Thomas Birch Freeman

Thomas Birch Freeman (6 December 1809 in Twyford, Hampshire – 12 August 1890 in Accra) was an Anglo-African Wesleyan minister, missionary, botanist and colonial official in West Africa. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Methodist Church in colonial West Africa, where he also established multiple schools. Some scholars view him as the "Founder of Ghana Methodism". Freeman's missionary activities took him to Dahomey, now Benin, as well as to Western Nigeria.

Biographical synopsis Born in Twyford, Hampshire, England, Thomas Birch Freeman was the son of an African father, Thomas Freeman, and an English mother, Amy Birch.

He worked as a gardener and botanist for Sir Robert Harland at Orwell Park, near Ipswich, until dismissed for abandoning Anglicanism for Wesleyan Methodism. Under Freeman, nine schools were established in the colony of Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) in 1841, three of which were for girls. He continued opening schools, and by 1880 had about 83 schools with roughly 3,000 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.

Early life

Thomas Birch Freeman was born on 6 December 1809 in Twyford, about three miles from Winchester, Hampshire, England. Freeman also researched and collated scientific data on tropical fauna for Kew Gardens. Prior to its autonomy, the Methodist Church Ghana maintained ties to different Methodist bodies: the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, British Methodist Church and the Methodist Missionary Society, which all formed an ecclesiastical merger in 1932. Five new districts, including Kumasi, were also created in 1961. The Rev. Brooking was the first resident minister to be stationed in Kumasi as the locus point of Methodism in Asante. The church now has a total membership of more than 600, 000 congregants spread across 17 dioceses, 3,814 societies, 1,066 pastors, 15,920 local preachers, 24,100 Lay Leaders. The Methodist Church Ghana also owns an orphanage, hospitals, clinics and schools. On that day, there was a prayer meeting at 6am, a mass wedding ceremony for six couples at 7:30am, a quarterly meeting at 11am. A platform was constructed in the afternoon and an evening event began at 7:15pm. This inaugural missionary meeting was novel in that it was chaired by a secular political leader. Today, it is customary for public Methodist events in Ghana to be presided over by non-church agents.

Freeman first ventured into Asante territory on 29 January 1839, with the intention of setting up a Wesleyan mission station there. From Cape Coast, Freeman and his mission assistants arrived at Fomena via Anomabu, an approximate midpoint between the Central Region and Ashanti Region. One scholar of mission history stated: "Members at Cape Coast had grown up in…undetached houses with specially designed exits to facilitate escape from one through the other in time of attack by their northern enemy. Their information about Ashanti consisted of 'tales of horror, wretchedness and cruelty,' which expanded with telling and retelling and terrified them as much as they made Freeman restless to commence Missionary operations."

During Freeman's ministry, several chiefs and fetish priests in multiple towns, including Mankessim, Aberadzi, Akrodu and Anomabu embraced Christianity and several native traditionalists were baptised. He also established industrial agricultural schools in the towns, Beulah, about 8 miles from Cape Coast and one at Domonasi, using the Basel Mission vocational model. The Beulah school, which had a well-stocked garden with fruits and other flora, also doubled as a sanitorium and resort for missionaries, itinerant preachers and Cape Coast residents. The Dahomey were the archrivals and sworn enemy of the Yoruba of Abeokuta and the Badagry.

Financial issues From 1843 to 1854, Freeman attempted to expand the mission activities in both Nigeria and the Gold Coast. As a result, his travelling and administrative expenditure ballooned. In 1845, he was warned by the Home Mission of his large deficits to the tune of £7935. Freeman also treated a chief in Kumasi for bilious fever.

Personal life Shortly after his ordination, Freeman married Elizabeth Booth, the housekeeper of Sir Robert and Lady Harland, and sailed with her to Cape Coast on 5 November 1837, arriving on 3 January 1838. He was the organiser of the Society for Agriculture in Accra. He also became a trader, selling the crops harvested from his farm. In 1874, he advocated for the Methodist church to build schools tailored to providing higher education. He prevented apostasy by becoming adept at resolving differences among the various Methodist societies. In 1879, he took charge of the mission in Accra and surrounding areas bordered by Winneba, the Volta and the Akuapem hills. There is a memorial in the sanctuary of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, installed shortly after his death. Several institutions in Ghana have been named after Thomas Birch Freeman, including: Freeman Methodist Center, Kumasi – Guesthouse; Freeman-Aggrey House –Mfantsipim; Freeman House, Prempeh College; Freeman House, Wesley College Kumasi; Freeman Methodist School Ghana; Mim Freeman Methodist School, Mim, Brong Ahafo; Berekum Freeman Methodist Preparatory and Junior High School; Freeman Methodist Primary 'A' School, Kwesimintim; Prampram Freeman Methodist Basic School; Koforidua Freeman Methodist Junior High School; Freeman Methodist Church, Ofankor and Freeman Methodist Church, Kwesimintim, Western Region.

To summarise his legacy and the timeline of his achievements in the Wesleyan movement in West Africa: Thomas Birch Freeman dedicated the first chapel at Cape Coast on Sunday 10 June 1838. In 1839, he outlined the first educational curriculum for the training of teachers and local preachers and brought formal education from the castle schools to the native people.

He opened churches at Anomabo and Winneba in 1839 and started a few more at Saltpond, Abasa and Komenda. He worked with three other missionaries Robert Brooking Mycock with his brother and sister-in-law, Josiah and Mrs. Mycock. Brooking was sent to Accra and the Mycocks were sent to Cape Coast. He and William de Graft were invited by the missionary committee. They boarded the vessel Maclean on 27 March 1840 and landed on 10 June 1840. The sojourn in England shaped the development of Methodism in Ghana. A sum of £4,650 was raised and five missionaries were posted to work in Ghana. William de Graft received acclaim upon his return to the Gold Coast. Freeman started societies outside the Gold Coast. Freeman with the de Graft family visited Badagry, then in Dahomey but now in Nigeria. The first Christian service was conducted by William de Graft. Freeman visited England for the second time and raised an amount of £5500 for missionary activities in Asante. He sponsored some carpenters and bricklayers from Cape Coast who visited some financially weaker societies and helped them complete the building of their chapels. Overall, Thomas Birch Freeman "won the admiration of many Ghanaians by his infinite patience with the endless ceremonies, salutations and palavers" and promoted "an indigenous ministry, a shared ministry of equal participation by clergy and laity".