Charles Fraser-Mackintosh

Charles Fraser-Mackintosh (Scottish Gaelic: Teàrlach Friseal Mac An Tòisich) (1828 – 25 January 1901) was a Scottish lawyer, land developer, author and Liberal and Crofters Party politician. He was a significant champion of the Scottish Gaelic language in Victorian Britain.

Fraser-Mackintosh was the son of Alexander Fraser, of Dochnalurg, Inverness and his wife Marjory Mackintosh. He assumed the additional surname of Mackintosh by royal licence 1857. He trained as a lawyer and became a councillor in Inverness. He was heavily involved in land and development in the town and was chairman of the Anglo-American Land Mortgage and Agency Co. Using money he made from the construction of Union Street, he bought and laid out the Drummond estate (1863), which had previously belonged to Fraser-Mackintosh' great-great uncle Provost Phineas Mackintosh and Ballifeary estates (1860s). Fraser-Mackintosh was also a captain in the Inverness-shire Rifle Volunteers from 1860 and a J.P. for Inverness-shire.

As a lawyer, he had access to many rare manuscripts and documents, and these formed the basis for his own published works on Scottish history. In his historical work, Fraser-Mackintosh admitted to a sympathy for the Jacobite cause of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," due to being indirectly named after the prince via various Jacobite ancestors. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 1875, he was Chief of the Gaelic Society of Inverness.

Fraser-Mackintosh was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Inverness Burghs in 1874 and held the seat until the 1885 general election, when he was returned as the MP for Inverness-shire for the Crofter's Party He was returned unopposed in 1886, but then joined the Liberal Unionist Party, and lost the support of the local Highland Land League, who backed the Liberal Party candidate Donald MacGregor at the 1892 election, unseating Fraser-Macknintosh. He was then the only Gaelic-speaking member of the Commons and became known as the 'Member for the Highlands'. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the Crofters' Commission and for promoting the use of Gaelic in Highland schools. His efforts led to the establishment of a Free Library in Inverness in 1883.

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