Frederick Henry Alexander Forth (11 February 1808 – 7 April 1876) was a British colonial administrator. He was Lieutenant-Governor in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong The Financial Secretary is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters (“Department of Finance” per Article 60 of the Basic Law). The position is among the three most senior ...

and magistrate of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Early life

Forth was born on 11 February 1808 to diplomat Nathaniel Parker

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotl ...

(1744–1809) and Eliza Petrie (1784–1864). His father was King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

's private envoy to the courts of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

and Madrid. From his parents' marriage, he had several siblings, including

Alexandre de Forth-Rouen Alexandre may refer to: * Alexandre (given name) * Alexandre (surname) * Alexandre (film) See also * Alexander * Alexandra (disambiguation) * Xano (disambiguation) Xano is the name of: * Xano, a Portuguese hypocoristic of the name " Alexandre (di ...

and Eliza Parker Forth (wife of the Hon. Jabez Henry). After his father's death in April 1809, shortly before his youngest brother's birth, his mother married Baron Alexandre-Jean-Denis Rouen des

Mallets A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. General overview The term is descriptive of the ...

, the Mayor of

Taverny Taverny () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Tabernaciens''. History In 1806 the commune of Taverny merged with the neighboring commune of Saint-Leu, r ...

, with whom she had another daughter, Louise Rouen des Mallets (who married Charles Louis, Viscount Terray de Morel-Vindé in 1839), Frederick's half-sister. His paternal grandfather was Sir Samuel Forth of

Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the Ludlow, town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy (died 1085), Wal ...

. His maternal grandparents were Anne ( Keable) Petrie and John Petrie, a senior merchant in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in the 1780s. His niece, Jeanne Marie Terray de Morel-Vindé, married Guy de Rohan-Chabot,

Pontifical A pontifical () is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy Orders. While the ...

Duke of Ravese.

Career

He was an army officer and lieutenant-governor in the

for some six years, where he was sent to initiate a government on the separation of those islands from

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

. He was the Council President of the

Turks and Caicos The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

from 1848 to 1854. He was also the

and ''ex officio'' member of the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...

. He was a captain in the Scots Fusiliers and was appointed by Governor Sir

George Arthur Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet (21 June 1784 – 19 September 1854) was a British colonial administrator who was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras from 1814 to 1822 and of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) from 1824 to 1836. ...

in the first visiting magistracy created in

. He prepared the first code of standing regulations for the management of some thousands of European convicts employed upon the public works and roads of the colony.

Personal life

On 27 December 1831, Forth was married to Caroline Jemima Sherson (1810–1878), a daughter of Robert Sherson and Catherine Taylor. Together, they were the parents of: * Catherine Georgiana Forth, who married

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of Little Cawthorpe, John Bartholomew Parker, the eldest son of Lysimachus Parker and Sarah Green of Dowsby Hall, in 1862. * Robert de Lancey Forth (1835–1890), who married Anne Thomson Ware, a daughter of Jeremiah George Ware, in 1877. * Edith Ann Mary Forth (1841–1866), who married

Phineas Ryrie Phineas Ryrie, JP (16 July 1829 – 22 February 1892) was a Scottish tea merchant in Hong Kong. He was the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and the first Chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Background Ryrie w ...

, a Scottish tea merchant in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He died in Tasmania in 1876.

Descendants

Through his son Robert de Lancey Forth, Forth's great-great-grandson is Australian-American media mogul

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

, through Murdoch's mother, Elisabeth Joy Greene, a daughter of Marie Grace de Lancey Forth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forth, Frederick Henry Alexander 1808 births 1876 deaths Financial secretaries of Hong Kong Government officials of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Royal Scots Fusiliers officers Council Presidents of the Turks and Caicos Islands People from British Hong Kong