When is a Freeman not a Freeman?

Four years later, in 1959, I founded the Freemen’s newsletter, The Oxford Freeman, and became its editor. Because the mailing list I was working with had been compiled in 1915, it was obvious that newsletters were being posted to many Freemen who had moved their address or were long dead. So, I decided to write to every Freeman on the list and ask them return an enclosed form and to help with the project of updating the list. Needless to say, the response was poor even after writing to them a second time. After a struggle I managed to compile a mailing list that was reasonably up-to-date.

One of the people on the 1915 list was Sir John Thompson and he was one of those who did not reply. As with other ‘missing’ Freemen, I checked in our copy of the Freemen’s Roll to see when he was admitted (to see if he might be dead). But I could not find his name. I thought that this was very strange, as I had attended Freemen’s Committee meetings with him. I then wrote to the Town Clerk and asked if he could say when Sir John had been made a Freeman. Some time later, the Town Clerk wrote to say that Sir John’s name was not in their copy of the Roll either, that he had written to him to ask when he had been made a Freeman and Sir John had replied that he had never been admitted! The Town Clerk also told me that, as he was eligible for admission by patrimony, he had suggested to Sir John that he take up his freedom. But Sir John had replied that he was too old and that he only had daughters.

At the next Committee meeting, I asked, with an innocent look on my face, if Sir John Thomson was a Freeman. “Oh Yes” they chorused, “he used to be on the Committee”. There was a look of astonishment on their faces when I told them that they were wrong!