Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat

Who was Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat?

Brigadier-General Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat KT, GCVO, KCMG, CB, DSO, was a leading Roman Catholic aristocrat, landowner, soldier, politician and the 23rd Chief of Clan Fraser. He was the son of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat, and Alice Mary Weld-Blundell. While legally the 14th Lord Lovat, he was referred to as the 16th Lord.

Educated at Oxford and a member of the Oxford University polo team Lord Lovat was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and promoted Lieutenant in 1890, but transferred to the 1st Life Guards in 1894. In 1897 he resigned from the Regular Army and joined a volunteer battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. In 1899 he raised the Lovat Scouts, and served as their second-in-command in the South African War, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. For the Lovat Scouts, he chose the best marksmen he could find and the perfect commander in the American, Frederick Russell Burnham, who served as Chief of Scouts to Lord Roberts, the British Army Commander-in-Chief. In World War I, he commanded the Highland Mounted Brigade of the 2nd Mounted Division, being promoted Brigadier-General in September 1914.