Captain Frederick Charles Standish (20 April 1824 – 19 March 1883
), often referred to as "Captain Standish", was a Chief Commissioner of Police in
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a States and territories of Australia, state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), ...
.
Biography
Standish was born in 1824 at
Standish Hall
Standish Hall was an estate and country house, built in 1573, owned by the Standish family in the south-west of Standish, Wigan. No standing structures of the hall remain on the former estate, however, some of its wooden-panel interiors have ...
,
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, the second son of Charles Strickland
Standish (1790-1863),
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 Standish, and Émilie (Emma) Conradine Matthiessen (1801-1831).
He was educated at
Prior Park College
Prior Park College is a co-educational public school for both boarding and day pupils in Bath, south-west England. Its main building, Prior Park, stands on a hill overlooking the city and is a Grade I listed building. The adjoining Prior P ...
,
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, and then entered the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...
. He subsequently obtained a commission in the
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
, in which he served for nine years, and retired at the rank of captain.
[
Standish was a known gambler on English racecourses, and lost a significant amount of money. He sold his mortgaged property in 1852 and left England for the Australian colonies.
Standish went to Victoria in 1852, and in 1854 was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Goldfields at Sandhurst (]Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
), and in 1858 Chinese Protector. On the resignation of Sir Charles MacMahon he was made Chief Commissioner of the Police.Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...
Aboriginal tracker
Aboriginal trackers were enlisted by Europeans in the years following History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation of Australia, to assist them in exploring the Australian landscape. The excellent tracking skills of these Aboriginal ...
s to assist in the hunt for the Kelly Gang. He resigned from the role of Chief Police Commissioner in 1880.
In 1861 he was installed as District Grand Master of the Freemasons of Victoria, English constitution.Victoria Racing Club
The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. A legacy passed from the Victoria Turf Club was the annual "race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup, ...
,Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...
.
Standish wrote of his experiences as a senior figure in the administration of early Victoria in '' The Leader,'' a Melbourne newspaper under the bylines "The Contributor" and "An Ex-Official" in a series of sixteen informative and historically valuable articles in 1887.Melbourne Club
The Melbourne Club is a private social club established in 1838 and located at 36 Collins Street, Melbourne.
The club is a symbol of Australia's British social heritage and was established at a gathering of 23 gentlemen on Saturday, 17 Decembe ...
on 19 March 1883.[
]
See also
* Standish family
*
External links
''Standish Papers'' on ''The National Archives'' website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Standish, Frederick Charles
1824 births
1883 deaths
19th-century English people
People from Standish, Greater Manchester
Chief Commissioners of Victoria Police
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Australian horse racing officials
Police officers from Melbourne
English gamblers
People educated at Prior Park College