Life

Frere was the sixth 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:...

, of Roydon, South Norfolk

Roydon, South Norfolk

Roydon is a small village and parish in the county of Norfolk, England, about a mile west of Diss. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,358 in 981 households as of the 2001 census....

, and Beddington

Beddington

Beddington is a settlement between the London Boroughs of Sutton and Croydon. The BedZED low energy housing scheme is located here. In Beddington was a static inverter plant of HVDC Kingsnorth....

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, by Jane, daughter and heiress of John Hookham of London. He married, 15 June 1809, Merian, second daughter of Matthew Martin, F.R.S., of Poets' Corner, Westminster, by whom he had five sons.

Frere met Edward Irving

Edward Irving

*For Edward Irving, the Canadian geologist, see Edward A. Irving.Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.-Youth:...

 in 1825, and influenced him in the direction of the study of biblical prophecy. He died at the residence of his third son, the Rev. John Alexander Frere, Shillington

Shillington, Bedfordshire

Shillington is an English village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire. In the south of the parish, the hamlet of Pegsdon is almost encircled by Hertfordshire, and since 1985 the parish has included the village of Higham Gobion to the west...

 vicarage, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, on 8 December 1866.

Inventor

About 1838 Frere introduced a tactile alphabet, a phonetic system for teaching the blind to read. He had the advantage of having his plan carried out by a blind man, who suggested several changes. His characters consist of straight lines, half circles, hooked lines, and angles of forty-five degrees, together with a hollow and solid circle. He also invented the ‘return’ lines—that is to say, the lines in his book are read from left to right and from right to left alternately, the letters themselves being reversed in the return lines. Although useful in enabling uneducated persons to read in a short space of time, Frere's system was found to vitiate pronunciation. In 1871 it was in use at only three home institutions.

He devised a cheap method of setting up and stereotyping his books. ‘The letters, formed of copper wire, are laid on a tin plate, previously washed over with a solution of zinc; when heat is applied to the under-surface, the letter becomes soldered on to the plate, and such plates produced extremely good printing’. T. M. Lucas of Bristol and William Moon

William Moon

William Moon, Hon. LLD, FRSA, FRGS was an Englishman who created Moon Type, the first widely-used practical reading alphabet for the blind.- Life and career :...

 of Brighton adopted this system of stereotyping.

Works

George Stanley Faber

George Stanley Faber

George Stanley Faber was an Anglican theologian and prolific author....

 and Samuel Roffey Maitland

Samuel Roffey Maitland

Samuel Roffey Maitland was an English historian and miscellaneous writer on religious topics. He was in Anglican orders, and worked also as a librarian, barrister and editor.-Early life:...

 found Frere's biblical studies of some interest. He was a premillennialist.

Aided by Miss Yates of Fairlawn, Frere was able to have ‘The Book of the Prophet Isaiah’ printed from embossed metallic plates according to his stereotyping method (London, 1843–9). His other works are:

• ‘A Combined View of the Prophecies of Daniel, Esdras, and S. John, shewing that all the prophetic writings are formed upon one plan … Also a minute explanation of the prophecies of Daniel; together with critical remarks upon the interpretations of preceding commentators, and more particularly upon the systems of Mr. Faber and Mr. Cunninghame,’ London, 1815 (2nd edit., same year). This book, and one of the same time by Lewis Way of the Jews' Society, argued for a change in orthodox teaching on the Second Coming
  Second Coming
  In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
  
  . These ideas attracted the attention of Henry Drummond and led to the Albury Conference of 1826 at his home. The book identified Napoleon as a personal Antichrist
  Antichrist
  The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
  
  .
• ‘On the General Structure of the Apocalypse, being a brief introduction to its minute interpretation,’ London, 1826.
• ‘Eight Letters on the Prophecies relating to the last times; viz. The seventh vial, the civil and ecclesiastical prophetic periods, and the type of Jericho,’ London, 1831.
• ‘Three Letters on the Prophecies … in continuation of eight letters published in 1831,’ 8vo, London, 1833; 2nd edit., with a prefatory address, London [1859].
• ‘The Art of Teaching to Read by Elementary Sounds,’ 12mo, London, 1840.
• ‘A Letter to Lord Wharncliffe, in reply to the allegations made by the London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read, against the Phonetic Method of Instruction,’ London, 1843.
• ‘“The Harvest of the Earth,” prior to the vintage of wrath, considered as symbolical of the Evangelical Alliance … Also a letter to Dr. Wolff,’ &c., London, 1846.
• ‘The Great Continental Revolution, marking the Expiration of the Times of the Gentiles, A.D. 1847–8. In reply to a Letter from a Member of a Society of Prophetic Students. To which is added a Reprint of a Letter addressed to the Rev. Dr. Wolff on the expiration of the Times of the Gentiles A.D. 1847, and of other occasional papers, illustrative of the present period,’ London, 1848.
• ‘Preface to the Second Edition of the Great Continental Revolution, containing Remarks on the progress of Prophetic Events during the year 1848–9,’ London, 1849 (printed separately, for the convenience of purchasers of the first edition).
• ‘Notes, forming a brief Interpretation of the Apocalypse,’ London, 1850.
• ‘Directions for Teaching the Blind to Read on the Phonetic Principle,’ [London, 1851].
• ‘Grammar [embossed] for the Blind on the Principle of the Combination of Elementary Sounds,’ London, 1851.