Brigadier Frost Pasha

Aberdeen, Scotland, 1838 - 1902

About MeFrost Pasha was born James Maurice Frost on the 3rd of May 1838 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was the ‘son of William Frost who, for many years, acted as manager to Mr. John Clyne, leather merchant, Gallowgate’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1902: 4). James Maurice Frost received his early education at ‘Mr. Molison’s English and Commercial Academy, which was then situated in the Mechanics’ Buildings, Market Street (entrance by Adelphi Lane)’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1867:4). After leaving the Academy, he entered on an apprenticeship as a brass-finisher with Messrs. John Blaikie and Sons – Braziers, Brassfounders, Plumbers, Gasfitters, Lamp and Meter Manufacturers, Coppersmiths, & c. – at their ‘Works’ business branch situated on Littlejohn Street (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1870:4). Shortly after he had served his apprenticeship, he received an appointment in the gunnery department of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on the south bank of the River Thames, in south-east London, England. The Arsenal ‘played a central military and industrial role throughout the state’s imperial phase’, functioning from ‘the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth’ (English Heritage, 2012:1), and carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces.

While working there ‘for about 9 years’ (Weekly Irish Times, Saturday 24th September 1881: 2), Frost showed considerable ability as an engineer and ultimately ‘rose to the position of under-manager’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1902: 4). When one of the Royal Arsenal officials was appointed to establish a new gun factory near London, Frost was invited to take on a manager position, time during which he built his professional reputation. Not long afterwards, however, a ‘request having come from the Government of Turkey to the Foreign Office for men fitted to give instructions in the preparation of materials of war, Sir John Anderson – who was trusted with the selection – chose, amongst others, Mr Frost’ (Dundee People’s Journal, Saturday, 13th July 1889). Sir John Anderson (1814-1886), inventor of ordnance manufacturing machinery and manager of the Royal Arsenal, was hence directly responsible for Frost’s ‘position of responsibility in the Imperial Turkish arsenal at Constantinople’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1902: 4). From the ‘Army and Navy Gazette’ (Saturday, 15th October, 1887), we learn that Frost has been employed in the cartridge department of the Turkish arsenal, ‘actually and entirely employed beyond Her Majesty’s Dominions’. The Aberdeen Press and Journal (Saturday 21st January, 1899: 4) says that Frost was ‘director of the cartridge factory at Kirk Aghatch (translated as Forty Trees) which was situated in Lydia – province of the Ottoman Empire (Ramsay and Bell, 2012: 6). From another source we learn that ‘immediately on his arrival [in Constantinople] Frost set about the construction of an arsenal on the same principle as the one at Woolwich. His duties embraced the instruction of Turkish Officers and the construction of implements of war, notably torpedoes’ (Dundee People’s Journal, Saturday, 13th July 1889).

The exact date when Frost moved to Constantinople to take up his new position is uncertain because of contradicting accounts found in newspapers that had recorded his professional development and visits to his native country. One newspaper article from Friday, 5th July 1889 (Aberdeen Evening Express) says that Frost has been absent from the United Kingdom for thirty years, meaning he had
left in 1859, when he was only 21 years old. Another newspaper article says that Frost ‘visited Aberdeen in 1885 after an absence of 24 years’, meaning he had left in 1861, when he was 23 years old. Aberdeen Evening Express (Wednesday, 21 August 1889) says Frost ‘left Aberdeen today by the 9 a.m. train to London, en route for Constantinople’ following his visit recorded in another newspaper from Friday, 5th July 1889 (Aberdeen Evening Express) that states that Frost is ‘expected to arrive in Aberdeen with the Express train on Sunday, the 7th of July [1889]’. Yet another article says that ‘it is now fifteen years since Frost Pasha paid a visit to his native country, when he spent a five months holiday in Aberdeen’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, Saturday, 15th November 1902), meaning he had last come in the United Kingdom in 1887. The Weekly Irish Time (Saturday 24th September 1881: 2) implies that Frost left to Constantinople ‘in 1868 [when] the Turkish Government, having applied to [the British] Government [...] for several skilled mechanics as instructors in the Imperial Gun Factories at Constantinople, selected Mr Frost [...]’.

Nonetheless, we know that he received a 4th Class Medjidieh breast star (subsequently returned when he received the 2nd Class Medjidieh), accompanied by a firman in 1872. This honorary medal must have been awarded by Sultan Abdülaziz in Constantinople, meaning Frost was certainly in the Ottoman capital in his early 30s. With the Russo-Turkish war (1877-78) breaking out, Frost – as head of the gun department – was kept actively engaged, sending out guns to the field (most likely torpedoes) and ‘arranging plans of defensive fortifications’ (Dundee People’s Journal, Saturday, 13th July 1889). About this time, in 1877, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel (‘Bey’ in Turkish), position that acknowledged his influence on the missile design. In further recognition for his signal services during the war, he was appointed Brigadier-General in the Imperial Ottoman Artillery, with the rank of Pasha, and Superintendent of the Ottoman Laboratory Department, all in 1881. He was subsequently decorated by the Sultan in appreciation of his services to the Turkish Government. In 1887 Frost was awarded the 2nd Class Medjidieh breast star and neck badge, a military and knightly order reward for distinguished services. In the same year, on October 21st, he received an official document from Francis Stronge (a British diplomat) informing him on the Royal Licence from Queen Victoria that permitted Frost to accept and wear the Medjidieh Insignia in the United Kingdom, as well as the Ottoman territories. In 1893 he was awarded the 2nd Class Osmanieh breast star and neck badge for outstanding services to the state. In 1894 he received two other medals: Lifesaving Medal generally awarded for lifesaving from drowning, fires, earthquakes, landslides and other catastrophes or similar heroic acts performed at the risk of one’s own life; and Liakat Medal Silver (Medal of Merit Silver) awarded to civilians for general merit. In 1896 Frost received the Imtiaz Medal Silver (engraved with his name on the obverse) – an Ottoman military decoration, firstly instituted in 1882. In 1897 he received a Greek War Medal for commemorating the decisive Ottoman military victory over the Kingdom of Greece during the Thirty Days’ War. In 1899 Frost was awarded his last medal – the Gold Imtiaz Medal, which is the highest Ottoman military decoration for gallantry.

Frost Pasha died on Sunday, the 9th of November 1902 in Constantinople, at the age of 64 (Aberdeen Press and Journal, Wednesday 8th April 1903). ‘He had been ailing for some time but his death was quite unexpected’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, Saturday, 15th November, 1902). Frost spent little time in native Aberdeen, but whenever he would visit (for an uncertain number of times), he would be awaited by people with a ‘hearty cheer’ (Aberdeen Evening Express, Monday, 8th July 1889). He had one wife, two daughters and four sons. It is recorded that in 1889 two of his sons – Constantine and Hendry – were already in Aberdeen for two years (meaning they had moved in 1887) to study at
Gordon’s College. They have been ‘apprenticed as engineers with the firm of Dalgety Brothers, Hutcheon Street, their mother being a cousin of the partners of the firm (Aberdeen Press and Journal, Saturday, 15th November, 1902). The third son, ‘Rudolph served his apprenticeship in the North of Scotland Bank in Aberdeen and was employed in a bank in Smyrna [a Greek city subsequently renamed Izmir, as part of Turkey]; while the forth, Plevna – so named owing to his having been born on the eve of the battle of Plevna [Bulgaria] – is an electrical engineer in Carlisle [N-W England]’ (Idem.). It is recorded that ‘several of his brothers [probably 4] [were] in business in Aberdeen in 1902’ (Idem.).