Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat

Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat, (16 August 1736 – 8 December 1815) was British consul at Tripoli and Algiers, and later colonel of the 1st Inverness local militia.

[1] He was at school at the village of Petty, where he was educated by the parish minister, when the Battle of Culloden occurred nearby.

The title was attainted, and Archibald's half-brother Simon, Master of Lovat, was incarcerated in Edinburgh Castle for a year, although he received a full pardon in 1750.

[3] What is documented is that he was granted a small sum of money paid annually from the attainted Lovat estate.

In his maiden speech, on 17 June 1782, he seconded Lord Graham's motion to repeal the Dress Act, which was passed in 1746 in an effort to subdue the Highlands.

[8] Whilst his half-brother Simon reached the rank of lieutenant-general through his service in the British and Portuguese Army overseas, Archibald's career was closer to home.

He was appointed colonel of the 1st Inverness-shire local militia (a type of military reserve force) with its headquarters at Inverness.

It was completed in the spring of 1795, with many of the soldiers bearing the name of Fraser and with nearly all raised from the old clan territory of the Aird and Stratherrick.

The historian John Prebble described him as 'a nervous, excitable man who seems to have needed little encouragement to see rebellion and riot behind every ben'.

[14] He also appeared to inherit his father's capacity for self-promotion, by placing a memorial to himself in the family mausoleum at Wardlaw[15] which sang his own praises.

Another description of him, written 30 years after his death, states that he 'sank into habits of dissipation and over-conviviality, which impaired a reputation otherwise high in his neighbourhood, and became careless and hopeless of himself'.

[17] In 1826 it led to a House of Lords committee interviewing people in Inverness-shire who had a personal acquaintance with the Lovat Frasers.

This same profile exists as a: There is an altogether different portrait[20] in the possession of the National Library of Scotland, supposedly of Archibald Fraser.