Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GBE, PC (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), styled as the Earl of Willingdon between 1931 and 1936, was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
This British surname is barrelled, being made up of multiple names. It should be written as Freeman-Thomas, not Thomas.
The Marquess of Willingdon
12 September 1866
Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
12 August 1941 (aged 74)
Ebury Street, Westminster, London, England
Freeman-Thomas was born in England and educated at Eton College and then the University of Cambridge before serving for 15 years in the Sussex Artillery. He then entered the diplomatic and political fields, acting as aide-de-camp to his father-in-law when the latter was Governor of Victoria and, in 1900, was elected to the British House of Commons. He thereafter occupied a variety of government posts, including secretary to the British prime minister and, after being raised to the peerage as Lord Willingdon, as Lord-in-waiting to King George V. From 1913, Willingdon held gubernatorial and viceregal offices throughout the British Empire, starting with the governorship of Bombay and then the governorship of Madras, before he was in 1926 appointed as the Governor-General of Canada to replace the Viscount Byng of Vimy, occupying the post until succeeded by the Earl of Bessborough in 1931. Willingdon was immediately thereafter appointed as Viceroy and Governor-General of India to replace Lord Irwin (later created Earl of Halifax), and he served in the post until succeeded by the Marquess of Linlithgow in 1936.
After the end of his viceregal tenure, Willingdon was installed as the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and was elevated in the peerage as the Marquess of Willingdon. After representing Britain at a number of organisations and celebrations, Willingdon died in 1941 at his home in London, and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.
Early life and education[edit]
Freeman Thomas was born the only son of Freeman Frederick Thomas, an officer in the rifle brigade of Ratton and Yapton, and his wife, Mabel, daughter of Henry Brand, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (later Speaker of the House of Commons, who retired as 1st Viscount Hampden). Before he was two, Thomas' father had died and he was raised thereafter by his mother, who sent him to Eton College.[1] There, he acted as President of the Eton Society and was for three years a member of the school's cricket team, serving as captain of the playing eleven during his final year. He carried this enthusiasm for sport on to the University of Cambridge, where he was accepted to Trinity College after leaving Eton,[1] and was drafted into the Cambridge playing eleven, playing for Sussex and I Zingari. His father had also played for Sussex. Upon his general admission from university, Freeman-Thomas then volunteered for fifteen years for the Sussex Artillery, achieving the rank of major.[2]
Marriage and political career[edit]
In 1892, Freeman-Thomas assumed the additional surname of Freeman by deed poll[3] and married the Hon. Marie Brassey, the daughter of Thomas Brassey, then recently created Baron Brassey. Freeman-Thomas often cited her as a source of support, stating once: "My wife has been a constant inspiration and encouragement."[4] The couple had two sons: Gerard, born 3 May 1893, and Inigo, born 25 July 1899. Gerard was killed in World War I on 14 September 1914, and Inigo eventually succeeded his father as Marquess of Willingdon.
In 1897 Freeman-Thomas was appointed aide-de-camp to his father-in-law, who was then the Governor of Victoria, Australia.[4] Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Freeman-Thomas joined the Liberal Party and in 1900 was elected to the British House of Commons to represent the borough of Hastings.[5] He then served as a junior lord of the Treasury in the Liberal Cabinet that sat from December 1905 to January 1906.[6] Though he lost in the January 1906 elections, Freeman-Thomas returned to the House of Commons by winning the by-election for Bodmin,[7] and, for some time, served as a secretary to the prime minister, H. H. Asquith. For his services in government, Freeman-Thomas was in 1910 elevated to the peerage as Baron Willingdon of Ratton in the County of Sussex,[8] and the following year was appointed as Lord-in-waiting to King George V, becoming a favourite tennis partner of the monarch.[4] His father-in-law was created Earl Brassey at the coronation in that year.
Governorship of Madras[edit]
Willingdon returned to the United Kingdom from Bombay only briefly before he was appointed on 10 April 1919 as the governor of Madras. This posting came shortly after the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1918 were formalised by the Government of India Act, which distributed power in India between the executive and legislative bodies.[12] Thus, in November 1920, Willingdon dropped the writs of election for the first election for the Madras Legislative Council; however, due to their adherence to Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, the Indian National Congress party refused to run any candidates and the Justice Party was subsequently swept into power. Willingdon appointed A. Subbarayalu Reddiar as his premier and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (a former Governor General of Canada), opened the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly.
The following year, the Governor found himself dealing with a series of communal riots that in August 1921 broke out in the Malabar District.[13] Following a number of cases of arson, looting, and assaults,[14] Willingdon declared martial law just before the government of India sent in a large force to quell the riots.[13][15] At around the same time, over 10,000 workers in the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills of Madras city organised for six months a general strike contemporaneous with the non-cooperation movement, which also sparked riots between pro- and anti-strike workers that were again only put down with police intervention.[16][17]
When he returned once more to the United Kingdom at the end of his tenure as the Governor of Madras, Willingdon was made a viscount, becoming on 24 June 1924 the Viscount Willingdon, of Ratton in the County of Sussex.[18]
Post-viceregal life[edit]
Once back in the United Kingdom, Willingdon associated with Roland Gwynne. Willingdon was one of the notable guests of parties at Gwynne's East Sussex estate, Folkington Manor.[36] He was also honoured by George V, not only by being appointed as the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports—one of the higher honours bestowed by the sovereign and normally reserved for members of the Royal Family and former prime ministers—but he was also elevated once more in the peerage, being created Marquess of Willingdon by Edward VIII on 26 May 1936,[37] making him the most recent person to be promoted to such a rank.
Willingdon did not cease diplomatic life altogether: he undertook a goodwill mission to South America, representing the Ibero-American Institute, and chaired the British committee on the commissioning of army officers. In 1940, he also represented the United Kingdom at the celebrations for the centennial of the formation of New Zealand. The next year, however, on 12 August, the Marquess of Willingdon died at 5 Lygon Place, near Ebury Street, in London, and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.
Viceregal styles of
the Viscount Willingdon
(1926–1931)
then
the Earl of Willingdon
(1931–1936)
His Excellency The Right Honourable
(in Canada, also) Son Excellence le très honorable
Your Excellency
(in Canada, also) Votre Excellence
12 March 1913 – 21 July 1941: Knight Grand Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE)
3 June 1918 – 21 July 1941: Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (GCSI)
20 July 1926 – 21 July 1941: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG)[40]
4 December 1917 – 21 July 1941: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE)