Edward Charles Frome

{{Infobox officeholder

|name=Edward Charles Frome

|office1 = Surveyor General of South Australia

| predecessor1 = Captain Charles Sturt

| successor1 = Sir Arthur Freeling

| term_start1 = 4 October 1839

| term_end1 = February 1849

|office2 = Member of the Legislative Council
of South Australia

| term_start2 = 2 October 1839

| term_end2 = 14 June 1843

|office = Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey

| predecessor = Charles Rochfort Scott

| successor = Sir St George Foley

| term_start = 1 May 1869

| term_end = 1 May 1874

|birth_date=7 January 1802

|death_date={{death-date and age|2 November 1890|7 January 1802}}

|birth_place= Gibraltar

|death_place=Ewell, Surrey

|placeofburial=

|image=EdwardCharlesFrome.jpg

|caption=Edward Charles Frome

|nickname=

|allegiance={{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom

|serviceyears=

|rank= General

|branch= 23px British Army

|commands=

|unit=

|battles=

|awards=

}}

General Edward Charles Frome (7 January 1802 – 2 November 1890) was a British Army officer and Surveyor General of South Australia.

Early life

Born in Gibraltar on 7 January 1802, Frome was orphaned early in his life. He was educated in Blackheath, London, England,

{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=B. C. |last=Newland |title=Frome, Edward Charles (1802–1890) |id2=frome-edward-charles-2070 |accessdate=23 September 2014}} where he became a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli.

Career

He received his commission in the Royal Engineers in 1825. He was involved in the Rideau Canal construction in Canada in 1827 to 1833.

In September 1839 Frome arrived in South Australia on the ship Recovery to take up an appointment as the colony's third Surveyor General. He was also a member of the South Australian Legislative Council (2 October 1839 to 14 June 1843).{{cite SA-parl |pid=4094 |name=Lieutenant Edward Frome |former=yes |access-date=2022-08-23}} He made an important contribution in surveying large areas of South Australia for new immigrants to settle upon.

He was also a competent artist and made many sketches and paintings of landscapes on his surveying expeditions. In one of his sketchbooks, there is a sketch of a Milmenrura village in the south-east of South Australia consisting of a cluster of about twelve established Aboriginal homes. It is annotated with the note "burnt by me, October 1840". This was apparently part of the retribution for the Maria massacre of shipwrecked survivors a few months earlier.{{cite web|url=https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/arts/visual-arts/tarnanthi-bunha-bunhanga-jonathan-jones-bruce-pascoe/|first=Walter|last=Marsh|title=Jonathan Jones and Bruce Pascoe offer a timely illustration of Aboriginal lands on the cusp of colonisation|date=1 October 2019|access-date=14 October 2019}}

In 1843 he led an expedition to the mid-north of South Australia and was the first to accurately map Lake Frome.

After his ten-year term expired he returned to England and was subsequently stationed in Mauritius, Scotland and Gibraltar. Between 1869 and 1874 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.

Later life and legacy

He retired in 1877 with the army rank of general, and died on 2 November 1890 at Ewell in Surrey.

His name was given to two lakes – Lake Frome in the state's north-east and Lake Frome in the state's south-east; Frome River in the Lake Eyre basin; and Frome Road, a major thoroughfare in Adelaide.{{cite web |title=Search result for " Frome River (Stream) (Record no. SA0000030) with the following layers selected - "Suburbs and Localities" and " Place names (gazetteer)" |url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/ |work=Property Location Browser |publisher=Government of South Australia |accessdate=26 September 2016 |archive-date=12 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012010923/http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/ |url-status=dead }}

The South Australian Electoral district of Frome, named after him, has existed in several incarnations since 1884. The latest incarnation has existed since 1991, but in 2024 the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission announced that at the 2026 state election its name would be changed to Ngadjuri, due to concerns over Frome's involvement in acts of retribution following the Maria massacre.Biggs, Harvey [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-13/sa-electorates-frome-redistribution/104717670 Electorate of Frome to be renamed 'Ngadjuri' as part of 2026 SA election redistribution after concerns about namesake Edward Frome] ABC News, 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.