Philip Freeman

Philip Freeman was a 19th-century Church of England cleric who became Archdeacon of Exeter. Born in Suffolk in 1818, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, won prizes for Latin verse, and later served as a fellow and tutor of Peterhouse.

His career combined scholarship, teaching, and church leadership. He was principal of Chichester Theological College, later worked at Cumbrae College, and then held a series of posts connected with Exeter Cathedral, including prebendary, residentiary canon, and finally archdeacon in 1865. He was also closely involved in restoration work at Exeter Cathedral and at his parish church in Thorverton.

Freeman wrote widely on liturgical practice and architectural questions, and contributed to periodicals such as The Ecclesiologist, The Christian Remembrancer, and The Guardian. Among the works linked with him are Proportion in the Gothic Architecture and The Architectural History of Exeter Cathedral. He died in 1875 after injuries from a train accident in London.