Hugh Fraser (diplomat)

Hugh Fraser (diplomat)

Hugh Fraser (February 22, 1837 – June 4, 1894) was a British diplomat.

Fraser headed the British Legation in Tokyo as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. He headed the British delegation in the final stages of the negotiations which led to the signing on July 16, 1894 of the revised treaty (called the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation) between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan. This replaced the "unequal treaty" signed by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin in 1858 and led to the abolition of extraterritoriality in Japan in 1899. Thus was Japan freed from the commercial and political burdens imposed by the unequal treaties signed with foreign countries.