Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, 1667 – 9 April 1747, }} was a Scottish clan chief and head of Clan Fraser of Lovat. Convicted of high treason for his role in the Jacobite rising of 1745, he was the last man in Britain to be executed by beheading.

He supported the Hanoverian cause during the Jacobite rising of 1715, and was accordingly granted ownership of the confiscated Lovat estate. However, by 1729, he was secretly and illegally, but only temporarily, granting freedom of religion to the Catholics of his clan, who were looked after by three outlawed Jesuit "heather priests" who lived inside a mountain cave near Loch Craskie in Glen Cannich. Lovat also established links through war poet Iain Ruadh Stiùbhart with the House of Stuart government in exile. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, he first gave assurances of his loyalty to both sides, but ultimately committed himself to the Jacobite Army.

While in hiding from government troops in Lochaber following the Battle of Culloden, he was captured near Loch Morar by the Royal Navy. Brought to London, Lovat was tried for treason by his peers in the House of Lords, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed on Tower Hill on 9 April 1747. Lord Lovat was both praised by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair and reviled by Maighstir Iain in the Scottish Gaelic bardic poetry of the era. Lord Lovat has also appeared in multiple works of historical fiction published since, including novels by John Buchan, Neil Munro, and Diana Gabaldon. Provided by Wikipedia