FRERE, Sir HENRY BARTLE EDWARD, nephew of John Hookham; b. England, 1815. In 1834, he entered the Indian civil service, and after holding some revenue appointments became, in 1842, secretary to sir George Arthur, then governor of Bom bay. In 1856, he proceeded to Scinde, in the capacity of British president, and was made chief commissioner there in 1860. He was created a K.C.B. in 1859 in considera tion of his .service during the Indian mutiny, and the thanks of parliament were twice voted to him. In Mar., 1862, he was nominated governor of Bombay, whence he returned to England in 1867. He was created a knight grand cross of the order of the star of India, and was nominated a member of her majesty's Indian council at home. He long occupied the position of vice-president of the royal geographical society. In Oct., 1872, he was sent by the British government as special. commissioner to e. Africa to inquire into the slave trade. Arriving at Zanzibar Mar. 12, 1878, he induced the sultan of Zanzibar to sign a treaty abolishing that traffic. Returning to England he was sworn a member of the privy council, and the freedOm of the city of London. Subsequently he visited India in the suite of the prince of Wales, and in Jan., 1877, was appointed governor of the cape of Good Hope, and high commissioner (for Great Britain) of s. Africa. During that year (1877) the Katier war occurred, and sir B. F.
proceeded at once to British Caffrarm, deposed the Galeka chief Kreli, and annexed his country to the queen's dominions in s. Africa. This conclusion was carried into effect by a considerable exhibition of British force, and the temporarily sup pressed. But in 1878 it again broke out with renewed strength. Other powerful chiefs combined with those already in insurrection, and what promised to become a most seri ous outbreak was only finally quelled by the display of great firmness and energy on the part of sir B. F., who was but illy supported in his efforts by the British ministry, but who was still occupying his post at the beginning of 1880.
Sir Bartle Frere is president of the royal Asiatic society, and a vice-president of the royal geographical society, and of the society for the propagation of the gospel in for eign parts. A biographical memoir of his uncle, the right Hon. John Hookham Frere, prefixed to his "Works," was written by him, and among his writings may be mentioned Christianity suited to all Forms of Civilization., a lecture delivered in connec tion with the Christian evidence society; Indian Missions, reprinted from The Church and the • Pandurang Hari, or Memoir of a Hindoo; and Eastern Africa as a Field for Missionary Labor.