The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Freeling, Major-General Sir Arthur Henry
Freeling, Major-General Sir Arthur Henry, Bart., sometime Surveyor-General, South Australia, son of John Clayton Freeling and grandson of Sir Francis Freeling, Bart., for thirty years Secretary to the General Post Office, entered the Royal Engineers, and ultimately took service under the South Australian Government as Surveyor-General. 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 elected to the new Legislative Council in March 1857, and sat till August 1876, when he resigned. In the meantime he was a member of the Finnis Ministry as Commissioner of Public Works from Oct. 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. He was then lieut.-colonel in the Royal Engineers, but became major-general on retiring, and succeeded in 1871 as 5th baronet of Ford and Hatchings, Sussex. Sir Arthur (who was the elder brother of Sir Sanford Freeling, K.C.M.G.) married, in 1848, Charlotte Augusta, daughter of Sir Henry Rivers, 9th baronet, who still survives. Sir Arthur died on March 26th, 1885, when he was succeeded by his son Harry, the 6th and present baronet.