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Robert Burns
Brother Robert Burns was born in 1759 and died at the young age of 37 in 1796. In his short life time he created a legacy that has lasted to this day. Burns, his songs and poems, are one of the ways by which Scots are known to have a different identity, a different culture, from the rest of the United Kingdom.
Sadly, few people are aware that Robert Burns was a Freemason and remained so all of his adult life, indeed he was Senior Warden of Lodge St Andrew, Dumfries, (dormant) when he died.
Even fewer people are aware of the Masonic content of his work. One of his most famous: A Man's a Man for a' That, was sung at the official opening of the new Scottish parliament and delivered superbly by folk singer Sheena Wellington from a balcony overlooking the debating chamber. Freemasons, especially Scottish Freemasons, all over the world are intensely proud that a Masonic Anthem was chosen to mark this historic occasion.
Famous Freemasons
Monarchs
King George IV (1762 - 1830)
King William IV (1765 - 1837)
King Edward VII (1841 - 1910)
King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)
King George VI (1895 - 1952
Statesmen
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
George Canning (1770 - 1827)
Lord Randolph Churchill (1849 - 1895)
Cecil Rhodes (1852 - 1903)
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Leopold S. Amery (1873 - 1955)
Religion
Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (1887 - 1972)
Sir Israel Brodie (1895 - 1979)
Scientists
Sir Joseph Banks (1744 - 1820)
Dr Edward Jenner (1749 - 1823)
Sir Alexander Fleming (1881 - 1955)
Sir Bernard Spilsbury (1877 - 1947)
Explorers
Sir Richard Burton (1821 - 1890)
Capt Robert Falcon Scott, RN (1868 - 1912)
Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 - 1922)
Charity
Dr T. J. Barnardo (1845 - 1905)
1st Viscount Leverhulme
Sir William "Billy" Butlin (1899 - 1980)
Actors
William Abbott (1789 – 1843)
David Garrick (1717 - 1779)
Sir Henry Irving (1838 - 1905)
Edmund Kean (1787 - 1833)
Peter Sellers (1925 - 1980)
Sir Donald Wolfitt (1902 - 1968)
Writers
Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)
Edward Gibbon (1734 - 1794)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816)
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832)
Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882)
Sir William S. Gilbert (1836 - 1911)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930)
Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
Artists
Sir James Thornhill (1676 - 1734)
William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)
John Zoffany (1733 - 1810)
Sir John Soane (1753 - 1837)
Music
Thomas Arne (1710 - 1778) (Rule Britannia)
Samuel Wesley (1766 - 1837)
Sir Henry Bishop (1786 - 1855) (Home sweet home)
Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842 - 1900)
Entertainers
Jim Davidson
Cyril Fletcher (1913 - 2005)
Geraldo
Nat Jackley
Sir Harry Lauder (1870 - 1950)
Alfred Marks
David Nixon (1919 - 1978)
Edmundo Ross
Cyril Stapleton
Tommy Trinder (1909 - 1989)
Jimmy Wheeler
Roger de Courcey
Sportsmen
Harold Abrahams (1899 - 1978)
Jackie Milburn (1924 - 1988)
Sir Donald Campbell (1921 - 1967)
Malcolm Campbell (1885 - 1948)
Sir Leonard Hutton (1916 - 1990)
Jock Stein (1922 - 1985)
Sir Alec Rose (1908 - 1991)
Sir Clive Lloyd (1944 - )
Jim Peters
Sir Arthur Gold
Trevor Simpson
Len Shackleton
Joe Wade
Leslie Compton
Herbert Sutcliffe
Bill Bowes
Sir Thomas Lipton (1850 - 1931)
William 'Jack' Dempsey (1895 - 1983)
Tony Allcock
Peter Ebdon
Mark Wildman
Army
General Sir John Moore (1761 - 1809)
Field Marshal 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852)
Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar (1832 - 1914)
Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (1850 - 1916)
Field Marshal Sir John French, Earl of Ypres (1852 - 1925)
Field Marshal Earl Haig (1861 - 1928)
General Sir Francis Wingate (1861 -1953)
Field Marshal Garnett, 1st Viscount Wolseley (1883 - 1913)
Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck (1884 - 1981)
Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis (1891 - 1969)
Navy
Admiral Sir Sidney Smith (1764 - 1840)
Admiral Lord Charles Beresford (1841 - 1919)
Admiral Earl Jellicoe (1859 - 1935)
Royal Air Force
Marshal of the RAF Lord Newall (1886 - 1963)
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA has many, many Masonic connections. It stands on land purchased by Wm. Alllen, Grand Master of PA. The ground was staked by Edmond Wolley, a Mason. Thomas Boude, the brick mason, was the first Secretary of St. John's Lodge of Philadelphia and later Deputy Grand Master. Benjamin Franklin laid the cornerstone while Grand Master (1734) with the assistance of St. John's Lodge. Brother Andrew McNair of Philadelphia rang the bell to call the populace on July 8, 1776, to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Liberty Bell cracked in 1835 when it tolled the death of Chief Justice John Marshall, Past Grand Master of Virginia.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) the great composer of 'Finlandia' and other immortal musical works, composed the ritualistic music used by the Grand Lodge of New York and presented it to them in appreciation for the part played by Grand Lodge in establishing Masonry in Finland. He was a member of Suomi Lodge #1, Helsingfors.
Masonic emblems appear on the Giuseppe Garibaldi Monument in Rome having been restored after they were removed by Mussolini who substituted Fascist symbols for them. Garibaldi, great Italian liberator, was Grand Master of Italy.
Robert Newman, Sexton of Christ Church also known as the "Old North Church" in Boston was the man who hung the lantern to signal 'The Red Coats Are Coming'. Paul Revere then rode through the countryside to warn the colonists of the impending danger. Both were Masons. The present Rector, after arriving at the Church heard the frequent stories of Freemasonry's involvement there. After investigation of the organization, he too became a member!
"Oscar of the Waldorf", internationally famous chef was born in Switzerland Oscar Tschirky and was a member of Metropolitan Lodge #273, New York City.
The author of "Bambi" and other immortal stories for children was Brother Felix Salten (1869-1945), a member of the Lodge "Zur Warheit" in Vienna, Austria.
The United States' Anti-Masonic Party (1827-abt.1834) had as it's first Presidential Candidate a MASON! In 1831, the Anti-Masonic Party nominated William Wirt as their candidate for the presidency at their first national convention which was held in Baltimore, Maryland. Wirt was not only a Freemason, but even defended the Order in a speech before the convention that nominated him.
"The first group of the Resistance {during World War II} was founded by five Masons. This body, "Resistance," soon merged with "Liberation." The organization thus formed succeeded in contacting London after ascertaining that there were Masons in the London broadcasting station, the broadcasts of which began with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Brother Roig succeeded in contacting London through Englishmen who escaped. This liaison was effected as the result of the visit of a Canadian aviator. Unfortunately, Brother Roig was arrested, imprisoned at Fresnes, and shot ten weeks later. However, the work was well under way. New Brethren joined the movement and the organization took the name of C.A.M. (Masonic Action Committee. This committee worked air both a patriotic and a Masonic organization. The patriotic section chose for its name "Patriam recuperare" and had a paper, The New Republic. Valuable information on the location of troops and the sites of the ramps from which the V-1 bombs were launched, as well as the memoirs of Paul Reynaud, were sent to London. One Brother succeeded in joining General De Gaulle at Algiers. Information was furnished concerning the German counter-espionage. Work was done towards the organization of a secret army in Paris. Shelter was given to numerous escapees and parachutists." - From the May, 1946 Philalethes Society Magazine
Major General Benjamin Lincoln of Revolutionary War fame, who received the sword of Cornwallis in the surrender of Yorktown, was initiated on Christmas Day, 1780, in St. Andrew’s Lodge, Boston, Massachusetts
The American flag was ordered made by Brother George Washington. It was sewn by Betsy Ross, whose husband was a member of St. John’s Lodge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Out of fifty-one Grand Lodge jurisdictions in the United States, twenty-seven have eighteen years old as their minimum age requirement to become a Mason. Six have nineteen years old, and eighteen (Massachusetts included) have twenty-one years old as their minimum age requirement.
Most people are aware of the fact that the Statue of Liberty was a gift of the French people after their own republic came into existence. However, many are not aware that there is a Masonic link to the statue. Frederic Bartholdi, a Mason, designed it and the Grand Lodge laid the cornerstone of its base with Masonic Rite.
The Republic of Texas had four Presidents: David G. Burnett, 1836; Sam Houston, 1836-1838; Mirabeau B. Lamar, 1838-1841; Sam Houston, 1841-1844; Anson Jones, 1844-1846. All were Freemasons.
Brother Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., a member of Clear Lake Lodge # 1417 in Texas, when he stepped onto the surface of the moon, carried a special deputation from his Grand Master to claim the moon as being in the territorial jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Texas. And so it is.
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