Honorary Freemen were inaugurated from 1912 under the The Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act 1885 but subsequently under the Local Government Acts 1933, 1972 as amended.
1912: Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet, of the City of London, first President of the National Library, President of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
1912: Lord David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, former M.P., politician and public benefactor
1912: Lord Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel, former M.P., politician and public benefactor, President of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
1922: David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland
1923: Lt.-Col. Lewis Pugh Evans, Victoria Cross (4 October 1917 near Zonnebeke, Belgium)
1923: Matthew Vaughan-Davies, Lord Ystwyth (1st Baron Ystwyth), former M.P. for Cardiganshire
1923: Sir Herbert Lewis, former M.P. for the University of Wales and a founder of the National Library of Wales
1928: Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland
1936: Sir David Charles Roberts, High Sheriff of the County of Cardigan
1936: Lord Ernest Edmund Henry Malet Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne, High Sheriff of the County of Cardigan, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Cardigan
1951: Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (pictured with award)
1955: The Regiment of the Welsh Guards
1965: Sir David James, Pantyfedwen, philanthropist and benefactor
2011: Herr Fritz Pratschke, Krönberg, for over 40 years’ contribution to twinning
2015: Monsieur Jean Guezennec, St Brieuc, for over 40 years’ contribution to twinning
Other names were also suggested as possible freemen, notably Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in 1952. In 1969, the Prince of Wales declined the Council’s offer of the Freedom of the Borough because he was here as a student and wished to be treated as such: the Council would not normally give the Freedom to a student.