Thanks Trevor and Pels,
Apparently the name goes back in the family, in 1841,1861 & 1871 it's Frear, in 1881 Freer, in 1891 it's been transcribed as Fred!! and in 1901 it's back to Freer. Admittedly the census transcriptions are a bit suspect & probably no-one really knew how to spell it.
Jac