Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon

His Excellency The Most Honourable The Marquess of Willingdon GCSI GCMG GCIE GBE PC
Freeman-Thomas c. 1915
Viceroy and Governor-General of India
In office 18 April 1931 – 18 April 1936
Monarchs	George V Edward VIII
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	The Lord Irwin
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Linlithgow
13th Governor General of Canada
In office 5 August 1926 – 4 April 1931
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Canadian   • W. L. M. King   • R. B. Bennett British   • Stanley Baldwin   • Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	The Viscount Byng of Vimy
Succeeded by	The Earl of Bessborough
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Personal details
Born	(1866-09-12)12 September 1866 Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
Died	12 August 1941(1941-08-12) (aged 74) Ebury Street, Westminster, London, England
Spouse	Marie Adelaide Brassey ​ ​ (m. 1892)​
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Politician
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1886–1901
Rank	Second Lieutenant Major
Unit	Royal Sussex Militia Artillery

Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), styled as the Earl of Willingdon between 1931 and 1936, was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India.

Freeman-Thomas was born in England and educated at Eton College and then the University of Cambridge before serving for 15 years in the Sussex Artillery. He then entered the diplomatic and political fields, acting as aide-de-camp to his father-in-law when the latter was Governor of Victoria and, in 1900, was elected to the British House of Commons. He thereafter occupied a variety of government posts, including secretary to the British prime minister and, after being raised to the peerage as Lord Willingdon, as Lord-in-waiting to King George V. From 1913, Willingdon held gubernatorial and viceregal offices throughout the British Empire, starting with the governorship of Bombay and then the governorship of Madras, before he was in 1926 appointed as the Governor-General of Canada to replace the Viscount Byng of Vimy, occupying the post until succeeded by the Earl of Bessborough in 1931. Willingdon was immediately thereafter appointed as Viceroy and Governor-General of India to replace Lord Irwin (later created Earl of Halifax), and he served in the post until succeeded by the Marquess of Linlithgow in 1936.

After the end of his viceregal tenure, Willingdon was installed as the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and was elevated in the peerage as the Marquess of Willingdon. After representing Britain at a number of organisations and celebrations, Willingdon died in 1941 at his home in London, and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.