Louis Fraser

Who was Louis Fraser?

Louis Fraser was a British zoologist and collector. In his early years Fraser was Curator of the Museum of the Zoological Society of London.

Little is known about his early life. He married Mary Ann Harrison on February 17, 1844. A son Oscar L. Fraser worked as an assistant in the Indian Museum at Calcutta around 1888. He worked for fourteen years at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. He worked with the anatomist Richard Owen on studies of the emu and rhea. He participated in the Niger expedition of 1841 as the African Civilization Society's scientist, with Allen and Thomson. He stayed on in Fernando Po and collected. Upon his return he became in charge of Lord Derby's collection at Knowsley Hall. In 1846 he was sent by Lord Derby to collect in north Africa. Ind 1848 he became conservator at Knowsley. He wrote Zoologica Typica, or figures of the new and rare animals and birds in the collection of the Zoological Society of London, a lavishly illustrated large-sized book, published in 1849. In this book he described a large number of new species of birds. In 1850, Fraser was appointed Consul of Quidah, Dahomey, West Africa.