The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 plus 4 letter word SALVATION ARMY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
S
A
L
V
A
T
I
O
N
A
R
M
Y
More clues leading to the result SALVATION ARMY
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Worshipful band of the free?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case worshipful band of the free? = salvation army.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.