Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere

Frere, Sir Henry Bartle Edward (1815–84). Frere was born in Brecknockshire, educated at Haileybury School, and joined the East India Company service in 1834. He was appointed to the Bombay presidency where, apart from a spell on the viceroy's Council in Calcutta (1859–62), he spent his entire Indian career, finishing as governor (1862–7). He was known as an assiduous administrator and his most notable achievement was the development of the port of Karachi. In 1867–77 he served on the India Council in London but then was posted to South Africa as governor of Cape Colony. His governorship was turbulent and unsuccessful. He faced Sir Theophilus Shepstone's attempt to annex the Transvaal; deepening conflict with the Cape prime minister J. C. Moltene; and the outbreak of a disastrous war with the Zulus. In 1880, following the defeat of Lord Chelmsford by the Zulus at Isandhlwana, he was recalled.

David Anthony Washbrook

Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere , 1815-84, British colonial administrator; nephew of John Hookham Frere. He served (1850-59) as chief commissioner of Sind, distinguishing himself during the Indian Mutiny , and was (1862-67) governor of Bombay. In 1872 he negotiated a treaty with the sultan of Zanzibar for the suppression of the slave trade. Appointed (1877) governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner of British South Africa, Frere had to cope with Boer discontent in the newly annexed Transvaal and with Zulu unrest. Intent on breaking the military power of the Zulus, he precipitated (1878) the Zulu War. His action was disapproved in London, and although he was popular in the Cape he was recalled to England in 1880. He was created Baron Frere in 1876.