Alexander Arthur Fraser, 20th Lord Saltoun, (8 March 1886 – 31 August 1979), styled Master of Saltoun until 1933, was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

peer who was one of the longest-serving

representative peer In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those Peerage, peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Until 1999, all members of the Peerage of England held the ...

s, serving in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

from 1935 to 1963.

Biography

He was the eldest son of Alexander Fraser, 19th Lord Saltoun, and Mary Helena Grattan-Bellew, sister of Sir Henry Christopher Grattan-Bellew, 3rd Baronet. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Forfar and Kincardine Royal Garrison Artillery (Militia) in 1905. After it was disbanded he transferred to a

Special Reserve The Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war. Its formation was part of the military reforms implemented by Ri ...

battalion of the

Gordon Highlanders The Gordon Highlanders was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed for 113 years, from 1881 until 1994, when it was amalgamated with The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) to form The Highlanders (Seaforth, Go ...

and served as a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and Honorary

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in that regiment during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when he was taken prisoner of war.''Artmy List''. On 8 June 1920, he married Dorothy Geraldine Welby and they had two children: *Alexander Simon Fraser, Master of Saltoun (1921–1944), killed in action in the Second World War * Flora Marjory Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun (18 October 1930 – 3 September 2024) He died at Cross Deep, his home in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, aged 93.

References

1886 births 1979 deaths Clan Fraser Scottish representative peers Recipients of the Military Cross People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I British World War I prisoners of war 20 Forfar and Kincardine Militia officers Gordon Highlanders officers {{Lord-of-Parliament-stub