Fig. 1: Monument to Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere (1815–1884), with grave ledger
1885–1888 (with inscription to Lady Catherine Frere d.1899)
Designed by Miss Catherine Frances Frere (1848–1921), carved by Farmer and Brindley (firm active 1851–1929).
Wall Monument: alabaster, red brèche sanguine marble, grey dove marble, gilding.
Grave ledger: white marble, red brèche sanguine marble, black marble, yellow giallo antico marble
Crypt, Nelson Chamber, West Aisle.
Inscription
Cornice (fig. 2):
TRADITUM AB ANTIQUIS SERVARE
[To preserve what is handed down from antiquity]
FRERE AYME FRERE
[Brother loves brother]
Fig. 2: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere
Central Wall Panel (fig. 3):
IN TOKEN OF THEIR LOVE FOR HIM AND
IN RECORD OF HIS NOBLE LIFE, THIS
MEMORIAL IS PLACED BY HIS WIDOW &
CHILDREN & BY HIS KINSMEN, TO THE DEAR
& HONOURED MEMORY OF THE RT HON
SIR BARTLE FRERE
A MAN WHOSE GREAT GIFTS WERE CONSECRATED
TO THE GLORY OF GOD; WHOSE LIFE WAS DEVOTED
TO THE WELFARE OF HIS FELLOW MEN; & TO
WHOM IT WAS GIVEN TO RENDER SIGNAL
SERVICE TO THE STATE, IN MANY LANDS,
BOTH IN DAYS OF PERIL AND OF PEACE.
Fig. 3: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere!
Lower panel (fig. 4):
CALLED TO THE NEARER PRESENCE OF CHRIST, HIS MASTER,
HE LAID DOWN HIS EARTHLY WORK IN FAITH & JOYFUL TRUST.
ON THE 29TH OF MAY 1884. HIS BODY, LAID BY HIS FELLOW
COUNTRYMEN IN THIS CATHEDRAL, RESTS BENEATH THIS SPOT.
Fig. 4: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere
Surbase panel left (fig. 5):
BARONET & MEMBER OF HER MAJESTY’S
MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL.
KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE MOST
HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH.
KNIGHT GRAND COMMANDER OF THE MOST
EXALTED ORDER OF THE STAR OF INDIA.
TWICE RECEIVED THE THANKS OF BOTH
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT FOR SERVICES
DURING THE MUTINY.
D.C.L. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
& L.L.D. OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF
CAMBRIDGE & OF EDINBURGH.
–
Fig, 5: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere
Surbase panel centre (fig. 6):
MEMBER OF THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY’S
CIVIL SERVICE.
RESIDENT & COMMISSIONER OF SATARA.
CHIEF COMMISSIONER IN SIND.
MEMBER OF SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE VICEROY
OF INDIA.
GOVERNOR OF BOMBAY.
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY.
MEMBER OF THE INDIA COUNCIL.
HER MAJESTY’S SPECIAL ENVOY & PLENIPOTENTIARY
TO THE SULTANS OF ZANZIBAR & MUSCAT FOR THE
SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.
Fig. 6: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere
Surbase panel right (fig. 7):
RECEIVED THE FREEDON OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
ACCOMPANIED FIELD MARSHAL HIS ROYAL
HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES
THROUGH INDIA.
GOVERNOR & COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE & HER MAJESTY’S
HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR SOUTH AFRICA.
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL
& ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETIES.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
–
Fig. 7: Catherine Frere and Farmer & Brindley, Bartle Frere
Introduction
Sir (Henry) Bartle Edward Frere (1815–1884) was a British colonial governor, who spent most of his career in the administration of India. He was one of the most respected and distinguished Victorian governors, until 1876 when he took up a role as Governor of the Cape and High Commissioner of South Africa. His attempts to implement the government’s policy of federation in South Africa led to the Anglo–Zulu war of 1879, which began disastrously and led to Frere’s recall to England in 1880. Although he had high–profile supporters, his reputation amongst the wider public never recovered. His monument is a grandiose defence of his career and character, designed and commissioned by his family. It is one of the largest and most distinctive constructions in St Paul’s Cathedral, combining an Elizabethan tomb design with a modern taste for imported African marbles associated with the later Roman empire. At its heart, though, is a long curriculum vitae, designed to remind posterity of a great career, and marginalising the catastrophic project that was most closely associated with Frere’s name.
Bartle Frere was buried in the Cathedral on 5 June 1884 (fig. 8). His cortege travelled from his home at Wressil Lodge, Wimbledon, and was met by a gathering of family and supporters drawn from the highest echelons of imperial government, including General Napier of Magdala, who was later buried a few feet away from Frere. Chopin’s Marche funèbre (the third movement of his Piano Sonata No. 2, published 1840) was played on arrival, and the choir chanted Psalm XXXIX, in which the first line, ‘I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue’, was no doubt aimed at Frere’s many critics. The coffin was described as of medieval shape, in lead and oak, and the decoration consisted of a violet velvet pall with a large red cross and a fringe of gold, with a complete covering of the most costly flowers that could be obtained.
Fig. 8: Ledger of Henry Bartle Edward Frere.
Ten months later, on 24 April 1885, Lady Catherine Frere applied successfully to the Dean and Chapter ‘for leave to decorate the space in the immediate vicinity of Sir Bartle Frere’s Tomb’ subject to ‘proper supervision’ by the Dean and Chapter. At that time the West End of the crypt was relatively empty, George Cruikshank’s bust and monument and the nearby Napoleonic monuments to Duff and Cooke being the closest neighbours. The Dean and Chapter no doubt put the Frere family in touch with the sculptural firm of Farmer and Brindley, who were working on numerous projects at the Cathedral at the time. The family, however, had their own artist on hand to design the work: Miss Catherine Frances Frere, the second daughter of the deceased, who was a watercolour painter and book illustrator. Along with her elder sister, Mary (May) Frere, and their mother Lady Catherine Frere, Catherine had been closely involved in defending her father’s reputation after the family returned from South Africa.