Charles Fremantle
Encyclopedia
Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle GCB
RN
(1 June 1800 – 25 May 1869) was a British
Royal Navy
officer. The city of Fremantle
in Western Australia
is named after him.
, and his wife Elizabeth
, the diarist, and a nephew of William Henry Fremantle
. His elder brother was Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe
. His middle name, Howe, is a consequence of his birth date, the anniversary of Lord Howe
's victory over the French on the Glorious First of June
in 1794. He joined the Royal Navy
in 1812.
According to Graeme Henderson, former director of the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle was charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in April 1826. To avoid a scandal, his family paid off witnesses and leant on the judiciary. In August 1826 he was promoted to captain, and, in 1828, given command of the 26-gun frigate HMS Challenger, and sent to claim the west coast of Australia for the United Kingdom
.
on 2 May and landing on Garden Island. One week later, he hoisted the British flag on the south head of the mouth of the Swan River
and took formal possession in the name of His Majesty King George IV of 'all that part of New Holland (Australia)
which is not included within the territory of New South Wales
'.
The appointed lieutenant governor James Stirling
arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June aboard the hired transport barque Parmelia
with his family and other intending settlers, numbering 69 in all, to establish a colony at the Swan River in Western Australia
. On 8 June they were joined by a military detachment of some 56 officers and men who disembarked from the consort ship HMS Sulphur. On 17 June, a proxy proclamation was read by Stirling confirming Fremantle's earlier proclamation. The landing of those immigrants marked the beginning of the history of Western Australia as a British colony, and later as a state of federal Australia.
Fremantle left the Swan River Colony
on 25 August 1829, heading towards the British Army base of Trincomalee
, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
) where he was based the next couple of years.
While he was there he visited many locations including a town called Kowloon
which he recommended as a good site for a British settlement. The British government agreed and Hong Kong
was settled in 1841.
Fremantle was only in Ceylon for a couple of years. On his way back to England
in September 1832 he visited the Swan River Colony for a week, but never returned after that.
In 1843 he was given command of HMS Inconstant in the Mediterranean Fleet
and in 1847 he took command of HMS Albion
also in the Mediterranean. Then in 1853 he became Captain of HMS Juno on the Australia Station
.
In 1855 he served as Rear-Admiral controlling the naval transport service for the Crimean War
from Balaklava
(a city in the Ukraine
).
In July 1858 he was appointed to the command of the Channel Squadron
and in 1863 he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
RN
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(1 June 1800 – 25 May 1869) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer. The city of Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
is named after him.
Early life
Fremantle was the son of Admiral Thomas Fremantle, a close associate of NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, and his wife Elizabeth
Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle
Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle was the main author of the extensive Wynne Diaries and wife of the Royal Navy officer Thomas Fremantle , a close associate of Nelson.-Life:Known in the family as Betsey, she was born Elizabeth Wynne, the second daughter of...
, the diarist, and a nephew of William Henry Fremantle
William Henry Fremantle
Sir William Henry Fremantle GCH, PC was a British courtier and politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household from 1826 to 1837.-Background:...
. His elder brother was Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe
Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe
Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe PC, PC , JP , known as Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt, between 1821 and 1874, was a British Tory politician.-Early life:...
. His middle name, Howe, is a consequence of his birth date, the anniversary of Lord Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...
's victory over the French on the Glorious First of June
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June [Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars...
in 1794. He joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1812.
According to Graeme Henderson, former director of the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle was charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in April 1826. To avoid a scandal, his family paid off witnesses and leant on the judiciary. In August 1826 he was promoted to captain, and, in 1828, given command of the 26-gun frigate HMS Challenger, and sent to claim the west coast of Australia for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Career
HMS Challenger was despatched by the Admiralty from the Cape of Good Hope on 20 March 1829, anchored in Cockburn SoundCockburn Sound
Cockburn Sound is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about 25 km to Cape Peron near Rockingham and is located at...
on 2 May and landing on Garden Island. One week later, he hoisted the British flag on the south head of the mouth of the Swan River
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
and took formal possession in the name of His Majesty King George IV of 'all that part of New Holland (Australia)
New Holland (Australia)
New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....
which is not included within the territory of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
'.
The appointed lieutenant governor James Stirling
James Stirling (Australian governor)
Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...
arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June aboard the hired transport barque Parmelia
Parmelia (barque)
The Parmelia was a barque that was used to transport the first civilian officials and settlers of the Swan River Colony to Western Australia in 1829....
with his family and other intending settlers, numbering 69 in all, to establish a colony at the Swan River in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. On 8 June they were joined by a military detachment of some 56 officers and men who disembarked from the consort ship HMS Sulphur. On 17 June, a proxy proclamation was read by Stirling confirming Fremantle's earlier proclamation. The landing of those immigrants marked the beginning of the history of Western Australia as a British colony, and later as a state of federal Australia.
Fremantle left the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
on 25 August 1829, heading towards the British Army base of Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) where he was based the next couple of years.
While he was there he visited many locations including a town called Kowloon
Kowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
which he recommended as a good site for a British settlement. The British government agreed and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
was settled in 1841.
Fremantle was only in Ceylon for a couple of years. On his way back to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in September 1832 he visited the Swan River Colony for a week, but never returned after that.
In 1843 he was given command of HMS Inconstant in the Mediterranean Fleet
Mediterranean Fleet
Several countries have or have had a Mediterranean Fleet in their navy. See:* Mediterranean Fleet * French Mediterranean Fleet* Mediterranean Squadron * United States Sixth Fleet...
and in 1847 he took command of HMS Albion
HMS Albion (1842)
HMS Albion was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Ordered in 1839, she was built at Plymouth and launched on 6 September 1842, and entered service in 1843. Albion was designed by Sir William Symonds, was the only ship of her class to ever serve as a sailing ship, and the last...
also in the Mediterranean. Then in 1853 he became Captain of HMS Juno on the Australia Station
Australia Station
The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...
.
In 1855 he served as Rear-Admiral controlling the naval transport service for the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
from Balaklava
Balaklava
Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...
(a city in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
).
In July 1858 he was appointed to the command of the Channel Squadron
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
and in 1863 he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. In the nineteenth century the holder of the office was known as Commander-in-Chief,...
.
Personal life
He married Isabella Wedderburn on 8 October 1836. They had 3 children:- Emily Caroline Alexander (14 April 1838 - 10 February 1929). Married Reverend CL Alexander, Rector of Sturton-by-Bridge, Derbyshire.
- Celia Elizabeth McNeil (8 October 1840 - 15 February 1929). Married Canon EA McNeile, Vicar of St Pauls, Princes Park, Liverpool.
- Louisa Frances Fremantle (23 February 1843 - 20 March 1909).