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Name: FRERE, Henry Bartle Edward (Bart.) PC, GCB, GCS,DCL, FRS, Sir

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Birth Date: 29 Mar 1815 Clydach, Breconshire

Death Date: 29 May 1884 Kingston, Surrey

First Date: 1873

Profession: British administrator. In 1873 he visited Zanzibar on a special mission. In 1877 he was appointed Governor of Cape Colony, a position he held until 1880.

Area: Mombasa

Married: 10 Oct 1844 Catherine Arthur b. 1821 Honduras, d. 9 Apr 1899 Chelsea

Children: Bartle Compton Arthur (24 Oct 1854 Paddington-1933); Mary Eliza Isabella (11 Aug 1845 Bitton, Glos.-1911); Catherine Frances (25 Sep 1848 Saltard, E. Indies-1921); Georgina Hamilton Chichester (30 Mar 1850 Maherbideshiour, India-1934); Eliza Frederica Jane (1857 Wimbledon-1933)

Book Reference: Gillett, Burke, Mills Railway

General Information:

Freretown, Mombasa was named after him. 
He entered the Bombay Civil Service in 1834, was created KCB in 1859 for his services during the Indian Mutiny, was Governor of Bombay 1862-67, and was made a Baronet in 1876.
Burke - Governor of Bombay 1862-67, memb Council of Sec. of State for India 1867-77, Govr. Cape Colony and HC for South Africa 1877; cr a Baronet 1876
Mills Railway - A religious follower, who read the Bible every morning, Frere was an aggressive champion of the Imperial cause. He was appointed to the Viceroy's Council in 1859 and became Governor of Bombay in 1862 and sat on the Indian Council from 1867-1877.
In 1877 Frere was appointed High Commissioner in South Africa - {very much in favour of military solutions to tribal unrest} - He declared war on the Zulu in January 1879. Although the British Army suffered a humiliating defeat at Isandlwana, Zulu power was finally broken.
Frere was censured for his disregard of Beach's instructions and was stripped of authority in Natal, Zululand and the Transvaal. His recommendations for increased Boer participation in the Transvaal Government were largely ignored. The Foreign Office at times suspected that he influenced the Cape administration against unification and was recalled in 1880. He died on 29 May 1884.
Cambridge Univ Alumni Hon. LL.D. 1874. 5th s. of Edward, and grandson of John (1758). B. Mar. 29, 1815, at Clydach, Brecknockshire. Schools, Bath Grammar and Haileybury. F.R.S., F.R.A.S. Appointed writer in Bombay Civil Service, 1834; Private Secretary to Sir George Arthur, Governor of Bombay, 1842, and married his 2nd dau., Catherine, Oct. 10, 1844. Chief Commissioner of Sind, 1850-9. Governor of Bombay, 1862-7. Member of the Indian Council, 1867. President of Asiatic Society, 1872, and on two subsequent occasions. President of Geographical Society, 1873. Sent to Zanzibar to negotiate suppression of slave trade, 1872. Accompanied the Prince of Wales to Egypt and India, 1875. K.C.B., 1859. G.C.S.I.; G.C.B. Created Bart., 1876. Governor of the Cape and first High Commissioner of South Africa, 1877. Hon. D.C.L., Oxford, 1867; Hon. LL.D., Edinburgh, 1883. Chancellor of the Cape University, 1880. Author, Afghanistan and South Africa, 1881; Eastern Africa as a field for missionary labour, etc. Died May 29, 1884. Brother of Edward (1824); father of Bartle C. A. (1873). (Al. Oxon.; Burke, L.G.; Edin. Grads.; Frere Pedigree; Boase, I. 1107-8; D.N.B., which gives ‘6th s.’; Martineau, Life and Correspondence; Worsfold, Sir Bartle Frere.)

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