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James Baillie Fraser
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An author of various historical novels and illustrated travel books, James Baillie Fraser was an artist and writer from Inverness, Scotland. Born in Edinburgh to a family of landowners, Fraser spent most of his youth at his family estate in Inverness before returning to Edinburgh to attend school.
In 1799, at the age of sixteen, Fraser travelled to Berbice (now a part of Guyana) to manage his family’s sugar and cotton plantations. Due...
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An author of various historical novels and illustrated travel books, James Baillie Fraser was an artist and writer from Inverness, Scotland. Born in Edinburgh to a family of landowners, Fraser spent most of his youth at his family estate in Inverness before returning to Edinburgh to attend school.
In 1799, at the age of sixteen, Fraser travelled to Berbice (now a part of Guyana) to manage his family’s sugar and cotton plantations. Due to the failure of this venture, he set sail for India in 1813 to join his brothers who were employed by the East India Company. After a short-lived trading partnership in Calcutta, he left for Nahan in northern India to accompany his brother William Fraser in a military campaign along the lower Himalayan hill states.
For three months, Fraser and his brother, escorted by a deployment of local recruits, travelled through uncharted parts of the Himalayas — regions never before visited by Europeans. During this journey, Fraser documented the scenery, natural world and his own topographical findings through a series of detailed sketches. He also employed Indian artists to make portraits of the local recruits and gurkhas. These sketches continue to be a valuable record of 19th century Indian landscapes, people and objects.
Upon his return to Calcutta in 1816, Fraser joined another trading partnership, but mainly spent his time reworking past sketches. During this time, he got acquainted with artist William Havell, who encouraged him to publish his Himalayan landscapes and later facilitated the publication of Fraser’s books Views in the Himala Mountains and Journal of a Tour Through Part of The Snowy Range of The Himala Mountains and To the Sources of The Rivers Jumna And Ganges. Under the guidance of Havell and artist George Chinnery, Fraser spent the next four years creating watercolour paintings that documented the changing architecture and environs of Calcutta. These were published as aquatints in Views of Calcutta and its Environs in 1826.
Fraser left India in 1820 and returned to Britain in 1823 after a long, strenuous journey across Persia and Europe. In the following years, he wrote multiple novels and travel books, most of which were inspired by his time in Persia. Along with his artistic and literary endeavours, Fraser is also known for undertaking several administrative assignments in Persia for the British Foreign Office.
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Born
1783
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died
1856
Inverness, Scotland
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