The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Angus family’s role in Argentina is marked
Engineering and textile expertise was put to use after demand for sails flagged
Descendants of an Angus family whose legacy is still stamped in Argentina after 134 years will gather in Buenos Aires next month.
Douglas Fraser’s descendants have met every year since 1994, and more than 100 are expected to attend from the UK, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and the United States.
The family fortune was made after Mr Fraser’s youngest son, Norman, invented a machine for plaiting jute to make candlewick in 1881.
Its various uses saw the company grow rich and expand.
Simon Fraser from Dunkeld, whose grandfather was Norman Fraser, is among those travelling to the gathering in November.
Some of his grandfather’s Arbroathbuilt machines are still operating in
“The success ...was not achieved lightly. There were huge stresses both in Arbroath and Buenos Aires.
SIMON FRASER
Tucuman in northern Argentina, where Mr Fraser also plans to visit.
“My forebears were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“They possessed the right experience of textile industries and had appropriate engineering skills, both acquired in Arbroath, to capitalise on the commercial opportunity to mass produce footwear for the South American market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“The success of the business was not achieved lightly. There were huge stresses both in Arbroath and Buenos Aires, and I most admire how Douglas Fraser’s sons pulled together to get through the hard times.
“Through their drive and design talent they managed to diversify when the demand for sailcloth declined, and to establish a successful enterprise on the other side of the globe.
“While their enterprise was inevitably driven by Victorian values, these were not solely of self-interest. They saw it as their responsibility to do what they could for their community in Arbroath.
“The records, inevitably, concentrate on the roles of Douglas Fraser’s seven sons, but this is a success story in which many Arbroathians played their part, and of which their successors can be justly proud.”