Frederick Perkins (MP)

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Sir Frederick Perkins (2 June 1826 – 8 November 1902) was a British Liberal politician, brewer and wine and spirit merchant from Southampton. He began his political career as a Liberal town councillor for All Saints Ward in the 1850s and later served as Mayor of Southampton five times (1859, 1861, 1862, 1868, 1869). As mayor, he welcomed the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) in 1863 on their way to Osborne House after their wedding. In 1872 he was Sheriff of London and Middlesex, and he was knighted in 1873. He became Member of Parliament for Southampton in 1874 and served until 1880.

Perkins was a Justice of the Peace, a leading Freemason, and was elected to the Royal Geographical Society in recognition of his interest in the North Atlantic Telegraph Cable Expedition that began in Southampton.

Family: He was the son of Richard Hopkins Perkins. He married three times. His first wife, Evelina Abraham, married in 1847; she died in 1848, leaving a son, Arthur Frederick. He married Isabella Bloomfield Croskey in 1858; they had six children: Rodney Croskey, Richard Harry, Julian Tolmé, Teresa Macombe, Evelina Daisy, and Amy Bloomfield. His third wife was Mary Sherman, whom he married in the 1890s; she survived him.

Perkins died in Southampton on 8 November 1902, aged 76.