Thoughts of a new Royal Arch Companion
Ben Scott-Nelson, of St Giles’ Lodge, was exalted in to Castle Chapter on 15 January 2016. Here he describes his reasons for joining the Royal Arch…
Knights Templar
Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome – A famous Freemason
Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853–1936) was a remarkable man with many facets to his complex character: a scientist, businessman, philantropist,…
Royal Arch – Beginnings in Cornwall
For speculative Freemasons, times have always been a-changin’, and the erection of the Premier Grand Lodge by ‘Four Old Lodges’ in 1717 was itself a novelty. When, in 1722 the Grand Master, the Duke of Wharton, laid down the procedure for constituting a new Lodge, this was almost revolutionary.
FAMOUS FREEMASONS – Dr Thomas John Barnardo
Dr Thomas John Barnardo (1845–1905), nicknamed ‘The Doctor’, was a leading reformer of the 19th century on a par with Sir Robert Peel, Elizabeth Fry…
The Future of Masonic Ritual – What really distinguished Freemasonry from any other sort of fraternal association
It is some years ago that Rev Neville Barker Cryer went on record in establishing that what really distinguished Freemasonry from any other sort of…
Sheffield Masonic Library
The Sheffield Masonic Library Scheme started life in 1876, and in 1910 all the books, property and funds of the library were handed over to the newly…
The Official History of Freemasonry – Part 1
Traditional History The exact origin of Freemasonry is unknown and only theories try to explain its genesis and original purpose. The only certainty is…
Allied Masonic Degrees – Degrees of Significance
Of the many ‘extra-Craft’ degrees, those five controlled by the Grand Council of the Order of the Allied Masonic Degrees are probably the least known: one has to be a Mark Master and a Royal Arch Mason to be eligible and this double qualification will exclude many. There are also fewer private Allied Councils than there are lodges, or equivalent bodies, for the much larger orders of Mark and Royal Ark Mariners and even of smaller orders, such as the Royal and Select Masters.
Cleopatra’s Needle: John Hamill traces its masonic history
From the Nile to the Thames One Freemason proposed the idea of presenting Cleopatra’s Needle as a gift to the British…
The Allied Masonic Degrees – Red Cross of Babylon and the Holy Order of the Grand High Priest
A reprint of an article published in Freemasonry Today Issue 25, Summer 2003 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2014 The Allied Masonic Degrees Keith…