FRASER, LOUIS (fl. 1866), naturalist, was for some time curator to the Zoological Society of London, a post which he vacated to become naturalist to the Niger expedition of 1841–2. Returning home he entered the service of Lord Derby as temporary conservator of the menagerie at Knowsley. Here his time was fully occupied in making a scientific catalogue of the magnificent zoological collections. In November 1850 he received through Lord Derby the appointment of consul at Whydah, on the west coast of Africa (Proceedings of Zoological Society, pt. xviii. p. 245), from which he was recalled by Lord Palmerston. He then went to South America, where he collected many rare birds and other animals. He returned to England and became dealer in birds, opening shops successively at Knightsbridge and in Regent Street; but the speculation proved unsuccessful. He therefore left England, and obtained employment at Woodward's Gardens at San Francisco, which he is said to have quitted for some occupation in Vancouver's Island. He was certainly living in London in June 1866 (ib. pt. xxxiv. p. 367). His son, Oscar L. Fraser, F.L.S., is now (1888) second assistant to the superintendent of the zoological and general sections, Indian Museum, Calcutta. In addition to numerous papers in the publications of the Zoological Society, of which he was elected a corresponding member in 1857, Fraser was the author of ‘Zoologia Typica; or Figures of New and Rare Mammals and Birds, described in the Proceedings, or exhibited in the Collections of the Zoological Society of London,’ fol., London, 1849. The volume contains figures of twenty-eight mammals and forty-six birds, all of which were then of particular interest as representations of specimens originally described by the respective authors as the types of new genera or additional species of genera previously characterised; besides which the plates are enriched with drawings of many rare and beautiful plants. It was Fraser's intention that the work should appear at regular intervals, and be continued until it comprised figures of every new mammal and bird described in the Zoological Society's ‘Proceedings,’ of which figures had not appeared in any other publication, but circumstances compelled him to bring it to a premature close.
[Information from Mr. A. D. Bartlett; Preface to ‘Zoologia Typica;’ Thacker's Indian Directory (1888), p. 210.]
FRASER, PATRICK, Lord Fraser (1819–1889), senator of the College of Justice, son of Patrick Fraser, a merchant of Perth, was born at Perth in 1819. He was educated at the Perth grammar school and at the university of St. Andrews. Going to Edinburgh he entered the office of William Fraser, clerk to the burgh of Canongate, and he afterwards served in the firm of Todd & Hill, writers to the signet. In 1843 he was called to the bar, and three years later he published ‘The Law of Personal and Domestic Relations,’ which attracted a great deal of attention among both professional and non-professional readers. He rapidly rose as a lawyer and acquired considerable reputation. He obtained the appointment of counsel for the crown in excise cases, and on Lord Ormidale's promotion to the bench in 1864 he was appointed sheriff of Renfrewshire. In his career at the bar he was engaged in some of the greatest causes of his day, including the Yelverton case and the two famous succession cases of Breadalbane and Udny. In 1871 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Edinburgh, in recognition of the ‘historical research, the vigour of thought, and boldness of criticism which characterise his work on personal and domestic relations.’ In 1878 he was elected dean of the Faculty of Advocates, and in 1880 he was made a queen's counsel. On the resignation of Lord Gifford he was appointed a lord of session with the title of Lord Fraser, and on 15 Nov. in the same year he was appointed lord ordinary in exchequer cases. He steadily discharged his judicial duties, his bar and roll of causes generally being among the most crowded in the outer house. He died suddenly at Gattonside House, near Melrose, on 27 March 1889. He married Miss Sharp, daughter of a Birmingham merchant. She survived him, with a son—Mr. W. G. Fraser, a member of the Scottish bar—and four daughters.
Few men of his generation had read so extensively in all departments of Scottish legal literature, and he gave the fruits of his researches in a manner at once clear, concise, and popular.
His works are:
- ‘A Treatise on the Law of Scotland as applicable to the Personal and Domestic Relations; comprising Husband and Wife, Parent and Child, Guardian and Ward, Master and Servant, and Master and Apprentice,’ 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1846, 8vo.
- ‘Tytler's History of Scotland examined; a review’ (anon.), Edinburgh, 1848, 8vo.
- ‘Domestic Economy, Gymnastics, and Music; an omitted clause in the Education Bill. By a Bystander,’ Edinburgh, 1855, 8vo.
- ‘The Conflict of Laws in Cases of Divorce,’ Edinburgh, 1860, 8vo.
- ‘A Treatise on the Law of Scotland relative to Parent and Child,
