Life

Frere was born in 1776, the fifth son of John Frere

John Frere

John Frere was an English antiquary and a pioneering discoverer of Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic tools in association with large extinct animals at Hoxne, Suffolk in 1797.-Life:...

, F.R.S., M.P. for Norwich, and a younger brother of John Hookham Frere

John Hookham Frere

John Hookham Frere PC was an English diplomat and author.Frere was born in London. His father, John Frere, the member of a Suffolk family, had been educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and would have been senior wrangler in 1763 but for the competition of William Paley; his mother, Jane,...

 and William Frere

William Frere

William Frere , was an English lawyer and academic, a law-serjeant and Master of Downing College, Cambridge.-Life:Frere was the fourth son of John Frere of Roydon, Norfolk, and younger brother of John Hookham Frere. He was born 28 November 1775. He was sent to Felsted School and Eton College, and...

. He proceeded B.A. at Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

, in 1799, and M.A. in 1806. In 1801 he was appointed secretary of legation at Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, whence he was transferred in the same capacity to Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 in 1802 and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 1805, and in 1807 became secretary of embassy at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, and witnessed the discomfiture of Charles Arbuthnot

Charles Arbuthnot

Charles Arbuthnot was a British diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington...

 and Admiral Duckworth. In 1808 he returned to Spain as secretary of embassy, and acted as minister plenipotentiary ad interim at Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 from November 1809 to January 1810, and at Cadiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 from 29 Jan. to 2 March. Gazetted secretary of embassy at Constantinople in March 1811, he and his chief, Robert Liston

Robert Liston (diplomat)

Sir Robert Liston, GCB, PC was a British diplomat and ambassador to several countries.-Biography:Liston was born in Kirkliston, Scotland, went on to Edinburgh University, and then tutored the sons of the Earl of Minto...

, did not proceed to their post till the following year, when in June they relieved Stratford Canning from his responsibility as minister plenipotentiary. From 1815 to 1817, and again from 1820 to 1821, Frere took charge of the embassy at the Porte as minister plenipotentiary ad interim, but in August 1821 he finally retired on a pension, which he enjoyed for thirty years, till his death in Old Burlington Street, London, 29 May 1851, aged 74. His DNB biographer, Stanley Lane-Poole

Stanley Lane-Poole

Stanley Lane-Poole was a British orientalist and archaeologist. His uncle was Edward William Lane.Born in London, England, from 1874 to 1892 he worked in the British Museum, and after that in Egypt researching on Egyptian archaeology...

, summed him up as "a useful public servant of ordinary abilities".