Background
Bernard Cyril Freyberg was born in Richmond, Surrey, London, England, United Kingdom. He moved to New Zealand with his parents at the age of two.
Bernard Cyril Freyberg was born in Richmond, Surrey, London, England, United Kingdom. He moved to New Zealand with his parents at the age of two.
He attended Wellington College from 1897 to 1904. A strong swimmer, he won the New Zealand 100-yards championship in 1906 and 1910.
On 22 May 1911, he became an assistant to a dentist in Morrinsville, and later opened his own practice in Hamilton and in Levin. In Mar 1914, he left New Zealand and traveled to San Francisco, California, United States and then to Mexico; records did not clearly show why he was in North America.
When WW1 began, Freyberg traveled to England to meet with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, whom he convinced to grant him a commission in the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division. In 1915, he fought in the Dardanelles campaign and participated in the Gallipoli landings, where he won his first Distinguished Service Order medal. In May 1916, he fought in France and won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of the Somme. On 13 Nov 1916, at Beaucourt-sur-Ancre, France, he led his initially disorganized troops on an assault that turned the tide, capturing 500 Germans after taking a heavily fortified village. In Apr 1917, he was promoted to the war time rank of brigadier and was given command of a brigade in the 58th Division. By the time WW1 ended, he earned another two Distinguished Service Order medals and a French Croix Militaire de Guerre. During the inter-war years, Freyberg remained in the British Army.
In 1937, the British Army classified Freyberg unfit for active service, but as the European War began, he was put on the active list regardless. Because of his New Zealand upbringing, he was assigned the commander of the New Zealand 2nd Expeditionary Force and of the New Zealand 2nd Division. In 1941, he served as the British and Commonwealth troops at Crete, Greece. After the loss at Crete, he continued to command the New Zealand 2nd Division in North Africa, participating in Operation Supercharge at El Alamein and Operation Supercharge II at Tebaga Gap. After North Africa, he led the New Zealand forces in Italy. He gained a reputation as one who was willing to challenge his superiors if he believed any orders were given with prejudice against the New Zealand troops. He was popular among soldiers, New Zealand and otherwise, for his concern for the welfare of his troops. In terms of leadership, he was known to be an able divisional level tactician, but was less so at the corps level, as shown when he commanded corps level forces at Tebaga Gap and Monte Cassino.
Freyberg retired from military service soon after the European War. Between 1946 and 1952, he was the Governor-General of New Zealand. In 1951, he was made Baron Freyberg of Wellington, New Zealand and of Munstead, Surrey, England. In 1952, he returned to England, and on 1 Mar 1953 he became the Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle. He passed away in 1963 following the rupture of one of his war wounds. He was buried at the church of St. Martha on the Hill in Guildford, Surrey.
Quotes from others about the person
he citation for the award, published in the London Gazette in December 1916, describes the events concluding with:
The personality, valour and utter contempt of danger on the part of this single Officer enabled the lodgment in the most advanced objective of the Corps to be permanently held, and on this point d'appui the line was eventually formed.
On 14 Jun 1922, Freyberg married Barbara McLaren, daughter of Sir Herbert Jekyll at St. Martha on the Hill. Barbara had two children from her previous marriage, and the couple had one son in 1923.
Born as Barbara Jekyll, she was a daughter of Colonel Sir Herbert Jekyll (KCMG) and his wife, Dame Agnes Graham Jekyll, DBE. On 20 July 1911, she married Hon. Francis Walter Stafford McLaren, the-then Liberal MP for Spalding and the second son of the 1st Baron Aberconway. They had two sons, Major Martin John McLaren (11 January 1914-27 July 1979) and Guy Lewis Ian McLaren (8 November 1915-18 August 1978). Francis, a Royal Flying Corps officer and the Member of Parliament for Spalding in Lincolnshire, was killed in a flying accident 1917. As a result, and out of a desire to retain her connection with the town, Barbara was instrumental in the construction of Spalding War Memorial. She commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens through her aunt, Gertrude Jekyll - a friend and collaborator of Lutyens'. She donated £1,000 towards the cost of the memorial and attended the unveiling ceremony on 9 June 1922.
On 14 June 1922 Barbara married her second husband, Bernard Cyril Freyberg (later Baron Freyberg), at St. Martha-on-the-Hill, near Guildford, Surrey. They had one son: Paul Richard Freyberg, 2nd Baron Freyberg (27 May 1923-26 May 1993).
During World War II, she was a welfare worker in Cairo, was mentioned in despatches and awarded an OBE in 1943. When her husband's term as Governor-General of New Zealand ended in 1952, Lady Freyberg was awarded the GBE in the 1953 New Year Honours.
She died in 1973 at 65 Chelsea Square, London SW3. She was interred in the churchyard of Saint Martha on the Hill in Guildford, Surrey, alongside her second husband (and later her son).
