It’s three years since the City of Sheffield last conferred the title of Freedom of the City. That was John Burkhill BEM, the man with the pram, for his tireless fundraising efforts, and probably the most popular choice.
But the city’s highest honour has now been awarded to Richard Caborn, former MP, and Minister, who joins his father, George, on a list of over seventy names.
He joins a selective group who have been given Freedom of the City, and includes the Duke of Norfolk, Viscount Kitchener, Field Marshall Douglas Haig, David Lloyd George, Ramsay MacDonald, Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson, and Nelson Mandella.
And there have been Freedom of the City awards to local dignitaries such as Sir Frederick Mappin, Sir William Clegg, John George Graves, Harry Brearley, and Sir Stuart Goodwin.
More recently, the likes of Derek Dooley, Michael Vaughan, Lord Coe of Ranmore, and Jessica Ennis have also been granted the honour.
Freedom of the City isn’t confined to individuals and the armed services have received the title as well. These include HMS Sheffield; The Chestnut Troop, 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery; 38th Signal Regiment (Volunteers); 212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital (Volunteers) and The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) – subsequently conferred to the Yorkshire Regiment.
But the Freedom of the City can be taken away as well, as was the case with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Leader of National League for Democracy in Burma) who had it removed in 2017.
The procedures for admitting Honorary Freemen originated in the Honorary Freedom of the Borough’s Act 1885 and were included in the Local Government Act 1972. Certain Local Authorities are empowered to admit as Honorary Freemen persons of distinction and persons who have, in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent services to the Authority.
Honorary Freemen do not enjoy any constitutional privileges but admission as an Honorary Freeman has the deeper significance of receiving the highest honour the city can bestow, and it is conferred sparingly.
The Freedom of Entry accorded to Armed Services gives a right on all ceremonial occasions of exercising the privilege of marching through the City “with colours flying, drums beating, and bayonets fixed.”
Full list of Honorary Freemen of Sheffield
| Year | Name | Died |
| 1899 | His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, EM, KG | 1917 |
| 1899 | Sir Frederick Thorpe Mappin, Bart, MP | 1910 |
| 1899 | Sir Henry Stephenson, Kt | 1904 |
| 1902 | General Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, GCB, GCMG, OM | 1916 |
| 1903 | The Rt. Hon. Sir Marcus Samuel (Lord Mayor of the City of London) | 1927 |
| 1916 | The Rt. Hon. William Morris Hughes, MP, LLD (Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia ) | 1952 |
| 1917 | Lt-Gen. The Rt. Hon. Jan Christian Smuts, KC (Prime Minister of South Africa) | 1950 |
| 1917 | Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO | 1935 |
| 1919 | The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, OM, MP, DCL, PC (Prime Minister) | 1945 |
| 1919 | Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, KT, GCB, KCB, KCIE, GCVO, KCVO, CB, ADC | 1928 |
| 1919 | Admiral Sir David Beatty, GCB, GCVO, KCB, KCVO, DSO, MVO (Admiral of the Fleet) | 1936 |
| 1921 | The Rt. Hon. W F Massey, LLD (Prime Minister of New Zealand) | 1925 |
| 1922 | Alderman Sir William E Clegg, CBE, LLD | 1932 |
| 1923 | The Rt. Hon. W L MacKenzie King, CMG, MA, LLD (Prime Minister of Canada) | 1950 |
| 1923 | The Rt. Hon. S M Bruce, MC (Prime Minister of Australia) | 1967 |
| 1924 | The Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Roberts, Bart, MA, JP, DL | 1926 |
| 1924 | Alderman Robert Styring, LLD, JP | 1944 |
| 1924 | Alderman William Farewell Wardley, JP | 1941 |
| 1926 | Doctor Henry Coward, Mus.Doc (Oxon), MA | 1944 |
| 1926 | The Hon. J G Coates, MC (Prime Minister of New Zealand) | 1943 |
| 1929 | The Rt. Hon. James Ramsay MacDonald, MP, LLD, JP (Prime Minister) | 1937 |
| 1929 | Alderman John George Graves, JP | 1945 |
| 1929 | Alderman Henry Kenyon Stephenson, DSO, VD, DL, JP, LLD | 1947 |
| 1929 | Mr Cecil Henry Wilson, MP, JP | 1945 |
| 1930 | The Rt. Hon. Richard Bedford Bennett, KC, MP, LLD, (Prime Minister of Canada) | 1947 |
| 1930 | The Rt. Hon. James Henry Scullin, MP (Prime Minister of Australia) | 1952 |
| 1939 | The Rt. Revd. Leonard Hedley Burrows, DD, D.Litt (First Bishop of the Diocese of Sheffield) | 1940 |
| 1939 | Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield, Bart, FRS, DSc, D.Met, JP | 1940 |
| 1939 | Mr Harry Brearley (the inventor of Stainless Steel) | 1948 |
| 1943 | The Rt. Hon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, CH, FRS, MP (Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister of Defence) | 1965 |
| 1945 | Alderman Frank Thraves, JP | 1952 |
| 1945 | Alderman Harold Warters Jackson, LLB | 1972 |
| 1945 | Alderman Alfred James Bailey, JP | 1948 |
| 1945 | Alderman Arthur James Blanchard, JP | 1957 |
| 1947 | The Rt. Hon. Albert Victor Alexander, PC, CH, LLD, MP (Minister of Defence | 1965 |
| 1949 | Mr Charles William Beardsley, OBE, JP | 1952 |
| 1949 | Mrs Ann Eliza Longden, JP | 1952 |
| 1959 | Alderman Charles William Gascoigne, CBE, BEM | 1967 |
| 1959 | Alderman Mrs Grace Tebbutt, JP | 1983 |
| 1959 | Alderman Percival John Mann Turner, CBE, JP | 1969 |
| 1962 | The Rt. Revd. Leslie Stannard Hunter, MA, DD, DCL, LLD (Lord Bishop of Sheffield) | 1983 |
| 1962 | Alderman Albert Smith | 1968 |
| 1965 | The Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, OBE, MP (Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury) | 1995 |
| 1965 | Alderman Herbert Keeble Hawson | 1984 |
| 1965 | Alderman Samuel Hartley Marshall, JP | 1981 |
| 1965 | Alderman James Wilfred Sterland, OBE, JP | 1992 |
| 1965 | Dr. John Macnaghten Whittaker, FRS, (Vice-Chancellor, University of Sheffield) | 1984 |
| 1968 | Dr. Albert Ballard, CBE, LLD | 1968 |
| 1968 | Sir Stuart Goodwin, DL, LLD, JP | 1969 |
| 1970 | Mr John Burns Hynd, MP (MP for Attercliffe Division of City from 1944 to 1970) | 1971 |
| 1970 | Sir Peter Geoffrey Roberts, Bart, MA, MP (MP for Ecclesall Division of City from 1945 to 1950 and for Heeley Division of City from 1950 to 1966) | 1985 |
| 1978 | The Rt. Hon. James Callaghan, MP (Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury) | 2005 |
| 1978 | County Councillor Sir Charles Ronald Ironmonger | 1984 |
| 1978 | Councillor Isidore Lewis, LLD, JP | 1983 |
| 1978 | Mr Stanley Lester Speight, OBE, MIEx(Grad), FIM | 1998 |
| 1981 | Mr George Caborn | 1982 |
| 1981 | Prof. Ronald Stanley Illingworth, MD (Leeds) Hon. MD (Sheffield) Hon.D.Sc (Baghdad) FRCP, DPH, DCH, FRPS | 1990 |
| 1991 | Ms Helen Sharman BSc C.Chem (the first Briton to journey into space) | |
| 1991 | Councillor William Owen, JP | 1992 |
| 1993 | Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (President of the African National Congress) | 2013 |
| 1993 | Mr Derek Dooley (footballer) | 2008 |
| 1998 | The Rt. Hon. Dr. Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, MP (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) | 2005 |
| 1998 | Dr. Peter Horton, Hon.LittD. BSc | 2005 |
| 1998 | H.M.S. SHEFFIELD | |
| 2001 | The Chestnut Troop, 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery | |
| 2001 | 38th Signal Regiment (Volunteers) | |
| 2001 | 212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital (Volunteers) | |
| 2001 | The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) – subsequently conferred to the Yorkshire Regiment | |
| 2002 | 106 (West Riding) Field Squadron (Air Support) (Volunteers) | |
| 2005 | Michael Paul Vaughan (Captain of England Cricket Team) | |
| 2005 | Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Leader of National League for Democracy in Burma) – The Freedom of the City was removed on 1 November 2017 | |
| 2005 | Sebastian Newbold Coe OBE, The Right Honourable The Lord Coe of Ranmore | |
| 2006 | The Yorkshire Regiment (formed by an amalgamation of three historic County Regiments including the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) | |
| 2009 | The Lindsays (Ronald Birks, Peter Cropper, Bernard Gregor-Smith and Robin Ireland) | |
| 2012 | Mrs. Tawakel Karman (Yemeni Human Rights Activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner) | |
| 2012 | Ms. Jessica Ennis MBE (Olympic, World and European Heptathlon Champion) | |
| 2014 | 64 Signal Squadron (transferring the Freedom from the 38 Signal Regiment owing to the 38 Regiment’s withdrawal from the Army’s Order of Battle.) | |
| 2019 | John Burkhill BEM – fundraising | |
| 2022 | Mr Richard Caborn |
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