Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat

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The Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat, Newhaven, 1942.JPG
Lord Lovat at Newhaven after returning from the Dieppe Raid, August 1942.
Birth nameSimon Christopher Joseph Fraser
Nickname(s)Shimi
Born(1911-07-09)9 July 1911
Beauly, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Died16 March 1995(1995-03-16) (aged 83)
Beauly, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1930–1962
RankBrigadier
Unit
Commands held
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsDistinguished Service Order
Military Cross
Territorial Decoration
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford
Spouse(s)
Rosamond Broughton
​
(m. 1938)​

Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, 4th Baron Lovat, DSO, MC, TD, JP, DL (9 July 1911 – 16 March 1995[1]) was the 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat and a prominent British Commando during the Second World War. His friends called him Shimi Lovat, an anglicised version of his name in the Scottish Gaelic language. His clan referred to him as MacShimidh, his Gaelic patronym, meaning Son of Simon. Simon is the favoured family name for the Chiefs of Clan Fraser. While the 15th Lord de jure, he was the 17th Lord Lovat de facto, but for the attainder of his Jacobite ancestor who was executed in 1747. He was also 4th Baron Lovat in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Early life[]

Born at his ancestral home of Beaufort Castle near Beauly, Inverness-shire, Fraser was the son of Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat (commonly known as the 16th Lord), and Laura, daughter of Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale. After being educated at Ampleforth College (where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps) and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he joined the University's Cavalry Squadron.[2] Fraser was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Lovat Scouts (a Territorial Army unit) in 1930.[3] He transferred to the regular army, while still a second lieutenant joining the Scots Guards in 1931.[4] The following year, Fraser succeeded his father to become the 15th Lord Lovat (referred to as the 17th Lord Lovat) and 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser. He was promoted lieutenant in August 1934.[5] Lovat resigned his regular commission as a lieutenant in 1937, transferring to the Supplementary Reserve of Officers.[6]

He married Rosamond Broughton (1917–2012), the daughter of Sir Henry John Delves Broughton, on 10 October 1938, with whom he had six children.[7] Lord and Lady Lovat lived at Beaufort Castle.[8]

World War II[]

In June 1939, just months before the Second World War, Lord Lovat also resigned his reserve commission.[9] In July, however, as war approached, he was mobilized as a captain in the Lovat Scouts.[10] in 1940 together with his Stirling cousins and friends Lovat planned to create a new unorthodox group of shock fighters (Commandos) who would combine sea, air and land attacks using surprise as a key component. It was essential to use volunteers only. Crucial to the plan was the personal blessing of Sir Winston Churchill which they duly obtained. Lovat was personally involved in the training of the Commando troops on the West coast of Scotland. He was eventually attached to and led No. 4 Commando. On 3 March 1941, Nos 3 and 4 Commando launched a raid on the German-occupied Lofoten Islands. In the successful raid, the commandos destroyed fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships. They also seized encryption equipment and codebooks. As well, the commandos captured 216 German troops; 315 Norwegians chose to accompany the commandos back to Britain.

As a temporary major, Lord Lovat commanded 100 men of No. 4 Commando and a 50-man detachment from the Canadian Carleton and York Regiment in a raid on the French coastal village of Hardelot in April. For this action he was awarded the Military Cross on 7 July 1942.[11][12] Lord Lovat became an acting lieutenant-colonel in 1942 and was appointed the commanding officer of No. 4 Commando, leading them in a successful component of the abortive Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) on 19 August.[13] His commando attacked and destroyed a battery of six 150 mm guns. Lovat was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).[14]

Dieppe Raid 1942, plaque at Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer

The raid as a whole was a disastrous failure with over 4,000 casualties sustained, predominantly Canadian. Yet No. 4 Commando executed its assault, with most men returning safely to Britain.

According to Hilary Saunders, the official biographer of the Commandos the men "were to arouse such a passion of hate and fear in the hearts of their enemies that first Von Runstedt and then Hitler in 1942 ordered their slaughter when captured down to the last man. Lovat had 100,000 Reich marks placed on his head, dead or alive. The infamous "Commando Order".

Queen Red Beach, Sword Area. Lord Lovat, on the right of the column, wades through the water. The figure in the foreground is Piper Bill Millin.

In planning Operation Overlord, in 1944 Lord Lovat was made a brigadier and appointed the Commander of the newly formed 1st Special Service Brigade. Lord Lovat's brigade was landed at Sword during the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. Lord Lovat reputedly waded ashore in battle dress contrary to the legend in the film the Longest Day which had him wearing a white jumper under his battledress, with "Lovat" inscribed into the collar while armed with a .45-70 Winchester underlever rifle. (The latter claim is disputed; however, in some earlier pictures y/1942 he is seen with a bolt-action .30-06 Winchester Model 70 sporting rifle). However, in his memoirs, 'March Past', Lovat states that he was armed with a "short barreled U.S. Army carbine" (presumably an M1 carbine) on D-Day.[15][16]

Lord Lovat instructed his personal piper, Bill Millin, to pipe the commandos and himself ashore, in defiance of specific orders not to allow such an action in battle.[17] When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: "Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply".

Lovat's forces swiftly pressed on, Lovat himself advancing with parts of his brigade from Sword to Pegasus Bridge, which had been defiantly defended by men of the 2nd Bn the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (6th Airborne Division) who had landed in the early hours by glider. Lord Lovat's commandos arrived at a little past 1 p.m. at Pegasus Bridge though the rendezvous time as per the plan was noon. It is a common misconception that they reached almost exactly on time, late by only two and a half minutes. Upon reaching the rendezvous, Lord Lovat apologised to Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, of 7th Parachute Battalion. He went on to establish defensive positions around Ranville, east of the River Orne. The bridges were relieved later in the day by elements of the British 3rd Infantry Division.

During the Battle of Breville on 12 June, Lord Lovat was seriously wounded whilst observing an artillery bombardment by the 51st Highland Division. A stray shell fell short of its target and landed amongst the officers, killing Lieutenant-Colonel A. P. Johnston, commanding officer of the 12th Parachute Battalion, also seriously wounding Brigadier Hugh Kindersley of the 6th Airlanding Brigade.

He was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre by a grateful French Fourth Republic.[18]

Later life[]

Lord Lovat was a stalwart of the Inverness Highland aristocracy. In 1942 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the county, and two years later a JP.[19] Lord Lovat made a full recovery from the severe wounds he had received in France but was unable to return to the army (he transferred to the reserve in 1949). In early 1945 Churchill sent him to Moscow as his envoy in a Parliamentary delegation to pay his respect to Stalin and the Presidium. Churchill notes in the final volume of his biography of the Second World War that at the crucial meeting with Stalin and President Roosevelt at Yalta in 1945 when the boundaries of Europe were being discussed Stalin kept coming back again and again, in conversation, to military questions: Stalin said he had acquired a new interest in life, says Churchill, an interest in military affairs. "He liked young military fighters like Lord Lovat". ref: WC: the Second World War,volume VI, page 344 Yalta finale.[20] Winston Churchill requested that he become Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in the House of Lords; however, Lord Lovat declined the offer and in 1945 joined the Government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "becoming responsible for the functions of the Ministry of Economic Warfare when these were taken over by the Foreign Office",[21] resigning upon Winston Churchill's election defeat. In 1946 he was made a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John.[22] His formal retirement from the army came on 16 June 1962, he retained the honorary rank of brigadier.

Lord Lovat's involvement in politics continued throughout his life, in the House of Lords where he spoke on Scottish Affairs and served in the Inverness County Council for the next forty-two years where he pressed for modernising improvements. He also devoted much of his time to the family estates of 250,000 acres in the highlands and to Fraser Clan affairs. He bred a pedigree herd of shorthorn cattle and was an international judge of cattle travelling widely to Canada, America, Latin America and Australia in that regard. He lectured on agronomy and loved racing. He was chieftain of Lovat Shinty Club, the local shinty team which bears his family name. Lord Lovat experienced a great deal of sadness in his final years; two of his sons predeceased him in accidents within days of each other. In 1994, a year before his death, the family's traditional residence, Beaufort Castle, was sold by his eldest son, Simon Fraser, to pay inheritance taxes.

Lord Lovat's second son, Kim played the pipes at Lord Lovat's funeral.

Media[]

The Longest Day, a 1962 film based on the book of the same name, features "Lord Lovat", played by Peter Lawford.

There is some suggestion that the charlatan commando character "Trimmer" in Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy of novels is based on Lovat.[23] Lovat was closely associated with Waugh's forced resignation from the Commandos, which is the subject of an exchange of correspondence between them which Waugh pasted into his war diaries.[24] In an article in Standpoint magazine, Paul Johnson wrote:

...by vindictive cunning of a high order, [Waugh] manages to foist the ultra-plebeian Trimmer on the exquisite person of Brigadier Lord Lovat, head of the clan Fraser, who had his own family regiment and was known from his looks as "the upper-class Erroll Flynn". "Shimi" Lovat committed the unforgivable sin of ejecting Waugh from the Commandos since, he told me, "he had made himself so hated by his men they would have shot him in the back as soon as they went into action." So Waugh made Lovat into Trimmer. Once, when I happened to say a word in praise of Waugh, "Shimi" let forth a scream of rage and pain: "Do you realise, thanks to that monster, I am Trimmer?"[25]

Family[]

Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, Master of Lovat and 15th Lord Lovat (9 July 1911  –16 March 1995), was the son and eldest child of Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Baron Lovat (25 November 1871 –18 February 1933), and the Hon. Laura Lister (12 January 1892 –24 March 1965).

His siblings were:

  • 2 (1 August 1913 –27 September 1969) Died at the age of 56.
  • 3 Hon. Sir Hugh Charles Patrick Joseph Fraser (23 January 1918 –6 March 1984) Died at the age of 66 from lung cancer.
  • 4 (2 December 1920 –27 January 2005) Died at the age of 84.
  • 5 (15 April 1926 –31 August 1940) Died at the age of 14.

He married on 10 October 1938. They had six children:

  1. Simon Augustine Fraser, Master of Lovat (28 August 1939 –26 March 1994) married Virginia Grose in 1972. They had four children: the Hon. Violet Fraser (b. 1972), the Hon. Honor Fraser (b. 1973), Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 16th Lord Lovat (b. 1977), and the Hon. Jack Fraser (b. 1984). Died at the age of 54 of a heart-attack while hunting on the family estate at Beaufort Castle.
  2. Hon. Fiona Mary Fraser (born 6 July 1941) married Robin Richard Allen in 1982 and have no issue.
  3. Hon. Annabel Thérèse ("Tessa") Fraser (born 15 October 1942) She married her first husband Hugh William Mackay, 14th Baron Reay on 14 September 1964 and divorced in 1978. They had 3 children: Æneas Simon Mackay, 15th Lord Reay (b. 20 Mar 1965), the Hon. Laura Mackay (b. 1966), and the Hon. Edward Andrew Mackay (b. 1976). She married her second husband Sir Henry Neville Lindley Keswick in 1985 and have no issue.
  4. Hon. Kim Ian Maurice Fraser (4 January 1946 –30 May 2020) Married Joanna ("Janna") North on 18 Oct 1975 and has 3 sons: Thomas Oswald Mungo Fraser (b. 25 August 1976), Joseph Oscar Edward Fraser (b. 1978), and Maximilian Alexander Kim Fraser (b. 1982). Kim married secondly Sarah, ex-wife of his second cousin Kit Fraser, a descendant of the 12th Lord Lovat.
  5. (14 November 1947 –20 February 2011) married on 1 May 1976 and had four children: Cosmo Alexander Raoul Fraser (b. 1977), Poppy Augusta Fraser (b. 1979), Raoul Alastair Joseph Fraser (b. 1980), and Eloise Hermione Fraser (b. 1986). Patron of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society. Died of cancer at the age of 63.[26]
  6. (24 February 1952 –15 March 1994) married (b. 6 Jun 1958), daughter of , 8th Earl of Warwick, in 1979 and had 2 daughters: Daisy Rosamund Fraser (b. 1985) and Laura Alfreda Fraser (b. 1987). Died at the age of 42 after being fatally gored by buffalo while on safari in Tanzania.[8]

The 15th Lord Lovat's first son and heir Simon Augustine Fraser, Master of Lovat, and his fourth son predeceased him in 1994 within days of each other. The 15th Lord Lovat then died a year later in 1995. The title then passed to his grandson Simon Christopher Fraser, who became the 16th Lord Lovat.

References[]

  1. ^ Max Harper Gow, Louis Jebb (20 March 1995). "Lord Lovat". The Independent.
  2. ^ "Lovat, 17th Lord (S), (Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser) (9 July 1911–16 March 1995)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u173909. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  3. ^ "No. 33576". The London Gazette. 4 February 1930. p. 727.
  4. ^ "No. 33860". The London Gazette. 2 September 1932. p. 5621.
  5. ^ "No. 34082". The London Gazette. 28 August 1934. p. 5460.
  6. ^ "No. 34459". The London Gazette. 30 November 1937. p. 7517.
  7. ^ "Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Baron Lovat" The Peerage 21 August 2010
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Obituaries: Lady Lovat". The Herald. Glasgow.
  9. ^ "No. 34632". The London Gazette. 6 June 1939. p. 3780.
  10. ^ "No. 34660". The London Gazette. 29 August 1939. p. 5924.
  11. ^ "No. 35620". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 1942. p. 2971.
  12. ^ "No. 35622". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 1942. p. 2984.
  13. ^ "No. 38045". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 August 1947. pp. 3824–3825.
  14. ^ "No. 35729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 October 1942. pp. 4328–3825.
  15. ^ https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/6/6/the-most-famous-rifle-of-d-day-wasn-t-there/
  16. ^ http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/lord_lovat.htm
  17. ^ "Bill Millin". The Economist: 76. 28 August 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  18. ^ Burke's Peerage (2003), p.2415
  19. ^ Burke's Peerage (2003), vol.2, p.2415
  20. ^ "No. 39392". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 November 1951. p. 6175.
  21. ^ Moncrieffe, Sir Iain (1979), "Introduction", in Lovat, Simon Fraser, 15th Lord (ed.), March past: a memoir, Holmes & Meier, p. 2
  22. ^ "No. 37417". The London Gazette. 1 January 1946. p. 203.
  23. ^ Massie, Allan (12 May 2002). "I wish you could think of grown-up sins". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  24. ^ Davie, Michael (2010). Diaries of Evelyn Waugh. Phoenix.
  25. ^ Johnson, Paul (January–February 2012). "Novelists at Arms". Standpoint Magazine. Retrieved 6 May 2014. Two key figures, symbolising the proletarian takeover of the world which Waugh feared, are the trilogy's war heroes. Corporal-Major Ludovic, saturnine and Faustian, achieves heroic status by murder and emerges post-war as author of a romantic bestseller dangerously like Brideshead. He is based on no one as far as I can discover, and I think is an alter-ego of Waugh himself. Trimmer, aka McTavish, the former hairdresser on the Queen Mary, becomes a hero by cowardice, and conceives the son who is to be the heir to Crouchback, the hero-narrator. Waugh never shadow-boxes, as Uncle Tony sometimes does. He always plays for keeps. And by vindictive cunning of a high order, he manages to foist the ultra-plebeian Trimmer on the exquisite person of Brigadier Lord Lovat, head of the clan Fraser, who had his own family regiment and was known from his looks as "the upper-class Erroll Flynn". "Shimi" Lovat committed the unforgivable sin of ejecting Waugh from the Commandos since, he told me, "he had made himself so hated by his men they would have shot him in the back as soon as they went into action." So Waugh made Lovat into Trimmer. Once, when I happened to say a word in praise of Waugh, "Shimi" let forth a scream of rage and pain: "Do you realise, thanks to that monster, I am Trimmer?"
  26. ^ "Obituary: The Rt. Hon. Hugh Fraser, farmer (1947–2011)" The Scotsman

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
George Hall 		Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
1945
With: Lord Dunglass 		Succeeded by
Hector McNeil
Preceded by
Lord Selborne 		Minister of Economic Warfare
1945 		Office abolished
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Simon Joseph Fraser 		MacShimidh
1933–1995 		Succeeded by
Simon Fraser
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Simon Joseph Fraser 		Lord Lovat
1933–1995 		Succeeded by
Simon Fraser
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Simon Joseph Fraser 		Baron Lovat
1933–1995 		Succeeded by
Simon Fraser
Retrieved from ""