Claud Lovat Fraser

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Claud Lovat Fraser (May 15, 1890 London – June 18, 1921, Dymchurch) was an English Artist, designer and author.

Claud Lovat Fraser was a member of a distinguished old family in which it was traditional to include the name Lovat in the eldest son's name. For much of his life he was know simply by that name. Fraser's father (also Claud) was a prominent solicitor.

The young Fraser and his younger brother Alan were educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey. In 1907 he began his studies to enter his father's law firm, but was always more interested in becoming an artist. In 1911 with his father's blessing he left the family firm and began to pursue a career in art.

After a brief period under the tutelage of Walter Sickert in 1912 he executed illustrations for Haldane Macfall's essay on art and aesthetics entitled The Splendid Wayfaring.

In 1913, along with Holbrook Jackson and the poet Ralph Hodgson Lovat Fraser established a small publishing firm called The Sign of the Flying Fame to produce decorative poetry broadsides and chapbooks. Although printed in limited editions and often hand-coloured, they were affordably priced and were intended to make poetry more accessible to the general public.

In the autumn of 1914, Fraser enlisted with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and was quickly commissioned to the 14th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He went on to produce sketches as a record of the trenches and battlefields of Flanders. He was one of few British officers to survive the Battle of Loos in 1915. In December of that year his battalion withstood a German gas attack but in the confusion of the event, he neglected to put on his gas mask and suffered injuries to his lungs. He was promoted to captain in early 1916, but by late February he was invalided home, suffering from the effects of gas and from shellshock after a battle at the Ypres Salient. He served as a clerk in the War Office on visual propaganda from October 1916 through to late April 1917 and then at the Army Record Office at Hounslow until his discharge in March 1919.

In August 1916, he had met the American-born actress Grace Inez Crawford in the dressing room of a theatre. They were married in February 1917 and had a daughter, Helen. His wife's interests contributed to his increased activity in theatre and costume design.

After the war, Fraser made designs for the Harold Munro's Poetry Bookshop and for the Curwen Press. He also executed private commissions for bookplates, stationery and greeting cards. He produced the designs for a very successful revival of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

During this period Grace and Lovat Fraser became friendy with Paul Nash. They were introduced by Nash and his wife to Dymchurch in Kent and the two families holidayed together. Lovat was taken ill, while the family were vacationing there and died on June 18 after a sudden illness related to the injuries he had sustained from the gassing from which he had never properly recovered.

A memorial exhibition of his work was held in December 1921 at the Leicester Galleries in London.

[edit] References

Drinkwater, John and Albert Rutherston. Claud Lovat Fraser. London: Heinemann. (1923).
Fraser, Grace Lovat. In the Days of My Youth. London: Cassell & Company Ltd. (1970).
Macfall, Haldane. The Book of Lovat Fraser. London: J.M. Dent. (1923).