John Frere (10 August 1740 – 12 July 1807) was an English antiquary and a pioneering discoverer of

Old Stone Age The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

Lower Palaeolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

tools in association with large

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

animals at

Hoxne Hoxne ( ) is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and south of the River Waveney. The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Stree ...

, Suffolk in 1797.

Life

Frere was born in Roydon Hall,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, the son of Sheppard Frere and Susanna Hatley.

Ellenor Fenn Ellenor Fenn ( Frere; 12 March 1743 – 1 November 1813; pseudonyms, Mrs. Teachwell, Mrs. Lovechild) was a prolific 18th-century British writer of children's books. Early life Ellenor Frere was born on 12 March 1743 in Westhorpe, Suffolk to She ...

was his sister. In 1766, Frere received his MA from

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where he was

Second Wrangler At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the Mathematical Tripos competition. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on ...

and was elected to a fellowship. He subsequently held several political offices and was appointed

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

for 1776–77. He was elected a member of parliament for

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

from 1799 to 1802.

Antiquary

An interest in the past, instigated by observing worked stone tools in a clay mining pit, led him to become a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and to conduct excavations at a site just south of Hoxne, 8 km east, and across the River Waveney, from his home in Roydon, near Diss. Frere wrote a letter to the Society of Antiquaries about flint tools and large bones of extinct animals found at a depth of approximately twelve feet (four meters) in a hole dug by local brickworkers. He described the worked stones as "...weapons of war, fabricated and used by a people who had not the use of metals... The situation in which these weapons were found may tempt us to refer them to a very remote period indeed, even beyond that of the present world...." In addition, Frere carefully described the stratigraphy of the find, with the tools lying below an apparent ancient sea floor, yet not in a position to which they could have been washed down. Although Frere's letter was officially read at the Society on 22 June 1797, and published by it in 1800, his interpretation was so radical by the standards of the day as to be overlooked for six decades, until noticed by John Evans. Frere's is considered one of the most important middle Pleistocene sites in Europe, because of what he observed in his letter: juxtaposition of artefacts, animal remains and stratigraphic evidence. Its significance is double: for paleoanthropology, showing Homo presence in Britain approximately 400,000 years ago, and, for geology, dating stages of the European Great Interglacial period (known in Britain as the Hoxnian).

Family

Frere married Jane Hookham, daughter of John Hookham, on 12 June 1768. They had seven sons and two daughters: *

John Hookham Frere John Hookham Frere (21 May 1769 – 7 January 1846) was an English diplomat and author. Early life Frere was born in London. His father, John Frere, a member of a Suffolk family, had been educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and became Sec ...

(1769–1846), diplomat and poet * Edward Frere (1770–1844), manager of Clydach Ironworks, father of Sir

Henry Bartle Frere Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British Empire, British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in British Raj, India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, a ...

. * Jane Frere (1773–1829), married Sir John Orde in 1793 * George Frere (1774–1854) *

William Frere William Frere (28 November 1775 – 25 May 1836), 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, South Norfolk, and younger brother of John ...

(1775–1836), lawyer, Master of

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

Bartholomew Frere Bartholomew Frere (30 November 1776 – 29 May 1851) was a British diplomat. Life Frere was born in 1776, the fifth son of John Frere John Frere (10 August 1740 – 12 July 1807) was an English antiquary and a pioneering discoverer of O ...

(1776–1851), diplomat * Susanna Frere (1778–1839) *

James Hatley Frere James Hatley Frere (1779–1866) was an English writer on prophecy and developer of a tactile alphabet system for teaching the blind to read. Life Frere was the sixth son of John Frere, of Roydon, South Norfolk, and Beddington, Surrey, by Jane, ...

(1779–1866), writer on biblical prophecy, ancestor of

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul (mammal), Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now ...

* Temple Frere (1781–1859), clergyman, Speaker's Chaplain and Canon of Westminster

Ancestry

Notes and references

Robert Beatson Robert Beatson, LL.D. FRSE FSA (1741–1818) was a Scottish compiler and miscellaneous writer. Life He was born on 25 June 1741 at Dysart in Fife, Scotland, the son of David Beatson of Vicarsgrange. He was educated for the military profession, ...

, ''A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) * *

External links

* *
Information on Frere and his relatives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frere, John 1740 births 1807 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Second Wranglers English antiquarians British archaeologists English prehistorians Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 High sheriffs of Suffolk Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

People from Roydon, South Norfolk