Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser (22 February 1837 – 4 June 1894) was an English diplomat who served as the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to the Japan Empire between 1889 and 1894.

Early life

Fraser was born on 22 February 1837 in Kent, England and was the son of Sir John Fraser, KCMG (1792–1864), and Lady Selima Charlotte Baldwin (1798–1882), who married in 1834. He came from the Balnain (Inverness) branch of Clan Fraser, Scotland.

His paternal grandparents were William Mackenzie Fraser, Esq. M.D. of Balnain, Scotland, and Isabel Skinner (herself the fifth daughter of American-born General Cortlandt Skinner, a descendant of the Dutch colonial Schuyler family). His maternal grandfather was William Baldwin Esq. of Stede Hill near Harrietsham, Kent. Through his father, he was related to Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg.

Fraser, like his father, attended Eton College from 1849 to 1854.

Career

Just out of Eton and not quite eighteen, Fraser was appointed, as an unpaid attaché at The Hague in January 1855, and was sent to Dresden the following month. He moved to Copenhagen in November 1857 and passed an examination in August 1859 to become a paid attaché. He was appointed to the British legation in Central America in September 1862 and subsequently served in Stockholm, and Rome.

After a brief engagement of six weeks, Fraser and wife set out for Peking where Hugh Fraser served as Secretary

of the Legation. For two years he served as Chargé d'Affaires while British Minister Sir Thomas Wade was on leave.