FIGHT FOR A PEERAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10491, 10 July 1897, Page 10 (Supplement)

FIGHT FOR A PEERAGE.

LONDON CLAIMANT TO A TITLE AND £10,000 A VEAIi. The present Lord Lovat, like his predecessor, is about to be called upon to show good causa why he should noli have his title and estates in Inverness-shire wrested from him. The claimant is Mr. John Fraser, of Lovat Lodge, Harrington Square, London, and in a short time the pleadings will be registered on his behalf in tho Court) of Sessions, Edinburgh, setting forth the grounds upon which he claims to be entitled to the estates. The case will be tried before Lord Low, the action being directed against the Lord Advocate as representing the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and against" Simon Fraser, styling himself Baron Lovat in the peerage of Scotland, residing at Beaufort Castle, Invernessshire," Mr. Fraser has retained the Right j Hon. J.B. Balfour as leading counsel, and the learned gentleman will be assisted by other eminent members of the Scotch Bar. It is not Mr. Fraier's first attempt to prove that he is the rightful heir to the Lovat peerage. In 1885 the case was exhaustively gone into by the House of Lords; and the opinion of their • lordships went against the claimant because of his inability to adequately establish, by documentary proof, bis descent from Alexander Lord Lovat, who died in Wales in 1776 at the advanced age of 103. The story of that Lord Lovat is a romantic one. He is said to have killed a piper in a fit of passion, and in consequence had to "fly from Scotland, taking refuge in Wales. The contention of the present claimant is that Alexander was the eldest brother, but that in his compulsory absence from Scotland the title was appropriated by Alexander's brother Simon, who represented himself as being the eldest born. The present Lord Lovat is descended from Simon, while Mr. Fraser claims to be the direct lineal descendant of Alexander. Mr. Fraser is sanguine that lie will be able to establish his claim to the satisfaction of the court. Should he succeed in doing so it would mean his securing a title as a Scotch peer, together with Beaufort Castle and an estate yielding a return of something like £40,000 a year. The links in the chain of evidence that were wanting twelve years ago have now, Mr. Fraser believes, been supplied, and the claimant has the assurance of those competent to give an opinion that he has a strong case to present to the court. On the previous occasion Mr. Fraser was able to satisfy their lordships that ho was a descendant of the Lovats; at the forthcoming trial be hopes to conclusively prove that he is descended frin Alexander Lord

Lovat. In the course of the hearing it is expected that many interesting facts will be adduced. One will have reference to some jewellery discovered in an old building m London, which' is said to have belonged to the Lovat family. It is assumed that thiswwars r in the possession of Alexander, who brought it to London at some period after he fled from Scotland.' Another point has reference to the family mausoleum in the north of Scotland, and' the document* which, it is alleged, were placed in the coffins. The inscription on ; the tombstone of Alexander will'also form a prominent feature, and a secret vault in a houso at) Kirkhall will figure in this' up-to-date romance of a peerage. - Apart from Lord Lovat and 'Mr, Fraser, the case is one which has a peculiar interest for the Free Church of Scotland,' who have a mortgage '.on the estate of £250,000, advanced a few years ago; out of the'Snstentation Fund, This mortgage was entered into 'by the present owner of the title in order to clpar off other mortgages that were in existence. ' If- Mr. i rasei- were to win, the consequences might M HrioiU for the mortgagor!; 1 ' '