Sir William Fraser, 4th Baronet

Sir William Augustus Fraser, 4th Baronet (10 February 1826 – 17 August 1898), of Pilton House, near Barnstaple, Devon, was an English politician, author and collector. He was elected member of parliament for Barnstaple (Devon) in 1852, and again in 1857, and for Ludlow (Shropshire) in 1863 and for Kidderminster (Worcestershire) in 1874.

Origins He was the eldest son and heir of Sir James Fraser, 3rd Baronet, a colonel of the 7th Hussars, who had served on Wellington's staff at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Biography Fraser was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. and M.A. In 1847 he was appointed an officer in the 1st Life Guards, but retired with a captain's rank in 1852. He then set about entering parliament, and the ups and downs of his political career were rather remarkable. He was returned for Barnstaple in 1852, but the election was declared void on account of bribery, and the constituency was disfranchised for two years.

At the election of 1857 Sir William, who had meantime been defeated at Harwich, was again returned at Barnstaple. He was, however, defeated in 1859, but was elected in 1863 at Ludlow. This seat he held for only two years, when he was again defeated and did not re-enter parliament until 1874, when he was returned for Kidderminster, a constituency he represented for six years, when he retired. He was a familiar figure at the Carlton Club, always ready with a copious collection of anecdotes of Wellington, Benjamin Disraeli and Napoleon III.

William Fraser was a member of the Society of Dilettanti (1857) and the author of the book "Members of the Society of Dilettanti, 1736–1874, edited by Sir William Frazer", Chiswick Press.