Before the Norman Conquest, Nottingham had already developed as an important trading centre or "borough". There is no detailed knowledge of the rights, privileges and immunities of its inhabitants but in the Doomsday Book (1086) it is stated that 120 of them had the status of "burgess".

The Normans introduced a system of royal charters setting out precisely the rights and privileges held by a borough. These were often granted as a result of local pressure from burgesses.

In Nottingham’s early stages of development, each holder of land in the town was, by this right, deemed a burgess. With the passage of time both the government of the town and the rights of trading in it became jealously preserved as a burgess monopoly.

A royal charter of c1189 granted the right to create a Merchant Guild. The Guild subsequently had a major part in the making of a first register of burgesses and, later, in framing the rules for election to the body of burgesses. These provided that the eldest son of a burgess might become one himself on attaining the age of 21, through apprenticeship to an existing burgess or by buying membership of the Merchant Guild. The burgesses were thus able to exercise a self-perpetuating monopoly control of the town.

A charter of 1284 provided for the burgesses to elect a mayor and from 1449 the town was governed by seven aldermen, elected from the burgesses. These aldermen were elected for life and the Mayor was chosen from amongst their number. Amongst the other powers held by burgesses was the control of the common fields which then and until the 19th century surrounded the town.

This method of government continued until all municipal corporations were reformed by the Municipal Corporation Act 1835.

Although the political privileges of burgesses were abolished in 1835, they still, under the title of “freemen” , retained rights to the proceeds from considerable lands in the town. These rights were protected by the Nottingham Inclosure Act of 1845 and by the Nottingham Freemen’s Allotment Act of 1850. Awards made to Freemen of the City under the Act of 1845 were absolutely vested in a Freemen’s Committee for the benefit of the Freemen. The Nottingham Corporation Act in 1882 transferred the Freemen’s estate interests to the Corporation.

The purchase of freeman status had long ceased by 1882, but the Nottingham Corporation Act ended the creation of freemen by apprenticeship and limited the creation of freemen by birth to children alive when the Act came into force.

The Act also provided for annuities to be paid to the existing freemen and their widows under certain conditions. There are now no surviving annuitants and a Freemen’s Committee is no longer appointed.

The Honorary Freedom of Borough Act 1885 authorised the granting of status of Honorary Freeman to persons of distinction and persons who have rendered eminent service to the borough. Similar powers were preserved by the Local Government acts of 1933 and 1972.

The first person elected an honorary freeman of the borough of Nottingham was Sir Charles Sealy in 1895.

Nottingham was created a City in 1897. Since that time the following have been created Honorary Freemen:

6 Nov 1905 The Reverend William Booth
30 Oct 1908 Sir Samuel George Johnson
15 July 1913 Sir Edward Henry Frazer JP DCL
29 June 1914 William John Arthur Charles
29 June 1914 James Cavendish-Bentinck
29 June 1914 Duke of Portland KG GCV0 PC
20 March 1916 Sir John Turney JP
19 Feb 1917 Flight-Commander Captain Albert ball VC DSO MC
1 Dec 1919 Alderman Sir John Tom McGraith JP
25 Oct 1920 Sir Jesse Boot Bart JP afterwards Jesse Baron Trent of Nottingham
15 Jan 1929 Alderman Edmund Huntsman
12 July 1934 Sir William J. Boars OBE JP
12 July 1934 William-Goodacre Player JP
14 Oct 1948 Alderman Herbert Bowles
14 Oct 1948 Alderman Sir Bernard Swanwick Wright JPDL
29 Dec 1950 Alderman Sir Stephen Cecil Armitage CBE JP
29 Dec 1950 Alderman Ernest Archibald Braddock JP
29 Dec 1950 Alderman Sir William Crane CBE JP
29 Dec 1950 John Eugene Richards
22 Dec 1958 Alderman Ernest Purser
23 Nov 1962 Cyril Theodore Forsyth JP
23 Nov 1962 Honorary Alderman Joseph Littlefair JP
23 Nov 1962 Alderman Frederick Mitchell
3 May 1965 Cecil Edric Mornington Roberts
4 Oct 1968 William Alfred Olds MBE
17 March 1976 Right Reverend Bishop Edward Richard Ellis DD PhD
17 March 1976 Douglas Keith Scott
28 April 1983 Jayne Torvill MBE
28 April 1983 Christopher Dean MBE
23 March 1993 Brian Howard Clough  OBE MA
5 Feb 1997 Paul Brierley Smith CBE RDI HonMDes
23 May 2005 Tim Reddish MBE
23 May 2005 R. Michiel Stevenson OBE DL Hon MA