Freeman Freeman-Thomas attended Eton and Cambridge. He played cricket for Sussex, and signed up to the Sussex Artillery Regiment. He was an aide-de-camp to his father-in-law in Colonial Victoria, and became a member of the Liberal Party. Much of his term as Governor of Bombay was spent on wartime concerns, such as the treatment of the wounded returning from the British Indian campaign in Mesopotamia. He also faced a famine in Kheda.

Freeman-Thomas was appointed Governor of Madras in 1919. He implemented the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, and appointed the first Indian premier in Madras. Riots in the Malabar region also took place during his term as Governor. He had spent time in Britain and as the Governor-General of Canada before returning to India as Viceroy. Freeman-Thomas was in this position during the Round-Table talks, the construction of the Lloyd Barrage, and the Government of India Act.