Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Colonel J. C. Freeland, C.B., C.B.E., 35th Sikhs, Indian Army, who was four times Mentioned in Despatches

1914 Star, with clasp (Capt. J. C. Freeland, 35/Sikhs.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Bt. Lt. Col. J. C. Freeland.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (Bt. Lt. Col. J. C. Freeland, 1/35/Sikhs.) very fine and better (4) £240-£280

C.B. London Gazette 3 June 1929.

C.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1925.

John Cavendish Freeland was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on 22 January 1877 and was educated at Fauconberge School, Beccles, and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was first commissioned Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List on 4 August 1897 and arrived in India on 4 November of that year. He was appointed to the Indian Army on 8 November 1898 and was posted to the 35th Sikhs, being promoted Lieutenant on 4 November 1899, and Captain on 4 August 1906. From February 1906 to February 1910, he was an Assistant Inspecting Officer, Imperial Service Troops, to the Punjab Infantry at Ambala, and attended Quetta Staff College from February 1911 to February 1913.

Freeland served on the Staff during the Great War on the Western Front from 12 October 1914 to 25 March 1917, and then in Mesopotamia from 1 May 1917 to 21 May 1918, and was promoted Major on 4 August 1915. His Great War appointments were consecutively Staff Captain, Dehra Dun Brigade, 15 August 1914 to 17 April 1915; Special Appointment, G.S.O. 3, B.E.F., 28 April to 1 August 1915; G.S.O. 3, 1st Army, B.E.F., 2 August to 22 December 1915; G.S.O. 2, 1st Army, B.E.F., 23 December 1915 to 11 March 1916; G.S.O. 2, 8th Division, B.E.F., 12 March 1916 to 14 January 1917; Temporary Commanding Officer, 36th Sikhs, 25 May to 19 July 1917; and G.S.O. 2, 8 November 1917 to 25 April 1918. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, G.H.Q. Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force and War Office, 26 April 1918 to 28 March 1919, and for his services during the Great War he was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 3 June 1918 and was four times Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 22 June 1915; 1 January 1916; 4 January 1917; and 27 August 1918). He saw further service during the Third Afghan War and was appointed temporary Commanding Officer, 36th Sikhs, from 4 June to 31 October 1919.

Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 February 1921, Freeland was appointed Commandant of the 47th Sikhs on 1 February 1921, before transferring to Command the 35th Sikhs on November 1921. He was promoted Colonel on 3 June 1922 and was appointed Deputy Director of Auxiliary and Territorial Forces as part of the Directorate of Personal Services at HQ of the Army in India in Delhi 1 April 1923, serving there until 31 March 1927, and being appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1925 Birthday Honours’ List. His final appointment was as a General Staff Officer First Class, India Office, on 1 April 1927, which appointment he held until his retirement on 1 April 1931, and for his services he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1929 Birthday Honours’ List. He died in Playford, Suffolk, on 19 September 1944.