| Name |
William Lewis Fraser |
| Born |
1841 [1] |
- He was likely born in England, then immigrated with his family to Canada and to New York City.
|
| Gender |
Male |
| Military |
the Civil War  [1] |
- He served as a member of a Vermont Calvary regiment and was wounded. It appears not to have resided in Brookhaven hamlet at the time of the Civil War or for any significant time after the war, although he was apparently living with his son Malcolm Fraser at the time of his death.
|
| Misc |
New York, New York, NY [1, 2] |
| a member of various clubs and organizations |
- These included the Lotus Club, the Grolier Club, the Players, the Black and White, the Fellowcraft Club, the National Arts Club, and the Architectural League.
|
| Occupation |
a painter, sculptor, art dealer, and musician. [1] |
For forty years he was art manager of the "Century Magazine" and the editor of the "Century Dictionary." He was president of the Salmagundi Club, famed artists’ association, in 1896. A lecturer and writer on art topics for "Century Magazine," William L. Fraser was the master of many languages. He had an unusually fine tenor voice, and as a boy had been a member of the Boys’ Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Later, while still an English subject, he gave painting lessons to Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise.6 He had returned for a time to his native country, and his young son, Malcolm Fraser, was with him. One day when the little boy was playing in the garden at Windsor with the Earl of Bathhurst’s son, Queen Victoria came along in her pony carriage. After speaking to the Earl of Bathhurst’s son, Her Majesty turned to Young Malcolm and said: "And whose little boy are you?" He replied: "I am Lord Rougemont’s son." Queen: "Oh yes, the artist who is giving my daughter painting lessons. And what are you going to be when you grow up?" Malcolm: "I am going to be an artist." Queen: "That’s right, never be a queen. It is a thankless task."
Marie Fraser of the Clan Fraser Society of Canada writes, "You can imagine my amusement when a writer friend in the UK directed my attention to the biography of Malcolm Fraser on [Ormond Memorial Art Museum] web site. My friend did not note the discrepancies in the inventive ancestral connection of Malcolm Fraser to Simon Fraser Lord Lovat... However, you might be able discern slight amusement from the following comment:
'What is of note in this paper [the Ormond biography] that when wee Malcolm Fraser informed his sovereign that he was none other than the son of Lord Rougemont, that gracious lady did not contradict him. Perhaps as a mother of nine, Her Majesty was used to grandiose claims. However, could it be she realized at once that William L. Fraser was the rightful heir to an English barony by writ, held by the 2nd Lord Lisle, proud Johanni de Insula de Rubeo Monte, before lapsing into abeyance on the death, in what might be termed poverty, of his younger son? I believe, it could only have been the prospect of summoning the finest brains the College of Arms could muster to resolve the Rougemont barony case that caused this most dutiful of monarchs to quail momentarily and describe her the high estate to which God in his wisdom had called her as "a thankless task." '
The late Malcolm Fraser might have gotten away with his inventive ancestry in the United States before the age of the Internet, but the above comment comes from someone who is very familiar with the British and European aristocratic hierarchy."
|
| Residence |
1903 |
Bryantville, Plymouth, MA [3] |
| at Devon Lea |
| Died |
16 Oct 1905 |
Brookhaven, Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY [1, 4] |
- He died at the home of his son [Charles Malcolm Fraser], in the 64th year of his age. An "Appreciation" appeared in the New York Times Review of Books, 28 Oct. 1905:
WILLIAM L. FRASER
An Appreciation of the character and Gifts of the Recently Deceased Artist
In the recent death of William Lewis Fraser the artists and wood engravers of America have lost one of their most intimate and sympathetic friends.
A little over a quarter of a century ago Mr. Fraser closed his career in the practice of art to assist the management of The Century magazine, (then Scribner's Monthly.) This was the period of the "new school," as it is termed, in wood engraving and that wave of enthusiasm among the younger painters of America who brought back with them from their student days in France new perceptions of the meaning of art and an advance in technical knowledge and methods which opened the door for free individual expression, hitherto closed to the prisoners of tradition.
To these forces in the younger men Mr. Fraser, as young in spirit as they, and with longer experience unwarped by prejudice for any school, helped to give direction, in co-operation with Mr. Drake, the chief of the art department. In the field of illustration, where his position might have been, in a less cultivated and sympathetic mind, the occasion of wounding the sensitive artistic temperament unnecessarily, his honest judgement was not only not resented, but it may safely be said, invariably received with the artist's ready appreciation of true practical criticism. He had the rare faculty of puncturing a fault without leaving a sting. One day an artist, after long struggles with a refractory drawing, presented it to Mr. Fraser, who received it without a word, good or bad. "Well, what do you think of it?" he ventured in the somewhat chilly atmosphere. "I think you can do better," came from the formidable-looking little man behind the spectacles. Not so much the words as the inflection acted like a spur. The artist went away with labored production, and putting every fibre of his being into a new composition, soon earned the coveted few words of appreciation.
As is natural, during the progressive movement alluded to, many "fads" were developed, at first glance likely to be mistaken for new and true principles just brought to light. It was here that the youthful spirit and sound judgement of Mr. Fraser divined rightly. Never loosing his poise, he always gave sympathetic consideration to every phase of art, unerringly discriminating between the actually spurious and that which, although perhaps only in embryo, contained genuine impulse.
Outside the sphere of magazines and book illustrations, his opinion and judgement were sought by painters and sculptors alike, with whom he always maintained a friendly fellowship. His practical judgement in the affairs and exhibitions of the Salmagundi Club now so popular, did much to further that end.
Mr. Fraser will also be remembered as a useful and brilliant entertainer, as a lecturer on the history and character of illustration, involving great research into early printing and engraving, especially wood-engraving in this country. It is much to be regretted that he did not live to finish a comprehensive work on this subject long in progress, although a fire which destroyed his notes and many books and prints of reference might have rendered the task impossible.
As a man, William Fraser was many sided. Full of fun and an excellent story teller and mimic, he was a leading spirit in society. His home and family life was pure, sweet, and self-denying. Deep in his nature, under the stress and glamour of a professional career, ran the pure stream of religious life, the influence of which Christian spirit will always be felt in many wayside and obscure places.
E.W.W. New York--Oct. 23, 1905
|
| Buried |
Brookhaven (Oaklawn Cemetery), Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY [5] |
Address:
Lot 017-018 |
| Person ID |
I5794 |
Brookhaven & South Haven Hamlets |
| Last Modified |
22 Sep 2014 |
_200.JPG)
1841 - 1905 (64 years)
