Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Fremantle,<!-- Note that his title was Austrian, so it is appropriate to keep the "Sir", which is the name he used --> (20 November 1765 – 19 December 1819) was a Royal Navy officer whose accolades include three separate fleet actions, a close friendship with Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson and being granted an Austrian barony. He was the father of Admiral Sir Charles Fremantle, after whom the city Fremantle in Western Australia is named.
Early career
Fremantle was born in 1765, son of John Fremantle, of Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire, and Frances, daughter of John Edwards, of Bristol. His younger brother was the politician Sir William Fremantle. He joined the navy in 1777 aged eleven, aboard the frigate HMS Hussar. and a Lord of the Admiralty (1806–1807), before being posted rear-admiral and taking command in the Adriatic Sea, where he employed the frigate squadrons under him successfully against French-held Italy and Dalmatia. When the French empire surrendered in 1814, the entire Balkan coast surrendered to him with over 800 ships, netting Fremantle a vast fortune. For his services he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 12 April 1815, as well as a baron of the Austrian Empire and later a vice-admiral and, from 1818, the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.
References
Further reading
- The Trafalgar Captains, Colin White and the 1805 Club, Chatham Publishing, London, 2005,
External links
- A biography from dukesofbuckingham.org
- Animation of the Battle of Trafalgar
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<br />of the Austrian Empire