Charles Fremantle

Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle (1 June 1800 - 25 May 1869) was a Captain of the British Royal Navy. The City of Fremantle in Western Australia is named after him.

Early life

He was the son of Admiral Thomas Fremantle, 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 at the Glorious First of June in 1794. 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.^[1] A few weeks later he was promoted to captain, given command of the 26 gun frigate HMS Challenger, and sent to claim the west coast of Australia for the United Kingdom.

Career

HMS Challenger was the first ship to arrive in a fleet of 3 ships sent out from Britain to establish a colony at the Swan River in Western Australia. After arriving in Cockburn Sound and landing on Garden Island a week earlier, on May 2 1829 he took formal possession of the whole of the western coast of Australia in the name of King George IV. On 30 May, Lieutenant Governor elect Captain James Stirling arrived on the Parmelia and on 17 June a proxy proclamation was read by Stirling confirming the earlier proclamation. He 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. After a decade or so he next went on a voyage to the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Shortly after that, he served as rear-admiral controlling with great distinction the entire 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 eventually became an admiral.

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).

Later life

He died in 1869 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

References

• Appleyard, R. T. and Manford, Toby (1979). The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0-85564-146-0.