Freddie Freake

Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Sir Frederick Freake was the son of the 2nd Baronet Freake of Crowwell House, Kensington and Fulwell Park, and he succeeded to the baronetcy upon his father’s death in 1920. He lived in the family home at Halford Manor in Warwickshire where he became Justice of the Peace (J.P.) and in 1939 was appointed The High Sheriff of Warwickshire. He was a racehorse owner, regularly rode with the Warwickshire hounds, and was also a noted polo player with a 9-goal handicap, starring alongside Walter Buckmaster as No.2 in the Old Cantab team. He competed in the 1900 Paris Olympics and won a silver medal as part of the BLO Polo Club, Rugby and at the London Games eight years later he won another silver medal as a member of the Hurlingham Club. Freddie, as he was known, played on the winning England team in the unofficial Westchester Cup march in 1900 and again in the official match at Hurlingham in 1902, but was on the losing side in 1909 and 1913.

Freake had a memorable season in 1908 when he won the Champion Cup six times between 1900-1914 with the Old Cantabs, the Ranelagh Open Cup with Ranelagh and was on the winning England side against Ireland in the Patriotic Cup. Freake schooled his own ponies and despite not possessing the same skills as some of his team-mates he was regarded as a hard working player and when he went to America for the international matches in 1913, he was well respected by the Americans as both a player and a man.

Sir Frederick served with the Royal Field Artillery in World War I and was mentioned in despatches. Freake died on 22 December 1950, 30 years to the day after his father died. His son Charles succeeded as the fourth Baron but the Baronetcy ceased less than a year later following Charles’s death.