Stuart Fraser (civil servant)

Sir Stuart Milford Fraser, KCSI, CIE (2 June 1864 – 1 December 1963) was a distinguished officer of the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India.

Within 5 years Fraser was selected as guardian and tutor to the Raja of Kolhapur, later to become Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj after being educated at Rajkumar College, Rajkot.

He later had responsibility for the leadership preparations of the Maharajah of Bhavanagar, Shri Bhavsinhji II (1875–1919) after schooling at Rajkumar College, Rajkot like his father, Takhtsinhji and son, Krishna Kumarasingh Bhavasingh the last Maharaja of Bhavnagar.

In 1903 Fraser went to the Foreign Department at Calcutta and Simla as deputy secretary and in 1904 was sent by Lord Curzon as H.M Commissioner to negotiate with the Chinese about the Anglo-Tibetan Convention (requiring Tibet to open its border with British India).

At the commencement of the First World War, with Turkey taking the side of Germany, it was Fraser’s resolute and confident approach that persuaded Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad, to resist defeatist view and ensure continued support for the British Raj.