Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron, was born in England in 1889 but brought to New Zealand by his parents at the age of two. He was educated at Wellington College.
He joined the Royal Naval Brigade in England at the outbreak of the First World War. He served in Gallipoli and France, winning the Victoria Cross.
He was a temporary Brigadier in 1918 and became a regular soldier after the war. He was made General Staff Officer at the War Office, retiring in 1934 and recalled in 1939, to command the New Zealand Division in Greece, Africa and Italy.
He was created Baron Freyberg of Wellington, New Zealand, and Munstead, Surrey, in 1951. He was Deputy Constable and Lt-Governor of Windsor Castle until his death in 1963.
Visit the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography for more information