|
Folk and Popular Art shows the character
of the people who made them – the many
tens of thousands of Lodge secretaries, toiling
meeting after meeting with the day-to-day
business of running Lodge administration.
Sometimes they allowed their spirit to
peek through by illustrating minute books
with elaborate ornamentation. An early
Deputy Grand Secretary even made
coloured drawings in the margins of the
Grand Lodge minutes! Lodge histories and
Loyal Addresses have elaborate bindings.
The tradition this exhibition explores
goes all the way back to decoration on some
of the ‘Old Charges’, the very foundation of
Freemasonry. That is what is so special about
this year’s exhibition: it puts many objects
on display that have not been seen before, or
have been stored for many years because of
lack of space. It is a celebration of the
extraordinary creations and visual choices.
The show runs from 2 July to 30
September, 1100-1700 weekdays.
Mark Dennis is curator, Library & Museum of
Freemasonry, and Andy Durr is a member
of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076,
the Premier Lodge of Masonic Research
Squaring the triangle – Freemasonry and
anti-slavery
A new exhibition based on a previously
unknown archive of material is now open
at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry
(until the end of September) as part of the
commemoration of the 200th anniversary
of the abolition of the slave trade.
The period covered by the material
includes the establishment of the first
Masonic Lodge – African Lodge – for black
men in revolutionary America, which was
governed from London, as American
Lodges did not permit black membership.
Under its leader, Prince Hall, a freed New
England slave, Prince Hall Masonry, as it is
now known, has become the major black
Masonic organisation in the world.
Freemasons were (and are) required not to
discuss politics or religion at Lodge meetings
but, as individuals, members had their own
views and in this period were both abolitionists
and slave owners. Benjamin Franklin, who
edited and published the first Masonic book
in America (an edition of which will be on
display), became a leading advocate of
abolition. James Stanfield, artist, poet and
member of Phoenix Lodge in Sunderland,
turned his literary abilities towards the subject
of slavery in his Observations on a Guinea Voyage
in a series of letters addressed to the Rev. Thomas
Clarkson (1788).
Stanfield also contributed poems to the
Masonic newspaper of the day. A Durham
lawyer and Freemason wrote an anti-slavery
play. In Liverpool, a major port for the slave
trade, the membership of Merchant’s Lodge
included the slave ship owners Thomas
Golightly and Roger Leigh. Masonic Lodges
in the Caribbean had been established from
the 1730s.
The rules of the governing body, the United
Grand Lodge of England, dating from 1717,
originally stated that any man wishing to be
initiated into Freemasonry had to be free-born.
The exhibition includes correspondence
from members prominent in the local
societies of the Caribbean which shows their
changing attitudes towards the slave trade.
Representation was made to Grand Lodge
about this rule, notably from Albion Lodge
in Barbados, with support from Lodges in
Antigua and St. Vincent, and in 1847 it was
resolved to substitute the term ‘free man’
for ‘free-born’ thus enabling ex-slaves to
become members of Masonic Lodges.
Lodge family trees
We all know how popular family history
or “personal heritage” is becoming. Did
you know that it is possible to trace your
own Lodge’s “family tree” on line?
Every application to establish a new
Lodge has to be accompanied by a
recommendation from an existing Lodge,
which becomes known as the “Mother
Lodge” to the new “Daughter Lodge”.
Lodges, like ships, being feminine for
this purpose!
Lodges which actively sponsor the
formation of new Lodges can, as a
consequence, create quite a complex
family tree. This information can usefully
be incorporated into Lodge histories and
is often developed socially.
Based on original research by Henry
Millar, and now available as an online
database prepared and regularly updated
by John G Amos of Earl Amherst Lodge
No. 3230, Lodge family trees can be
viewed on line on the Resources page
of the Library and Museum web site at
www.freemasonry.london.museum/
tree-chart.php
© The Library & Museum of Freemasonry
Plan of a slave ship,
showing how they were
herded together in
appalling conditions
|
Copyright 2002-2007
MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
|
|
Next Page
