William J. Frere

William J. Frere (b. 1861, Washingston, DC, d. 1922 Tompkinsville, Maryland) was an American farmer and politician, serving as a state senator in Maryland. A member of the Democratic Party, Frere represented Charles County, Maryland from 1910 to 1914. Frere lived in Tompkinsville and was a farmer. He was a sponsor of the failed Digges Amendment, which was intended to disenfranchise African-American voters by challenging the Fifteenth Amendment's applicability to state elections, and also to enforce a property requirement. It was strongly defeated in a public referendum.