Fraser was descended from Alexander Fraser, second son of Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat (1426), and was the second son of Sir William 1st Baronet, Fellow of the Royal Society by Elizabeth, daughter of James Farquharson, esq., merchant, of London. And succeeded to the title, 23 December 1827, on the death of his brother Sir William Fraser, 2nd Baronet.
Fraser served with the 7th Hussars in Spain during the Peninsular War, and was on the staff of the Duke of Wellington during the Waterloo Campaign. The eldest son, Sir William Fraser, 4th Baronet was born in 1826, graduated Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at Christ church, Oxford, and in 1847 was appointed an officer in the 1st Life Guards, and subsequently captain. The youngest brother, James Keith, was in 1860 a captain first life guards.
In 1852 and 1857 he was the Member of Parliament for Barnstaple.
