March and 21 April, with two battalions suffering very heavy casualties, particularly in the later

ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...

. An agreement with Mohammed Ali for British troops to leave Egypt was finally signed on 19 September 1807. After Egypt, he was given command of the 1st Division which was intended to be sent to aid Sweden in 1808 during the

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and ...

in that year. During the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

Mackenzie Fraser commanded the 3rd Division in Portugal and Spain during 1808–1809, and was present at the

Battle of Corunna The Battle of Corunna (or ''A Coruña'', ''La Corunna'', ''La Coruña'' or ''La Corogne''), in Spain known as Battle of Elviña, took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a Briti ...

Death

He again commanded a division during the

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham ...

of 1809, dying from complications brought on by the illness he suffered there.British Generals of the Napoleonic Wars 1793–1815
/ref>

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie Fraser, Alexander British Army generals British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 1809 deaths 1756 births 73rd Regiment of Foot officers 78th Fraser Highlanders officers Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812