Stuart Fraser (diplomat)

Stuart Mitford Fraser was educated at Blundell's School and Balliol College. He passed the examination for the Indian Civil Service in 1882 and was allocated to the Bombay Presidency.

Within 5 years Fraser was selected as guardian and tutor to the Raja of Kolhapur, later to become Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj after being educated at Rajkumar College, Rajkot.

He later had responsibility for the leadership preparations of the Maharajah of Bhavanagar, Shri Bhavsinhji II (1875–1919) after schooling at Rajkumar College, Rajkot like his father, Takhtsinhji and son, Krishna Kumarasingh Bhavasingh the last Maharaja of Bhavnagar.

In 1896 Fraser was appointed as governor and tutor to the young Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore, who was later to become known as a beneficent ruler who enhanced the reputation of Mysore as a model state.

SIR STUART FRASER - TRAINING INDIAN PRINCES

Sir Stuart Fraser, K.C.S.1., C.LE., died at Christchurch on Sunday in his one- hundredth year.

The outstanding feature of his career was that of his guidance of and friendship to a number of important rulers of Indian princely states, Thereafter he was for more than a quarter of a century a diligent member, and sometime alderman, of the Hampshire County Council, and engaged in much philanthropic work in the county.

Stuart Mitford Fraser was born on June. 2, 1864, the son of J.D. Fraser, and was educated at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, and Balliol College, Oxford. He passed the LCS. examination in:

1882 and was allotted to the Bom- ay _ presidency. Within five years he was selected to be guardian and tutor to the minor Raja of Kolhapur, afterwards Maharaja Shri Shau Chatrapati (1884-1922). Fraser also had charge of the preparation for rulership of the Chief of Kagal and the progressive Maharaja of Bhavanagar. Shri Bravasinhji II, who died in 1919, Fraser’s notes for his own guidance on the training of the princes-were so wise that they were subse- quently sent to the principals of all Chief Colleges in India and came into official use.

In 1896 Fraser was selected to be tutor and governor to the minor Maharaja of the | important State of Mysore, then a boy of 12. During the formative six years. which elapsed before the Maharaja was invested with full powers by Lord Curzon he. had a thorough, if sometimes exacting, preparation for his life’s work. Throughout the 38 years of his beneficent rule he entertained a profound affection for his mentor. Aided by a succession of able Dewans and notably, during the last 15 years, bv the tenure of his old classmate Sir Mirza Ismail, the Maharaja enhanced the reputation of Mysore as a model state. . .

In 1903 Fraser went to the Foreign Department at Calcutta and Simla as deputy secretary and later officiating. secretary. In the following year Lord Curzon sent him to Peking as H.M. Commissioner to negotiate with the Chinese Government about the Anglo-Tibetan Convention of that year. In 1905 he returned to Mysore as Resident and ex-officio Chief_ Commissioner of the small province of Coorg.

in 1911 Fraser was appointed Resident in Kashmir. In Srinagar, as elsewhere, Fraser was on terms of warm friendship with the ruler and steadily encouraged progress and reform. For a few months in the summer of 1914 Fraser acted as Resident in Hyderabad. Almost at the outset of the war Turkey was drawn to the German side, which had a serious effect upon Mushm subjects of the Crown, and not least in India. The Nizam of Hyderabad took a defeatist view, and it was only the firm and confident persuasiveness of the acting Resident which led him to recog- nize how fatal would be the effect if he failed to follow the traditions of his father as friend and helper of the British Raj

At the three important Residencies he occupied Fraser was greatly assisted by the comradeship and understanding help of his wife, Constance, daughter of Colonel Edwin Maude, whom he married in 1888 and who died in 1937. She was made C.B.E. in 1918 for war work in Hyderabad. They had a son and two daughters.

In 1903 Fraser went to the Foreign Department at Calcutta and Simla as deputy secretary and in 1904 was sent by Lord Curzon as H.M Commissioner to negotiate with the Chinese about the Anglo-Tibetan Convention (requiring Tibet to open its border with British India).

Fraser returned to India in 1905 as Resident in Mysore and Chief Commissioner of Coorg. In 1911 Fraser was appointed Resident in Kashmir and for several months in 1914 was acting Resident in Hyderabad.

At the commencement of the First World War, with Turkey taking the side of Germany, it was Fraser’s resolute and confident approach that persuaded Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad, to resist defeatist view and ensure continued support for the British Raj.

Fraser Town is a suburb of Bangalore Cantonment, in Bangalore North-East, spread over 4 km2. It was established in 1906 and is named after Stuart Mitford Fraser (1864-1963).[1] Fraser Town was established to de-congest the growing Bangalore Civil and Military Station (otherwise known as the Bangalore Cantonment).[2] The foundation of Fraser Town was laid in August 2010 by Mrs. F J Richards, with a commemorative plaque on the corner of Coles Road and Mosque Road .[3] Fraser Town is a residential and commercial suburb, the prominent roads being Promenade Road, Netaji Road, Madhavraya Mudaliar Road (M M Road), Haines Road, Spencer Road, Wheeler Road, Mosque Road, etc. The suburb is known for its communal harmony with Hindus, Muslims and Christians living side by side in peace.[1]

• Obituary - Sir Stuart Fraser, The Times, 4 December 1963 (pg. 18; Issue 55875; col A)
• Obituary - Sir Stuart Fraser, Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society, LI (1964), p. 197
• Royal India: a descriptive and historical study of India's fifteen principal states and their rulers, Maud Diver, Ayer Publishing, 1971 ISBN 0-8369-2152-6 ISBN 978-0-8369-2152-6