Simon Fraser of Balnain - Early Life and Military Service

Early Life and Military Service

Simon was a younger son of Hugh Fraser of Balnain, Highland, by his wife, a daughter of Fraser of Forgie.

He fought with the Dutch army at Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747, and joined the British Army as a Lieutenant in 1755.

Fraser went to Canada with the British forces in the French and Indian War and took part in the Siege of Louisbourg. He was promoted to Captain before taking part in the Battle of Quebec in 1759. At that battle, he was in James Wolfe's boat crossing the St Lawrence. It was his reply, in French through the fog, that enabled the party to sneak ashore before ascending to the Plains of Abraham.

Fraser served in Germany, Ireland, and Gibraltar between wars. In 1768, he became the Lt. Colonel of the 24th Regiment of Foot.

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