[1] Born in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 10 August 1858, he was educated at the junior seminary St Mary's College, Blairs, St. Edmund's in Douai, and the Scots College, Rome.

He served as a professor at Blairs from 1883 to 1897, when he was appointed rector of the Scots College, a post he held until 1913.

Fraser wrote the article on the "Scots College" for the Catholic Encyclopedia.

[2] He was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Dunkeld by the Holy See on 14 May 1913, and consecrated to the Episcopate on 25 May 1913.

The principal consecrator was Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta, and the principal co-consecrators were Archbishop Thomas Francis Kennedy, Rector of the Pontifical North American College and Donald Aloysius Mackintosh, Coadjutor Archbishop of Glasgow.