Transcript

of

Francis Ford Freeman [Obituary]

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol.  XLII, (1910), p. 44.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1910 Collumpton meeting. Mr Freeman in 1872 became a partner in Messrs Coates and Co. Ltd., since 1793 a renowned Plymouth-based manufacturer of Plymouth Gin. He was a relatively wealthy, well-travelled country gentleman, with opportunity to pursue his special interests. He became a Fellow of both the Entomological and the Royal Horticultural Societies. His residence, Ford House, at Ford, near Devonport was described by a visitor in 1796 as 'an ancient house within a few fields of Swilly (Home of the Furneaux family), lying westward of it in a narrow valley at the head of a creek. (Source: Brian Moseley’s Old Devonport.UK website - archived copy.) The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Francis Ford Freeman. Mr. Freeman, who was the eldest son of Mr. Charles Freeman, of Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, S.W. (who survives him), was born on 16 December, 1847, at Ford House, which was then the only house standing in what is now the populous district of Ford, near Devonport. In 1863, he matriculated at St. Andrews University, and graduated in 1868, after which he travelled for four years, chiefly in China, Japan, Australia, and Tasmania, and his reminiscences of Japan, a country of which he had an intimate knowledge before it advanced to its modem civilized state, were most interesting. He took a great interest in all matters pertaining to the sea, and made several voyages round the world in sailing vessels, always preferring sail to steam. In 1872, he became a partner in the firm of Messrs. Coates and Co., distillers, of Plymouth.
Mr. Freeman had many tastes and pursuits, but probably entomology claimed his greatest interest. He was a Fellow of the Entomological Society, and his collection of British and European butterflies, which he presented to the South London Natural History Society, is a very fine one. In his later years he took up horticulture, especially rock gardening, and was a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society.
He joined the Devonshire Association in 1901, and took a great interest in antiquities, genealogy, and heraldry.
As a young man, while at St. Andrews, he was devoted to golf, and tried to introduce the game into the West of England at least thirty years before it became generally popular.
He was also a keen fisherman, and in spite of delicate health, being a victim to asthma from early youth, he pursued this sport in all its branches to the end of his life.
In politics, he was a Conservative, but took no very active part in political affairs, as he had a strong objection to publicity of any kind.
In 1876, Mr. Freeman married Lucy Emma Haden, a niece of Sir Francis Seymour Haden, the etcher.
In 1891, he moved to Abbotsfield, Tavistock, where he died on 6 April, 1908.