Sir Bartle Frere

THE LIFE OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. Birth-Parentage-Childhood at Clydach-School-days at Bath Haileybury-Departure for India-Malta-Egypt-Red Sea Arrival at Bombay. HENRY BARTLE EDWARD FRERE, sixth son and ninth child of Edward and Mary Anne Frere, was born at Clydach House, Llanelly, in the county of Brecon, on March 29, 181 S. John Frere, the earliest known ancestor of their name from whom the Freres trace direct descent, was living at Thurston, near Bury St. Edmunds, in 1268; since which date portions of the estates at present owned by the family in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex have been in their continuous possession. A branch of the family, settled at Harleston, on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk, emigrated to Barbadoes in the seventeenth century. This branch, in political opposition to the rest of the family, was strongly Par liamentarian, Tobias Frere being a member of Crom well's second Parliament, and secretary to the Committee WLL B 2 THE LIFE OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. [CH. J of Sequestrations for Norfolk and the City of Norwich John Frere was acting governor of Barbadoes about 1720 and Henry Frere in 1790. The Royalism of the other branch of the family doe~ not seem to have been ardent enough to affect its fortunes for in 1656, when the Royalist cause was at its lowest: John Frere purchased the manor and advowson oj Finningham, in the heart of Puritan Suffolk, and in the following year Thwaite Hall in the same parish. Here he and his descendants lived for more than a century, till in 1760 Sheppard Frere bought Roydon Hall, near Dissl six or seven miles distant, which has since been the residence of the eldest branch of the family. Thwaite Hall was pulled down soon afterwards, and nothing now remains to mark its site but a half-filled moat. A broad belt of cold, level, featureless clay-land, sparsely inhabited, and crossed by few and unfrequented roads, surrounds the little village of Finningham, which lies like an oasis in the desert, with its neat timber-built seventeenth-century houses, sheltered by luxuriant elms, from amongst which rises the flint-built tower of a small fifteenth-century church, remarkable amongst towers of that period for standing without a buttress to mar its modest dignity, The church is full of Frere monuments--Iess florid and grandiose, it is pleasant to notice, than was the fashion oJ their time-and has an air of having been preserved more carefully, and by the care of the present rector, Canon Frere, restored more wisely and reverently than has been the fate of most churches. At Cambridge the name of Frere has been distinguished for nearly two centuries. Edward Frere, born in 1680, was a Fellow of Trinity in Bentley's time, and seems to have been a partisan of his in his disputes with other members of the college. The name of his grandson, John Frere, 18IS·] PARENTAGE. 3 was bracketed with that of Paley for the place of Senior Wrangler in 1763. This honour, it appears, was in those days not always given impartially according to merit, and Bishop Watson, who was Moderator, takes some credit to himself for causing the two to be re-examined in each other's presence, and finally conferring the honour on Paley as being proved the best man. John Frere became an active magistrate, and in 1799 was elected Tory member for Norwich. He married, in 1768, Jane, daughter of Mr. John Hookham, of Bedington, Surrey. There were seven sons and two daughters of the marriage, the eldest of whom was John Hookham Frere, poet, man of letters, politician, and diplomatist, best known as envoy to the Spanish Govern ment during the early part of the Peninsular War, but more distinguished, perhaps, in his literary than in his political career, though few of his writings, except his contributions to the A nti-Jacooin, are much read now. He was a man of strong and sterling character, greatly loved and respected by his brothers and sisters, and by the younger generation of nephews and nieces. Frequent allusions to him, and to his kindly interest in the different members of the family, occur in Bartle Frere's letters-an interest which was maintained unabated when he went to live in. Malta, where the latter years of his life were passed. From him Bartle in some measure derived his early political ideas, and learnt the veneration for Pitt and Canning which he always retained. Edward Frere, Hookham Frere's next brother, had been married in 1800 to Mary Anne, daughter of James Greene, M.P. for Arundel. They had fourteen children, of whom ten survived them. At the time of the birth of their sixth son, Bartle, the subject of this memoir, Edward Frere and his wife were living at Clydach House, five miles from Aber gavenny. He is described as six feet three in height, strong, 4 THE LIFE OF SIR DAR TLE FRERE. [CH. I. handsome, and graceful. "I have often heard my father," writes Miss Frere, cc speak with admiration of his father's magnificent aspect, and of his and his brothers' boyish pride, when walking down a street with him, at seeing the passers-by turn round to look at him." In character he was brave, generous, chivalrous, and sincerely religious, with a genial temper and great power of attracting others. He had a retentive memory, had read much, and had great powers of observation; in his walks not a bird or insect, not a plant or rock, escaped his notice. He had been educated at Eton, had studied metallurgy at St. Quentin, in France, and had afterwards worked under Mr. Crawshay before going to Clydach to set up as an ironmaster on his own account. Possessing much mechanical ability and enterprise, he seems to have been the first to use iron as a material for boat-building. A barge or boat of iron was built by hjm in 1811 to ply on the canal at Clydach, all the country-side coming to see it, incredulous of anything constructed of iron being made to float. His wife, Bartle's mother, was small, gentle, and quiet, in her youth fond of riding and dancing. Together with strong common sense, she had a very beautiful and sympathetic character, and was devotedly loved by her husband and children. Their eldest daughter, Mary Anne, is said to have been like her father in character, and, being several years older than Bartle, had much influence over him in his childhood and boyhood. Of his other brothers and sisters, his favourite and inseparable companion was Richard, two years younger than himself, who had the same brave, guileless, amiable nature. Bartle's Welsh nurse, Molly Cadwallader, played her part in the formation of his character. 1822.] CHILDHOOD. s U She told him stories of the giants and Pwccas that haunted the hillside, and of her own Welsh ancestors; she taught him the wonderful history of ' Betty Contriver,' and endless other nursery rhymes; and many of her witty sayings were quoted by him to the day of his death. Molly was by no means beautiful, and always wore a mobcap, and carried a crutch, having been lame from her infancy. Those unaccustomed to the sight used to be alarmed to see her as she went hopping down the stairs at Clydach, with the reigning baby on one arm and her crutch under the other; but for any such alarm there was no cause, for the ponies on her native mountains were not more sure-footed. She was thoroughly trustworthy, truth ful, and reliable. "When Bartle Frere was about three years old, riots broke out among the workmen in South Wales, gangs of whom, often several hundreds strong, used to traverse the country, compelling those who had not already joined them to blow out the furnaces and cease from work. The Clydach men, who thoroughly respected and trusted Mr. Frere, and by whom he was greatly beloved, would have continued to work contentedly had he permitted it. This, however, he would not allow [lest they should suffer for it). ..• "On one occasion, when my grandfather had gone out to meet and reason with the invading rioters, having heard they had been out for days and were half-starving, ..• he told them to' go to Clydach House and ask Mrs. Frere for something to eat;' which they accordingly did. Rachel Davis, the nursery-maid, and bravest of the young servants, was appointed to hand the contents of the two great baskets of bread and cheese to the rioters, piece by piece, out of the staircase window, which, being a few feet from the ground, was judged a safer vantage-ground than the steps to the hall door; 'by her side stood Bartle, much delighted with the novelty of the scene.' Some of the men were fierce and sullen enough, but when they saw the pretty little fearless child squeeze himself in between his nurse and the open window to help her to hand them out the viands, and show his approbation by taking a little nibble at the cheese by the way, they laughed, and raising a hearty cheer in his honour, went away in perfect good humour.... "In 1822, the family migrated to near Bath, mainly for 6 THE LIFE OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. [CH. I. the purpose of procuring greater advantages for the education of the children than were attainable in the remote district of Clydach.... Adverse circumstances had much straitened their income.•.

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