freeman received his secondary education at westminster city school. in the last few weeks of wwi, he was conscripted and served as a private in the queen's royal regiment (west surrey). with his ex-serviceman's grant he entered st bartholomew's hospital medical school in 1919 as a student at the university of london. in 1925 he qualified mrcs, lrcp. in 1927 he graduated mb bs (lond.) and qualified frcs. at st bartholomew's hospital, after house appointments and serving as a junior demonstrator in pathology he joined george gask's professorial unit as third assistant in a team comprising thomas peel dunhill, geoffrey keynes, and james paterson ross.