Frederick Bedford

Sir Frederick Bedford
"Western Australia" Bedford as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, December 1903
Born	24 December 1838
Died	30 January 1913 (aged 74)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1852 – 1903
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	Cape of Good Hope Station North America and West Indies Station
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

Memorial to Frederick George Denham Bedord, Greenwich Hospital Chapel

Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford, GCB, GCVO (24 December 1838^[1] – 30 January 1913^[2]) was a senior Royal Navy officer and Governor of Western Australia from 24 March 1903 to 22 April 1909.

Naval career

Bedford joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14, and later served in the Crimean War.

He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station in 1892:^[3] in 1894, Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford was involved in an action against Nana Olomu Chief of Benin. Brohomi was burnt down in 1894 by a combined force of the British Naval Brigade and the Niger Coast Protectorate Force under Sir Frederick Bedford, KCB and the Consul-General Ralph Moor, KCMG. It is believed over 500-600 slaves were freed during the operation. On 22 February 1895, a British naval force, under the command of Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford at the behest of the Royal Niger Company, granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1886, laid siege on Brass, the chief city of the Ljo people of Nembe in Nigeria's Niger Delta.

He was appointed Junior Naval Lord in 1889 and Second Naval Lord in 1895.

In 1899 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the North America and West Indies Station, serving with the flagship HMS Crescent. The squadron under his command visited Jamaica in February 1900.^[4] He held the North America post until 15 July 1902, when he was succeeded by Vice-Admiral Sir Archibald Douglas, and left homebound with the Crescent.^[5][6]

Governor of Western Australia

After becoming Governor in 1903, on 4 June 1907 he officiated at the opening of the Royal Fremantle Golf Club in Western Australia, but it was not until March 1909 that the complete 18 hole course was available.

Memorials

A memorial to Admiral Bedford stands in the entrance lobby of the Chapel at Greenwich Hospital.

Family

Lady Ethel Bedford by Durrant & Son

He married Ethel Turner, daughter of E. R. Turner, Esq., of Ipswich, in 1880. Lady Bedford accompanied her husband and was mistress of Admiralty House in Halifax, Nova Scotia, until 1902. She took an interest in benevolent work, and frequently performed as a singer at concerts, for charitable purposes.^[7]

The couple`s son became Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Edward Frederick Bedford KCB CSI, who married Miss Gladys Mort of Sydney, Australia. While residing at Easthampnett, their son Frederick, named after his grandfather, who had become a Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm, was killed in action over St Pauls Bay, Malta on 21 February 1942, aged 22 years, and was buried in Malta (Capuccini) Naval Cemetery.

Legacy in Western Australia

Two suburbs of Perth are named after Bedford – Bedford (located in the City of Bayswater) and Bedfordale (located in the City of Armadale). Additionally, a pastoral lease in the Kimberley, Bedford Downs Station, is named after Bedford, as is nearby Mount Bedford.^[8]

Affiliations

• TS Bedford, Australian Navy Cadets - (Former Unit)

Notes

1. Australian Dictionary of Biography
2. Who's Who 1914, p. xxi
3. William Loney RN
4. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36069). London. 19 February 1900. p. 9.
5. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36822). London. 17 July 1902. p. 9.
6. "Bedford, Sir Frederick George Denham, Admiral, 1838-1913... – BED". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
7. Morgan, Henry James, Types of Canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with Canada (Toronto, 1903)
8. "Western Australian Names". Sunday Times. Perth, Western Australia: National Library of Australia. 5 February 1928. p. 18. Retrieved 1 December 2013.

External links

•  Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). "Bedford, Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.