Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, ( 1667 – 9 April 1747))}} was a Scottish landowner 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.

Fraser's family had been associated with the Jacobite cause during the late 17th century: hoping to gain support in a dispute over ownership of the Fraser lands, he remained in contact with the exiled Stuart court. During the Jacobite rising of 1715, Fraser supported the government and was accordingly granted ownership of the confiscated Lovat estate; by the late 1730s, however, he was again secretly in contact with the exiles. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, he first gave assurances of his loyalty to both sides, but ultimately supplied Fraser levies 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 had his future execution accurately predicted by Maighstir Iain Mac Fhearchair 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, S.G. Maclean and Diana Gabaldon. Provided by Wikipedia