Lieutenant-General Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun
/ref> KStG

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

(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 Parliament of Scotland, where, as a unicameral legislature, all Scottish P ...

and a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

general who fought in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

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 "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

) in the Orchard at

Hougomont Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a walled manorial compound, situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in the Braine-l'Alleud municipality, near Waterloo, Belgium. The site served as one of the advanced defensi ...

on the morning of the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. 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 The Military Order of Maria Theresa (german: Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden; hu, Katonai Mária Terézia-rend; cs, Vojenský řád Marie Terezie; pl, Wojskowy Order Marii Teresy; sl, Vojaški red Marije Terezije; hr, Vojni Red Marije Te ...

(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 (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...

(GCH) in 1821 and a

Knight of the Thistle A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

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 The Battle of Chinkiang () was fought between British and Chinese forces in Chinkiang (Zhenjiang), Jiangsu province, China, on 21July 1842 during the First Opium War. It was the last major battle of the war. The Chinese force consisted of a garri ...

(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 Rothes (; gd, Ràthais) is a town in Moray, Scotland, on the banks of the River Spey, south of Elgin. The town had a population of 1,252 at the 2011 Census. A settlement has been here since AD 600. History and castle At the south end of the ...

, 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 55th Regiment of Foot officers British Army 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 Lords Saltoun Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa