The Works of the Right Honourable John Hookham Frere in Verse and Prose..; Volume 3
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Afghanistan and South Africa; A Letter to the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone, M.P., Regarding Portions of His Midlothian Speeches
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Works of the Right Honourable John Hookham Frere in Verse and Prose..; Volume 2
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet was a British colonial administrator.
Background
Bartle Frere was born into an old and religious family on March 29, 1815.
He was born at Clydach House, Clydach, Monmouthshire, the son of Edward Frere, manager of Clydach Ironworks, and Mary Ann Green. His elder sister, Mary Anne Frere, was born circa 1802 in Clydach, and his younger sister, Frances Anne Frere, was born circa 1819 in Clydach. He was the grandson of John Frere and a nephew of John Hookham Frere; William Frere; Bartholomew Frere; James Hatley Frere; and Temple Frere – canon of St Peters, Westminster.
Education
He was educated at the East India Company College, the precursor of Haileybury and Imperial Service College.
He was given honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge.
Career
In 1834 he sailed for Bombay, where the East India Company employed him as an assistant revenue clerk in Poona. He became the resident in the Deccan in 1847. While commissioner in Sind (1850-1859), his policy for dealing with the colonial peoples matured. He wanted Britain to be a good and effective neighbor with the Indian princes if they cooperated, but he advocated the use of the empire's resources to punish recalcitrance.
He was appointed to the Viceroy's Council in 1859 and became governor of Bombay in 1862. A commercial crisis in 1866 in which the Bank of Bombay collapsed was partly blamed on Frere, and shortly after this he was transferred to London, where he sat on the Indian Council (1867-1877). Frere sought to make Afghanistan a buffer state between India and Russia and wanted a British resident in Kabul. The Afghans resisted and war broke out in 1878.
South Africa was becoming a major trouble center in the empire. Britain was not keen to involve itself too deeply in the affairs of a country it then believed poor in natural resources. The discovery of diamonds and the way in which this enabled the Africans to acquire guns forced Britain to change its mind. Policy then required the pacification of South Africa, the unification of the Boer republics— Shepstone annexed the Transvaal in 1877—and the British colonies, and the establishment of effective white control as preconditions for the exploitation of the country's mineral wealth. Frere was appointed high commissioner in South Africa to implement the new policy.
Shortly after Frere arrived at the Cape in 1877, war with the Gcaleka broke out. He deposed Kreli, the Gcaleka king, proposed that German and Scottish farmers be settled on Gcaleka land, and sent his police to disarm the neighboring African kingdoms. Widespread bloodshed followed.
Crisis point had been reached in the relations between the Zulu and the British on one hand and the Zulu and the Boers on the other. The Zulu, under Cetshwayo, were reported to be organizing an African united front to drive the whites out of African lands. Frere's visit to Natal in 1878 reinforced his conviction that the destruction of Zulu military power was a prerequisite for establishing white supremacy in South Africa.
Britain lacked enthusiasm for war in South Africa at the time. Its cost, the conflict in Afghanistan, and a possible collision with the Russians necessitated a negotiated settlement with the Zulu. By 1878 the secretary of state, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, was urging Frere to negotiate. In Frere's view, however, the crisis in Natal called for a military solution and took precedence over the simmering Boer rebellion. He declared war on the Zulu in January 1879. Although British arms 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 he was recalled in 1880. He died on May 29, 1884.
Achievements
Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere had a successful career in India rising to become Governor of Bombay. However, as High Commissioner for Southern Africa, his attempt to impose a British confederation on the region led to the overthrow of the Cape's first elected government and to a string of regional wars, culminating in the invasion of Zululand and the First Boer War. He was recalled to London to face charges of misconduct and was officially censured for acting recklessly.
Frere Hall in Karachi was built in his honour. The city also named a road, street and town after him. In 1888, the Prince of Wales unveiled a statue of Frere on the Thames embankment. Mount Bartle Frere (1622m), the highest mountain in Queensland, Australia is named after him, as is a boarding house at Haileybury. A road in Parktown, Johannesburg, is also named after him. (Frere Road was also the home of Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel Prize-winning author). In Durban, two roads honour him: Frere Road which later transforms into Bartle Road. Freretown, a district of the Kenyan city of Mombasa, is also named after him.
The botanist, N. A. Dalzell (1864) named the plant genus Frerea to commemorate H. B. Frere. A monotypic plant genus known by a single species viz. Frerea indica Dalzell. Dalzell stated 'Sir H. B. E. Frere, not only as a mark of esteem and respect, but also because he always has been the enlightened encourager and promoter of scientific researches in India, and is himself a close observer of nature.
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Politics
Frere was an aggressive champion of the imperial cause.
Membership
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May, 1877.
Personality
He was a self-willed aristocrat who read the Bible every morning.
Connections
On 10 October 1844, he married Catherine Arthur (born c. 1821 in Honduras), daughter of Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet, who was the Governor of Bombay and to whom he had been appointed private secretary two years earlier. Their children were: Mary Eliza Isabella Frere, born 1845 at Bitton, Gloucestershire; Catherine Frances Frere, born 1849 in the East Indies, who edited The Cookery Book of Lady Clark of Tillypronie in 1909; Georgina Hamilton Chichester Frere, born c. 1850 in the East Indies; Bartle Compton Arthur Frere, born c. 1855 in Paddington, Middlesex; and Eliza Frederica Jane Frere, born c. 1857 in Wimbledon, London.
