Lieutenant-General Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun KStG KMT (22 April 1785 – 18 August 1853), was a

Scottish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the unicameral Parliament of Scotland, where all Scottish Peers had been entit ...

and a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

general who fought in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

Biography

He served with the grenadiers in Sicily (1806), at Coruna (1808), on

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

(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 The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

) in the Orchard at Hougomont on the morning of the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

. During the battle he had four horses shot from underneath him.

"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."

Following Waterloo he was created both a Knight of St. George of Russia (KStG) and also a knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa (KMT). Fraser was described by Wellington as a "pattern to the army both as man and soldier." He was appointed a

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order The Royal Guelphic Order (), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Kingdom of Hanover, Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name from the House ...

(GCH) in 1821 and a Knight of the Thistle in 1852. He was a

from 1807 until his death and a

Lord of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household, the term being fir ...

from 1821. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1837 and later commanded the first brigade in the Battle of Chinkiang (1842) during the

and afterwards the whole force until 1843. He was further promoted to lieutenant-general in 1849.

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. Fraser died in Rothes, Scotland on 18 August 1853.

Notes

References

* * 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''. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Saltoun, Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord 1785 births 1853 deaths Nobility from Aberdeenshire Military personnel from Aberdeenshire 55th Regiment of Foot officers British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the First Opium War Clan Fraser Deputy lieutenants of Aberdeenshire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights of the Thistle Queen's Royal Regiment officers Scottish representative peers Scottish generals Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Recipients of the Waterloo Medal 17 Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa People of the Battle of Waterloo