Life

Fraser made his studies at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 and took his Ph.D. in 1862. In 1869 Fraser was a medical assistant professor at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh or RIE, sometimes mistakenly referred to as Edinburgh Royal Infirmary or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on...

. In 1877 he was a member of an arctic expedition and later in 1877 was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In 1880 he was nominated Dean of the Medical Faculty.

In his later life he was both a consultant of insurance companies and of the Scottish Prisons Commission

Scottish Prison Service

The Scottish Prison Service is an executive agency of the Scottish Government tasked with managing prisons in Scotland...

.

In 1869 he became a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...

 and in 1877 member of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

. In 1889 and 1890 he reported about an arrow poison used in coastal areas of Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 and Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 and analyzed the highly poisonous Calabar bean

Calabar bean

The Calabar bean is the seed of a leguminous plant, Physostigma venenosum, a native of tropical Africa, poisonous to humans. It derives the first part of its scientific name from a curious beak-like appendage at the end of the stigma, in the centre of the flower; this appendage, though solid, was...

 and Strophanthus

Strophanthus

Strophanthus is a genus of 35-40 species of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, native mainly to tropical Africa, extending to South Africa, with a few species in Asia, from southern India to the Philippines and southern China. The name derives from the long twisted threadlike segments of...

 hispidus. From 1898 to 1899 he was president of the Government Commission for the research on the plague in India and in 1900 president of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. In 1902 he was knighted.

With his wife Susanna Margaret Duncan Fraser he had one son, Sir Francis Richard Fraser

Francis Richard Fraser

Sir Francis Richard Fraser was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Sir Thomas Richard Fraser, the Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh and member of the Royal Society, and Susanna Margaret Duncan...

(1885–1964), who also became a Professor of Materia Medica in Edinburgh.

Publications

• The antagonism between the actions of active substances; British Medical journal, 1872
• On The Physiological Action Of The Calabar Bean, Physostigma Venenosum Balf.; Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, XXIV, 1867
• On the connexion between chemical constitution and physiological action; ibidem XXV
• On Stropanthus hispidus; ibidem XXXV
• An investigation into some previously undescribed tetanic symptoms produced by atropia in cold-blooded animals
• Strophanthus hispidus: its Natural History, Chemistry and Pharmacology. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXXV, 955-1028