Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SIR HENRY BARTLE EDWARD FRERE (1815-1...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 207 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SIR See also:HENRY BARTLE See also:EDWARD See also:FRERE (1815-1884)  , See also:British See also:administrator, See also:born at Clydach in Brecknockshire, on the 29th of See also:March 1815, was the son of See also:Edward See also:Frere, a member of an old See also:east See also:county See also:family, and a See also:nephew of See also:John Hookham Frere, of See also:Anti-Jacobin and See also:Aristophanes fame . After leaving Haileybury, Bartle Frere was appointed a writer in the Bombay See also:civil service in 1834, and went out to See also:India by way of See also:Egypt, See also:crossing the Red See also:Sea in an open See also:boat from Kosseir to See also:Mokha, and sailing thence to Bombay in an Arab See also:dhow . Having passed his examination in the native See also:languages, he was appointed assistant See also:collector at See also:Poona in 1835 . There he did valuable See also:work and was in 1842 chosen as private secretary to See also:Sir See also:George See also:Arthur, See also:governor of Bombay . Two years later he became See also:political See also:resident at the See also:court of the rajah of See also:Satara, where he did much to benefit the See also:country by the development of its communications . On the rajah's See also:death in 1848 he administered the See also:province both before and after its formal See also:annexation in 1849 . In 185o he was appointed See also:chief See also:commissioner of See also:Sind, and took ample See also:advantage of the opportunities afforded him of developing the province . He pensioned off the dispossessed amirs, improved the See also:harbour at See also:Karachi, where he also established municipal buildings, a museum and See also:barracks, instituted fairs, multiplied roads, canals and See also:schools . Returning to India in 1857 after a well-earned See also:rest, Frere was greeted at Karachi with See also:news of the See also:mutiny . His See also:rule had been so successful that he See also:felt he could See also:answer for the See also:internal See also:peace of his province . He therefore sent his only See also:European See also:regiment to See also:Multan, thus securing that strong fortress against the rebels, and sent further detachments to aid Sir John See also:Lawrence in the See also:Punjab . The 178 British soldiers who remained in Sind proved sufficient to extinguish such insignificant outbreaks as occurred .

His services were fully recognized by the See also:

Indian authorities, and he received the thanks of both houses of See also:parliament and was made K.C.B . He became a member of the See also:viceroy's See also:council in 18J9, and was especially serviceable in See also:financial matters . In 1862 he was appointed governor of Bombay, where he effected See also:great improvements, such as the demolition of the old ramparts, and the erection of handsome public offices upon a portion of the space, the inauguration of the university buildings and the improvement of the harbour . He established the See also:Deccan See also:College at Poona, as well as a college for instructing natives in civil See also:engineering . The prosperity—due to the See also:American Civil See also:War—which rendered these developments possible brought in its See also:train a speculative See also:mania, which led eventually to the disastrous failure of the Bombay See also:Bank (1866), an affair in which, from neglecting to exercise such means of See also:control as he possessed, Frere incurred severe and not wholly undeserved censure . In 1867 he returned to See also:England, was made G.C.S.I., and received honorary degrees from See also:Oxford and See also:Cam-See also:bridge; he was also appointed a member of the Indian council . In 1872 he was sent by the See also:foreign See also:office to See also:Zanzibar to negotiate a treaty with the See also:sultan, Seyyid Burghash, for the suppression of the slave See also:traffic . In 1875 he accompanied the See also:prince of See also:Wales to Egypt and India . The tour was beyond expectation successful, and to Frere, from See also:Queen See also:Victoria downwards, came acknowledgments of the service he had rendered in piloting the expedition . He was asked by See also:Lord See also:Beaconsfield to choose between being made a See also:baronet or G.C.B . He See also:chose the former, but the queen bestowed both honours upon him . But the greatest service that Frere undertook on behalf of his country was to be attempted not in See also:Asia, but in See also:Africa .

Sir Bartle landed at Cape See also:

Town as high commissionerof See also:South Africa on the 31st of March 1877 . He had been chosen by Lord See also:Carnarvon in the previous See also:October as the statesman most capable of carrying his See also:scheme of See also:confederation into effect, and within two years it was hoped that he would be the first governor of the South See also:African Dominion . He went out in See also:harmony with the aims and See also:enthusiasm of his chief, " hoping to See also:crown by one great constructive effort the work of a See also:bright and See also:noble See also:life." In this See also:hope he was disappointed . As he stated at the See also:close of his high commissionership, a great See also:mistake seemed to have been made in trying to hasten what could only result from natural growth, and the See also:state of South Africa during Frere's See also:tenure of office was inimical to such growth . Discord or a policy of See also:blind drifting seemed to be the alternatives presented to Frere upon his arrival at the Cape . He chose the former as the less dangerous, and the first See also:year of his sway was marked by a Kaffir war on the one See also:hand and by a rupture with the Cape (Molteno-See also:Merriman) See also:ministry on the other . The See also:Transkei See also:Kaffirs were subjugated See also:early in 1878 by See also:General Thesiger (the 2nd Lord See also:Chelmsford) and a small force of See also:regular and colonial troops . The constitutional difficulty was solved by Frere dismissing his obstructive See also:cabinet and entrusting the formation of a ministry to Mr (afterwards Sir) See also:Gordon Sprigg . Frere emerged successfully from a year of crisis, but the advantage was more than counterbalanced by the resignation of Lord Carnarvon early in 1878, at a See also:time when Frere required the steadiest and most unflinching support . He had reached the conclusion that there was a widespread insurgent spirit pervading the natives, which had its See also:focus and strength in the celibate military organization of See also:Cetywayo and in the See also:prestige which impunity for the outrages he had committed had gained for the Zulu See also:king in the native mind . That organization and that evil prestige must be put an end to, if possible by moral pressure, but otherwise by force . Frere reiterated these views to the colonial office, where they found a general See also:acceptance .

Phoenix-squares

When, however, Frere undertook the responsibility of forwarding, in See also:

December 1878, an See also:ultimatum to Cetywayo, the See also:home See also:government abruptly discovered that a native war in South Africa was inopportune and raised difficulties about reinforcements . Having entrusted to Lord Chelmsford the enforcement of the British demands, Frere's immediate responsibility ceased . On the 11th of See also:January 1879 the British troops crossed the See also:Tugela, and fourteen days later the disaster of See also:Isandhlwana was reported; and Frere, attacked and censured in the See also:House of See also:Commons, was but feebly defended by the government . Lord Beaconsfield, it appears, supported Frere; the See also:majority of the cabinet were inclined to recall him . The result was the unsatisfactory See also:compromise by which he was censured and begged to stay on . Frere wrote an elaborate See also:justification of his conduct, which was adversely commented on by the colonial secretary (Sir See also:Michael See also:Hicks See also:Beach), who " did not see why Frere should take See also:notice of attacks; and as to the war, all African See also:wars had been unpopular." Frere's rejoinder was that no other sufficient answer had been made to his critics, and that he wished to See also:place one on See also:record . " Few may now agree with my view as to the See also:necessity of the suppression of the Zulu See also:rebellion . Few, I fear, in this See also:generation . But unless my countrymen are much changed, they will some See also:day do me See also:justice . I shall not leave a name to be permanently dishonoured." The Zulu trouble and the disaffection that was See also:brewing in the See also:Transvaal reacted upon each other in the most disastrous manner . Frere had See also:borne no See also:part in the actual annexation of the Transvaal, which was announced by Sir See also:Theophilus See also:Shepstone a few days after the high commissioner's arrival at Cape Town . The delay in giving the country a constitution afforded a pretext for agitation to the malcontent Boers, a rapidly increasing minority, while the See also:reverse at Isandhlwana had lowered British prestige .

Owing to the Kaffir and Zulu wars Sir Bartle had hitherto been unable to give his undivided See also:

attention to the state of things in the Transvaal . In See also:April 1879 he was at last able to visit that province, and the conviction was forced upon him that the government had been unsatisfactory in many ways . The country was very unsettled . A large See also:camp, numbering 4000 disaffected Boers, had been formed near See also:Pretoria, and they were terrorizing the country . Frere visited them unarmed and practically alone . Even yet all might have been well, for he won the Boers' respect and liking . On the See also:condition that the Boers dispersed, Frere undertook to See also:present their complaints to the British government, and to urge the fulfilment of the promises that had been made to them . They parted with mutual See also:good feeling, and the Boers did eventually disperse—on the very day upon which Frere received the telegram announcing the government's censure . He returned to Cape Town, and his See also:journey back was in the nature of a See also:triumph . But See also:bad news awaited him at Government House on the 1st of See also:June 1879 the prince imperial had met his death in See also:Zululand—and a few See also:hours later Frere heard that the government of the Transvaal and See also:Natal, together with the high commissionership in the eastern part of South Africa, had been transferred from him to Sir See also:Garnet See also:Wolseley . When See also:Gladstone's ministry came into office in the See also:spring of 1880, Lord See also:Kimberley had no intention of recalling Frere . In June, however, a See also:section of the Liberal party memorialized Gladstone to remove him, and the See also:prime See also:minister weakly complied (1st See also:August 1880) .

Upon his return Frere replied to the charges See also:

relating to his conduct respecting See also:Afghanistan as well as South Africa, previously preferred in Gladstone's Midlothian speeches, and was preparing a See also:fuller vindication when he died at See also:Wimbledon from the effect of a severe chill on the 29th of May 1884 . He was buried in St See also:Paul's, and in 1888 a statue of Frere upon the See also:Thames See also:embankment was unveiled by the prince of Wales . Frere edited the See also:works of his See also:uncle, Hookham Frere, and the popular See also:story-See also:book, Old Deccan Days, written by his daughter, See also:Mary Frere . He was three times See also:president of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society . His Life and See also:Correspondence, by John See also:Martineau, was published in 1895 . For the South African anti-confederation view, see P . A . Molteno's Life and Times of Sir John See also:Charles Molteno (2 vols., See also:London 1900) . See also SOUTH AFRICA: See also:History .

End of Article: SIR HENRY BARTLE EDWARD FRERE (1815-1884)
[back]
PIERRE EDOUARD FRERE (1819-1886)
[next]
NICOLAS FRERET (1688-1749)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.