Henri-Nicolas Frey was born on 9 January 1847 in
Bocognano in
Corsica, son of Henri Frey (1808–1887) who was a gendarmerie officer, then justice of the peace in
Valensole, knight of the Legion of Honor, 2nd class and his mother being Jeanne Carréga (1814–1886). He got married on 19 February 1894 in
Asnières-sur-Seine with Julie Bertrand, divorced wife of Charles Apert. He died on 6 January 1932 in
Menton.
Military career Frey was a student of the
Lycée Thiers and then of the
Prytanée national militaire, he entered the
École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr on 18 October 1866. He was a second lieutenant in 1868, a lieutenant in 1870, a captain in 1874 in
French Senegal, and a squadron leader in 1880. He served in the Bureau of The Marine Infantry Troops and was rapporteur of the Technical Committee of the Colonies. He was then lieutenant-colonel in 1884 in
Tonkin and colonel in 1887 in the colonial regiment of Brest, then in Senegal. As a young colonel in command of the
2nd Marine Infantry Regiment, he led a mission for the
French Sudan Campaign in 1885–1886. He then wrote a book out of it, titled
Campagne dans le Haut-Sénégal et dans le Haut-Niger (1885–1886), in 1888. He was appointed brigadier general in 1896, and took command of the 3rd Colonial Brigade (1896–97) as the Inspector General, he under-commissioned missions to
New Caledonia,
Réunion and
Madagascar. In 1900, he participated in the
Battle of Peking with his men, mostly Vietnamese conscripts who had seen little action were in-experienced. They were hastily sent to be landed near
Tianjin, arriving a day after the other legions. Then in July 1900, he took command of the French troops in China, which he commanded during the march on Beijing and the capture of the imperial city on 15 August. On the arrival of General Voyron in September 1900, he took command of the First Brigade of the Expeditionary Force. He was named Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur by decree on 12 July 1906. ==Honors==