Nicholas Hall Freeman (25 July 1939 – 11 November 1989),

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1985) was the Conservative Party leader of the London

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

Council in the

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from 1977 until 1989; he was also its

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in 1988. He was educated at Stoneygate School,

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, and

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

, and admitted a

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in 1962. In 1968 he was called to the Bar by the

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, and practised thereafter at the Criminal Bar. He was appointed a Recorder in 1985. Living in Harrington Gardens,

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, he became Chairman of the Courtfield Ward Committee of the Chelsea Conservative Association, which gave him a position on the association's Executive Committee. A fine speaker with a powerful personality and strong political ambitions, Freeman was elected to Chelsea Borough Council in 1968. He became Chairman of the Borough Planning Committee shortly after being elected to the council, and made a particular effort to clear up what he called "the sore thumb in the Royal Borough", the sometimes seedy area around

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

Underground Station. He stood as the Conservative Party candidate for

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in both the February 1974 and October 1974 general elections, and when Sir Brandon Rhys Williams, Conservative Member of Parliament for Kensington, died suddenly in 1988, Freeman had high hopes of succeeding him. He failed to secure a nomination, which was no doubt partly explained by a number of previous controversies: the Old Town Hall crisis and his virulent opposition to the

Community Charge The Community Charge, colloquially known as the Poll Tax, was a system of local taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum (a "poll tax" or " head tax"), with the precise amount bei ...

(also called the "poll tax"). Nicholas Freeman had long been a controversial figure: in 1982 he had provoked a storm of opposition amongst people of all political persuasions by using his powers as council leader, without consulting colleagues, to order the overnight destruction of Kensington's fine century-old

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Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

on Kensington High Street. The building was due to be given special Listed Status on the Monday, but at 3 a.m. on the day before the façade was smashed to pieces by demolition experts. The Royal Fine Art Commission condemned the action as "official vandalism... decided upon covertly, implemented without warning and timed deliberately to thwart known opposition". At constituency level also he met outspoken opposition, particularly from

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) was a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also had links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unio ...

activist Gregory Lauder-Frost, his Ward Committee Secretary and also a member of the Chelsea Association's Executive. Lauder-Frost left the Ward Committee, and when he was nominated to stand as a local councillor for the North Stanley Ward, Freeman spoke strongly against him at the selection meeting. Lauder-Frost was, as a result, not selected. Freeman remained unrepentant, arguing that by selling off the old town hall site for development the council would be able to build a more efficient and economically run town hall around the corner. Freeman was particularly criticised for failing to find an alternative use for the building. He survived the storm, doubtless helped by the fact that he dominated the council to a degree unusual among municipal leaders, but there was little comfort for the ratepayers: the cost of the new town hall far exceeded his original estimates. Freeman had also came under a lot of criticism for taking little real interest in

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west and northwest London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green predominately in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly in the London Borough of Brent and City of Westminster. The ...

, where poverty and racial tension contrasted uneasily with areas of immense wealth. He vigorously implemented the Conservative government's curbs on local authority spending and was able to claim that his council had the smallest staff per head of population of any British borough. It was also the first London borough to hand over some of the responsibility for rubbish collection to private enterprise. In addition, Freeman was a member of the influential

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Policy Group for London which paved the way for the abolition of the Labour-controlled

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

. His rejection in 1988 as Conservative Party candidate for Kensington was a bitter disappointment which, he felt, ended his hopes of ever reaching Westminster. Freeman was elected Mayor of the

in 1988, resigned as Leader of the council the next year, and announced his intention of retiring from the council altogether with effect from 1990. Colleagues were surprised at his decision, for the borough seemed to be Freeman's whole life. He spent almost every evening at the town hall either doing council business or entertaining in his room. He never married.Massingberd, Hugh, (editor) ''The Daily Telegraph Fourth Book of Obituaries - Rogues'', Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London, 1998, pps: 59-61.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Nicholas 1939 births 1989 deaths Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Officers of the Order of the British Empire Leaders of local authorities of England 20th-century English lawyers Deputy lieutenants of Greater London