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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
The Hon. Captain Thomas Fraser
The Hon. Captain Thomas Fraser was born in 1809, at Ledclune, Inverness-shire, Scotland, and was the son of Captain Hugh Fraser. At the age of sixteen he entered the service of the East India Company, as an ensign in the 7th Bengal Cavalry, and retired seventeen years later with the rank of captain. He bore the reputation of being a gallant and daring officer. Two or three times he was shipwrecked, and on one occasion was the solitary survivor of a vessel which was wrecked off the coast of France. In 1858 Captain Fraser, having retired from the East India Company's service, embarked for New Zealand in the ship “Oliver Laing,” and arrived in Wellington in the same year. He came on to Otago, where he entered pastoral life, and bought a station at Shag Valley. In 1860 he entered the House of Representatives as member for Waikouaiti, and held the seat during the term of the Parliament. On the 13th of May, 1870, when the Fox-Vogel Administration was in office, he was called to the Legislative Council, and retained his seat until his death, which occurred on the 24th of June, 1891.