page_title: Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat
section_title: Issues of inheritance
hierarchical_section_title: Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat / Issues of inheritance
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of English: John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl (1660-1724), by Thomas Murray, signed and dated 1705. A view of old Dunkeld House can be seen through the arch in the background. Dunkeld House, built by Sir William Bruce in 1676-84 for the 1st Marquis of Atholl. Demolished in 1827, this was one of Scotland's major 17th-century mansions.
context_page_description: Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, nicknamed 'the Fox', was a Scottish Jacobite and Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, known for his feuding and changes of allegiance. In 1715, he had been a supporter of the House of Hanover, but in 1745 he changed sides and supported the Stuart claim on the crown of the United Kingdom. Lovat was among the Highlanders defeated at the Battle of Culloden and convicted of treason against the Crown, following which he was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded.
context_section_description: Upon graduation in 1695 he was at a crossroads, owing to the poor leadership of the clan by Hugh Fraser, 9th Lord Lovat (1666-1696). Recognising the threat posed to it by the expanding power of the nearby Clan Mackenzie, as well as its ally the Atholl Murrays, Simon of Beaufort needed to ensure his father's succession to the lordship. There were two avenues available to him to pursue this claim: the law or the army. He chose the latter. Accordingly, he went to Edinburgh and undertook to recruit three hundred men from his clan to form part of a regiment in the service of William III and Mary II. This was done more to ensure a body of well-trained soldiers under his influence than loyalty to the government. However, a suspicious Lord John Murray (brother of Hugh Fraser's wife, Amelia Murray) was colonel of Simon's regiment and he was only given a lieutenancy, not a salaried captainship.
  In early 1696, whilst on a trip to London in the company of both Simon of Beaufort and Lord John Murray, Hugh assigned the succession of the Lovat title to the Beaufort Frasers. Hugh died that same year, and Thomas of Beaufort (Simon's father) then took on the title of 10th Lord Lovat, but the succession was to be disputed by Lord John Murray, now the Earl of Tullibardine and the most powerful man in Scotland.
caption: John Murray, later Duke of Atholl
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