Background
Born in Hampshire, Thomas Birch Freeman was the son of an African father, Thomas Freeman, and an English mother, Amy Birch.
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Thomas Freeman
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Under Freeman, nine (9) schools were established in the colony of Gold Coast (present day Ghana) in 1841, out of this, (all were in Gold Coast) three were for girls the only. He opened more schools, by 1880, he had about 83 schools with roughly 3000 students. In 1838 he went as a Methodist missionary to West Africa, founding Methodist churches in the Gold Coast in Cape Coast and Accra, and establishing a mission station in Kumasi.
In 1850, Freeman established agriculture farms at Buela near Cape Coast (all in present day Ghana).
He also went to towns in southern Nigeria and to the kingdom of Dahomey. In 1843, while on furlough in Britain, he was active in the anti-slavery cause.
After resigning as a missionary in 1857, he was employed by the colonial government as civil commandant of Accra district from 1857 to 1873. Freeman married four times.
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Born
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Died
August 12, 1890 (aged 80) -
Nationality
United Kingdom -
Religion
Methodism