Charles Fremantle
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Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle (June 1, 1800 - May 25, 1869) was a Captain of the British Royal Navy.
His 26 gun frigate 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 May 30, Lieutenant Governor elect Captain James Stirling arrived on the Parmelia and on June 17 a proxy proclamation was read by Stirling confirming the earlier proclamation.
The City of Fremantle in Western Australia is named after him.
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.
[edit] Family
Charles Fremantle was the son of Admiral Thomas Fremantle. 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.
He married Isabella Wedderburn on October 8, 1836. They had 3 children:
- Emily Caroline Alexander (April 14 1838 - February 10 1929). Married Reverend CL Alexander, Rector of Sturton-by-Bridge, Derbyshire.
- Celia Elizabeth McNeil (October 8 1840 - February 15 1929). Married Canon EA McNeile, Vicar of St Pauls, Princes Park, Liverpool.
- Louisa Frances Fremantle (February 23 1843 - March 20 1909).
Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe was the older brother of Captain Charles Howe Fremantle.
[edit] 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.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fremantle, Charles Howe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Royal Navy captain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1800 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 25, 1869 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
