James Baillie Fraser

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James Baillie Fraser (June 11, 1783 - January, 1856) was a Scottish traveller and author.

He was born at Reelick in the county of Inverness. He was the eldest of the four sons of Edward Satchel Fraser of Reelick, all of whom travelled in the East and had successful careers.

In early life James went to the West Indies and from there travelled to India. In 1815 be made a tour of exploration in the Himalayas, accompanied by his brother William (d. 1835). When Reza Kuli Mirza and Nejeff Kuli Mirza, the exiled Persian princes, visited England, he was appointed to look after them during their stay, and on their return he accompanied them as far as Constantinople. He was afterwards sent to Persia on a diplomatic mission by Lord Glenelg, and effected a most remarkable journey on horseback through Asia Minor to Teheran. His health, however, was impaired by the exposure.

In 1823 he married a daughter of Alexander Fraser Tytler. Lord Woodhouselee, a sister of the historian Patrick Fraser Tytler. He died at Reelick.

Fraser is said to have displayed great skill in watercolours, and several of his drawings have been engraved; and the astronomical observations which he took during some of his journeys did considerable service to the cartography of Asia. The works by which he attained his literary reputation were accounts of his travels and fictitious tales illustrative of Eastern life. In both he employed a vigorous and impassioned style which was on the whole wonderfully effective in spite of minor faults in taste and flaws in structure.

Fraser's earliest writings are: Journal of a Tour through Part of the Himdi Mountains and to the Sources of the Jumna and the Ganges (1820); A Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1823 and 1822, including some Account of the Countries to the North-East of Persia (1825); and Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (1826). His romances include The Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorasan (1828), and its sequel The Persian Adventurer (1830); Alice Neeinroo (1842); and The Dari Falcon (1844). He also wrote An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia (1834); A Winter's Journey (Ttar) from Constantinople to Teheran (1838); Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, etc. (1840) Mesopotamia and Assyria (1842); and Military Memoirs of Col. James Skinner (1851).

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.