Later Life and Career
Fremantle married shortly after his return to Great Britain, and served with his regiment until 1880, when he was placed on half pay after twenty eight years of service without seeing any active duty. The following year, however, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and assigned as aide-de-camp to Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, commander-in-chief of the British Army.
The United Kingdom was upset by the disasters suffered by the Anglo-Egyptian forces contending with the Mahdist army in the Sudan (battle of El Obeid; 1st battle of El Teb). Fremantle was sent to the Sudan, temporarily serving as garrison commander at the port of Suakin until his relief by Major General Gerald Graham.
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Fremantle followed General Graham in his inland raid when he intended to crush the Mahdist Osman Digna. Fremantle was in command of the Brigade of Guards, and as such took part in the harsh Battle of Tamai: with a toll of 120 British troops (the heaviest of the campaign), the famous British infantry square broken open, this battle did not serve to break down the Dervish army morale, as was proved during the following battles (such as Abu Klea) and the fall of Khartoum in January 1885.
After Tamai, Fremantle was appointed Political Officer by Graham, placing him in charge of efforts to befriend the local tribes around the Suakin region and, if possible, to unite them against the Madhists.
After the fall of Khartoum and the departure of the British from the Sudan, Fremantle stayed for a brief time in Cairo, then returned to England in 1886, serving in the War Office.
He ended his career on a high note by being appointed to the office of Governor-General of Malta in 1894. During his time on the island, Fremantle became a popular governor, presiding over political decisions such as the matter of mixed and non-Catholic marriages, and the issue of the payment of reparations to the Maltese ecclesiastical authorities from the Napoleonic Wars. In November 1898, Fremantle hosted a visit to the island by the German Emperor, Kaiser William II, who arrived in Valletta on board his personal yacht, the Hohenzollern, upon which Governor Fremantle joined the Kaiser for dinner.
In 1899, after his term in office ended, Lieutenant-General Arthur Fremantle returned to England.
A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, General Fremantle died at the age of 65 in the Squadron's headquarters in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight from complications of asthma on 25 September 1901. On the centenary of his funeral, a ceremony marking the restoration of his grave in Woodvale Cemetery, near Brighton, was conducted by his descendants and by Civil War re-enactors from the United States.
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