Alexander Fraser | |
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Portrait by William Salter, c. 1837
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Born | 22 April 1785 London, England |
Died | 18 August 1853 Rothes, Scotland |
Buried at | Fraserburgh, Scotland |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Rank | Lieutenant-General |
Battles/wars |
Napoleonic Wars, First Opium War |
Lieutenant-General Alexander George Fraser, 16th Lord Saltoun KT KCB GCHKStG KMT (22 April 1785 – 18 August 1853), was a Scottish representative peer and a British Army general who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the First Opium War.
He served with the grenadiers in Sicily (1806), at Coruna (1808), on Walcheren (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) in the Orchard at Hougomont on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo. 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."
After Waterloo he became a Knight of St. George of Russia (KStG) and a knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa (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 (GCH) in 1821 and a Knight of the Thistle in 1852. He was a Scottish representative peer from 1807 until his death and a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1821.