Description
Signed and verso, oil on canvas, unframed
Dimensions
61cm x 51cm (24in x 20in)
Footnote
'His was an inspirational personality. Under him, men did more than they could possibly imagine they could do, were braver than they knew themselves to be.' - Max Harper, Lovat's staff captain, writing in his obituary.
Born Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser in 1911, 'Shimi' Lovat succeeded his father (himself a distinguished soldier who raised the Lovat Scouts during the Second Boer War) as 17th Lord Lovat and 24th Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat in 1933. His military career began when he joined the Scots Guards, immediately upon graduating from Magdalen College Oxford in 1932. Though he left several years later in 1937, upon the outbreak of World War II he joined his father's regiment, the Lovat Scouts, later transferring to a commando group, whom he led in a famously successful raid on the Lofoten Islands in 1941. Perhaps he is most well-known, however, for his role in the Dieppe Landing in 1942, in which the commando which he led captured the enemy battery near Varengeville, the only success of the Dieppe Raid. He was awarded the DSO for his role in the operation, having already received the Military Cross for his part in a reconnaissance raid on Boulogne. He appears in the 1962 film The Longest Day, played by actor Peter Lawford.
Lovat served as Joint Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the 1945 caretaker government, and continued to speak on Highland matters in the House of Lords. He retired from military service in 1962, retaining the honorary rank of brigadier until his death in 1995.