Thomas Birch Freeman was born in Twyford, a village in Hampshire (England) on 9th December, 1809. He was the son an African father and an English mother. He responded to an appeal by the Methodist Missionary Committee for missionaries to serve the church in the Gold Coast. He assured himself of his call thus “It is necessary for me to go; but it may not be necessary for me to live”.Before accepting this call, he had been head gardener on a Suffolk estate but had lost his post because of his Methodist activism. The Rev. and Mrs. Freeman and Mr. Joseph Smith the Head teacher of Cape Coast Castle landed at Cape Coast on 3rd January, 1838. He toiled as a Missionary from 1838-1857.
Freeman was unusual in surviving, despite a strenuous program. In his early months he built a church in Cape Coast, extending preaching and schools along the coastal plain, and identified a young Fanti preacher, William de Graft, as a suitable minister. He then made his way to Kumasi, capital of Ashanti, forming a promising relationship with the Asantehene and other important chiefs. In 1841, taking de Graft with him, he visited Britain to appeal for funds and recruits for the expanding work. The publication of his Kumasi journals made him a celebrity, and the then-current popularity of the African vision of T. F. Buxton favored his success. He returned with more missionaries, revisited Kumasi, and finding still greater promise, left a missionary there. Meanwhile some Yorubas who had become Christians in Sierra Leone and had made their way back to their homeland had asked the Wesleyan mission for help. He had a cordial meeting with the Egba paramount Sodeke at Abeokuta, and on his own initiative he established a mission in Yoruba land, first at Badagri, with de Graft, later at Lagos, and eventually at Abeokuta. He never, however, obtained the resources for the large-scale mission he envisioned.
He several times met Ghezo, the powerful king of Dahomey, and placed a preacher at Ouidah, but he could neither persuade Dahomey to abandon a slaving economy nor persuade his mission to underwrite evangelistic efforts there. Missionary mortality in the Gold Coast continued, deteriorating relations between Britain and Ashanti clouded the Kumasi mission, and tensions arose with his home committee over finance. Freeman was limited linguistically, and as he fully recognized, financially incompetent. But in forging relationships with African rulers, he was preeminent, and he also worked well with the more farsighted of British officials. Among his numerous accomplishments include the following.
- Dedicated the first chapel at Cape Coast on Sunday 10th June, 1838.
- Recommended the first Ghanaian candidate Mr. William De- Graft into the ordained ministry in the year 1838.
- Outlined the first Educational plan for the training of teachers and local preachers.
- Adopted two young and brilliant Ghanaians William De- Graft and John Martin. They later played great roles in the growth of the Church.
- Held the first Missionary meeting on Monday 3rd September, 1838. It was chaired by the Governor George Maclean. An amount of 54 British pounds was raised to support the work of the Church. Another result of the meeting was the founding of the first Methodist Society in James Town, Accra.
- First missionary to take the Gospel to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. He arrived in Kumasi on 1st April, 1839.
- He supervised the celebration of the centenary of the Methodist church on 23rd October, 1839. The Church in the Gold Coast raised an amount of 35 pounds, 11 s ½ d towards the new accommodation at Bishops gate London for the missionary society.
- He opened Churches at Anomabo and Winneba in 1839 and started some at Saltpond, Abasa and Komenda.
- He worked with three other missionaries Rev. Robert Brooking, Rev. Josiah and Mrs. Mycock. Rev. Brooking was sent to Accra and the Rev and Mrs. Mycock were sent to Cape Coast.
- He and William De- Graft were invited by the missionary committee. They boarded the vessel Maclean on 27th March, 1840 and landed on 10th June, 1840. The visit affected profoundly the future of Ghana Methodism. The value of the visit was three fold-the sum of 4650 pounds was raised, five missionaries were designated to work in Ghana and leading African worker William De-graft gained considerably in stature and came back to Ghana with increased self-confidence.
- He started societies outside the Gold Coast. He and Mr. and Mrs. William de- Graft visited Badagry then in Dahomey but now in Nigeria. The first Christian service was conducted by William De- Graft.
- He visited England for the second time and raised an amount of 5500 pounds for the work in Ashanti.
- He sponsored some carpenters and brick layers from Cape Coast who visited some weaker societies and helped them complete their chapels.
- He brought formal education from the castle schools to the people. This educational plan started in in 1839.
The Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman and four of the men he had nursed into the Ministry, John A Solomon, Frederick France, John Plange and Edward T Fynn retired during the Synod of 17th January, 1885.The Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman passed away into glory on August 11, 1890 as the longest serving Wesleyan missionary in Gold Coast.
Credit:
• Semie Obiri, De- Graft. The Methodist Church Ghana, the Lay Movement Council @ 60; 1949- 2009, (Grail Publications, Agona Swedru, 2010), 9-10.
• Andrew F. Walls, “Freeman, Thomas Birch,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 225-6.
