Frederick Standish

Captain Frederick Charles Standish (20 April 1824 – 19 March 1883), was a Chief Commissioner of Police in Victoria (Australia).

Standish was the son of the late Charles Standish, of Standish Hall, Wigan, Lancashire, where he was born in 1824. He was educated at Prior Park College, and then entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He subsequently obtained a commission in the Royal Artillery, in which he served for nine years, and retired with 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), and in 1858 Chinese Protector. On the resignation of Sir Charles MacMahon he was made Chief Commissioner of the Police. This post he resigned in 1880. Captain Standish in 1861 was installed District Grand Master of the Freemasons of Victoria, English constitution. From 1881 to 1883 Standish was chairman of the Victoria Racing Club, and was credited with forming the idea to hold a horse and calling it the Melbourne Cup.

He died, unmarried, at the Melbourne Club on 19 March 1883.

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