Charles James Feret (bapt. James Charles Féret; 19 December 185413 March 1921) was a British newspaper editor and writer. He is known among historians of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as the author of an exhaustive three volume history of

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, published in 1900. Feret was born in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

, London, to Louis Joseph Philibert Féret, a haberdasher from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

,''1851 England Census'' and Mary Coker. He had an elder sister, Cordelia.''London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1923'' During his childhood, the family moved west to

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

. After school, he joined the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and worked as a clerk in the

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

. He was of a studious disposition and by 21, he had a

British Museum Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

reader's ticket. While still at the India Office, and having moved to Fulham with his mother and sister some years earlier, he took up the part-time post of editor at the local paper, '' The Fulham Chronicle'', which launched in 1888. His thousand-page illustrated, ''Fulham Old and New'', was well supported and was published by subscription by the Leadenhall Press in 1900. In 1901, he not only left ''The Chronicle'', but moved to Margate probably for better quality air and became an antique dealer. He never married, but adopted a young girl from an orphanage. After her death, he adopted a second daughter. He died in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

of a heart attack.Dewe, Michael. (1972) ''Fulham's Historian - Charles Feret'', published by Fulham and Hammersmith Historical Society, 42 pages.

References

1854 births 1921 deaths British people of French descent British newspaper editors 19th-century English historians People from Clerkenwell People from Fulham Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Historians of London History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham {{London-stub