Archive / Papers / Freeland Papers


Major General Sir Henry F.E. Freeland, K.C.I.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.V.O.

Given by Mrs Phyllis Nicholls.

Microfilm No. 71

In the form of a diary in three volumes entitled ‘Diary of a Suffering Miner’. Freeland went to India in 1893 and was an engineer employed on Military Works Services. The diary covers the period of the Chittral Campaign in 1895 where he worked under Aylmer with 4th Coy. Bengal Sappers and Miners. Volume 2 is May-August 1895 constructing a waterway at Drosh Fort and Volume 3 covers July, August and September 1895 on the construction of the suspension bridge at Chittral.

At the beginning there is a biography of Major General Freeland that appeared in the Royal Engineers Journal, (n.d.). The diaries are detailed accounts of his work and life and are interspersed with hand-drawn sketches.