2nd Lieutenant Noel FREEMAN
3rd (Reserve) Battalion Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment attached to C Company, 7th (Service) Battalion

Date of birth: 25th December 1895
Date of death: 4th April 1918

Killed in action aged 22
Buried at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery Plot V Row E Grave 8
Noel "Jack" Freeman was born at Cilwendeg Park in Pembrokeshire on the 25th of December 1895 the elder son of Vernon G.H. Freeman, a gentleman, and Rosie Macey (nee Taylor later Craven) Freeman of Weare Giffard, near Bideford in North Devon.

He was educated at The Old Ride Preparatory School in Buckinghamshire and at Lancing College where he was in Olds House from September 1910 to 1912. On leaving school he worked as a clerk at the Bank of England and lived at 99 Finchley Road, South West Hampstead.

He enlisted into the army at Harrow as Private 6431 in the Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment on the 20th of August 1915. At a medical examination, which was held on the 24th of August, it was recorded that he was five feet five inches tall and weighed 9 stones 5lbs. He was posted to the 9th (Reserve) Battalion of his regiment on the 26th of August 1915 where he qualified as a First Class Signaller. On the 27th of April 1916 he was posted to 10 Depot Company, 1st Battalion Machine Gun Corps at Belton Camp, Grantham from where he applied for a commission on the 3rd of November 1916 in an application which was supported by the Reverend Bowlby, Head Master of Lancing College and in which he expressed a preference for a commission in the Machine Gun Corps.

He was posted to No. 2 Officer Cadet Battalion at Pirbright on the 1st of February 1917 for officer training. During the course of his training it was determined that he was an unsuitable candidate for the Machine Gun Corps and on the 15th of May 1917 he joined No. 6 Officer Cadet Battalion at Oxford for the infantry.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment on the 29th of August 1917 and was attached to the 7th Battalion of his regiment for war service.

On the 4th of April 1918 the 7th Battalion Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment was in positions near Villers Bretonneux. At 4am an enemy barrage fell on their positions but caused few casualties. This was followed by an infantry attack at 7am but this was driven off. At 10am they were subjected to heavy shelling by gas shells and were forced to withdraw to a nearby farm. At 4pm word came through that the Germans had broken through on their flank and the battalion was formed up under the direct command of their Brigadier for a counter attack. They attacked towards Hangard Wood with the support of the 34th Battalion Australian Infantry, held the enemy attack and forced them back a little. The battalion was relieved at midnight and moved into billets.

Although Noel Freeman's death is given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the 5th of April the battalion were in billets behind the lines that day and it seems more likely that he fell on the 4th of April.

His mother applied for his medals in September 1919

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