Background
Freeling was the son of John Clayton Freeling and grandson of Sir Francis Freeling, Bt, and the elder brother of Sir Sanford Freeling, Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George.
Freeling was the son of John Clayton Freeling and grandson of Sir Francis Freeling, Bt, and the elder brother of Sir Sanford Freeling, Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George.
Harrow School.
Freeling enlisted into the Royal Engineers and ultimately took service under the South Australian Government as Surveyor-General. He was elected to the newly constituted Legislative Council in March 1857, and sat till August 1859, when he resigned. He was then a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Engineers, but became a major-general on retiring, and in 1871 succeeded as 5th Baronet of Ford and Hutchings, Sussex.
In 1860, the Victorian government botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller named Eremophila freelingii in his honour.
The type specimen of the species had been collected by George Charles Hawker on Freeling"s expedition to Lake Torrens.
In this capacity he did some valuable exploring work, and was a member of the Executive and Legislative Councils prior to the concession of responsible government. He was a member of the Finniss Ministry as Commissioner of Public Works from October 1856 to March 1857, when he retired rather than relinquish the permanent post of Surveyor-General, which he resigned in 1861, and returned to England.