William Fraser

William Fraser may refer to:

Military people

Politicians

William Fraser (bishop)

William Fraser (died 1297) was a late 13th century Bishop of St Andrews and Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland. Before election to the bishopric, he had been and Royal Chancellor of King Alexander III of Scotland and dean of Glasgow. He was elected to the bishopric on 4 August 1279, and confirmed in the position the following year by Pope Nicholas III

In 1295, William was sent to France as part of the king's attempt to gained an alliance with the French king, on 20 August 1297. William was one of the leading political figures in the kingdom during the crisis that emerged in the aftermath of King Alexander. In 1290, he was elected as one of the six Guardians of Scotland, the six oligarchs who ran Scotland until the accession of King John Balliol. When the latter was appointed as King of Scots by King Edward I of England, William retained his role as one of the country's leading political players. In 1295, William was sent to France as part of the king's attempt to gained an alliance with the King of the French. He remained in France for the remaining two years of his life, and died at Artuyl, on 20 August 1297. He was buried in the Church of the "Preaching Friars" on the Rue Saint-Jacques in Paris. His heart was returned to St Andrews, and was buried in the wall of the church by his successor, William de Lamberton.

William Fraser (New Zealand politician born 1840)

Sir William Fraser KCVO (1840 – 16 July 1923) was an Independent Conservative then Reform Party member of parliament in New Zealand.

Fraser was born in India, the son of Captain Hugh Fraser of the 5th Madras Light Cavalry. He received his education at Elizabeth College in Guernsey, Victoria College in Jersey, and the Lycée de St Brieuc in Brittany, France. He came to New Zealand in September 1858 for farming. Together with Alfred Cheetham Strode, he took up Earnscleugh Station on the Earnscleugh River. In 1874, he married Ellen Isabel Strode, the daughter of his business partner, in 1874.

Fraser was a member of the Otago Provincial Council (1867–1870). He was a member of the inaugural Vincent County from 1877 until 1893, the last ten years as chairman. He won the Wakatipu electorate in the 1893 general election, and retired in 1919. He served on the Legislative Council from 1919 to 1923 when he died.

Under Prime Minister William Massey, he was Minister of Public Works (10 July 1912 – 3 April 1920), Minister of Mines (10 July 1912 – 12 August 1915; 4 September 1919 – 27 July 1920), Minister of Industries and Commerce (10 July 1912 – 26 July 1912) and a Member of the Executive Council (without portfolio; 27 July 1920 – 16 July 1923).