Ed Balls’ ancestors were Norwich Freemen between 1404 and 1913, but the succession has lapsed and he is no longer eligible.

It’s an old tradition that freemen had the right to be hanged with a silk noose!

During Queen Elizabeth I reign, Norwich Freemen devised one of the earliest schemes of poor relief in the country. It later served as a model for national schemes.

Anybody who wished to trade freely in medieval Norwich had to become a freeman.