Walter Glover has been the sole Librarian and Custodian of the Museum in Leicester for the past five years. He emphasised that the continued association of the Museum collection with the names of John Thorpe and William Kelly, as prestigious as that was, is no longer justifiable. These icons of Leicestershire Freemasonry left a rich legacy of Masonic publications and artefacts that once formed the backbone of the Leicester Lodge of Research but these collections, important as they are, now comprise only a small part of Leicester’s extensive collection.
     As we discussed aspects of the collection with Walter, my attention was drawn to two items lying loose on his desk. The first, a very early vellum document, an early contract, no more than 300mm x 130mm, dated 1507 was, as Walter quickly pointed out, one of the earliest references to the word, Freemason. Half way along the first line the word ffremason in English medieval script can be readily identified. Seals hanging from ribbons along the lower edge enhance its beauty.

The Symbolic Mason

The second item was a very beautifully printed and hand coloured version of the well known engraving A Free Mason Formed Out Of The Materials Of His Lodge. Here it formed part of a set of miniature tracing boards 110mm x 90mm attributed to J F Curtis & Co and printed by F Cole in 1801. The amusing, though intended-to-be-serious, illustration is the creation of the author of one of the early exposures of Freemasonry, Alexander Slade who published The Freemason Examin’d in 1754, the date of the original publication of the print.

Hogarth’s Gormagons

One of the earliest recorded masonic scandals was a quarrel in Grand Lodge that reached a head on 24th June, 1723 when the renegade Duke of Wharton, a past President of the notorious Hell-Fire Club, was elected the Grand Master in preference to the continued leadership of the Duke of Montague. In the elections a year later, however, Wharton was defeated by one vote and the Earl of Dalkeith became Grand Master. In a typical huff Wharton stamped out of Grand Lodge, an event delicately recorded in the minutes as ‘The late Grand Master went away from the Hall without Ceremony.’
     In an attempt to discredit and ridicule Wharton some of his opponents published, as a hoax, an advertisement announcing the formation of a competing body called The Gormagons, stating that this new body, which denigrated the standing of Freemasons, was the creation of Wharton. It is this situation which William Hogarth exploited in his well known but rare print Masonry brought to light by the Gormagons which interprets in its imagery every aspect of this contemporary dispute. Although there is no exact date of William Hogarth’s initiation, he is recorded as a member of the Lodge meeting at the Hand and Apple Tree in Little Great Queen Street, in November 1725. The Society of Gormogons – the alternative spelling - survived to the end of the century as a rival organisation to freemasonry.

Gilray’s Cagliostro

Another stupendous print in the Leicester collection that involved a masonic scandal is attributed to James Gilray(1757-1815), the famous English caricaturist, who claimed to be present at the event as described. The bilingual title of the print is A Masonic Anecdote - Anecdote Maconique and is dated November 21, 1786. On 1st November 1786, Count Cagliostro (1743-1795) and four colleagues from the Loge L’Espereance, No. 369, visited the Lodge of Antiquity, No. 1, in London and were exposed as charlatans and expelled in disgrace. This historic fact is recorded in the print.
     Cagliostro, whose real name was Joseph Balsamo, was an Italian Freemason who has been designated the greatest Masonic charlatan of all time. He invented numerous degrees, up to ninety-six for the Rite of Memphis - charging a fee for each degree. He was imprisoned by the Inquisition for criminal acts associated to his masonic activities and died in Prison in Italy in 1795.

The Chevalier d’Éon

A third and striking coloured print with a curious story is that of Chevalier d’Éon de Beaumont, was born in France 1728. In 1756, he joined a network of spies, working for King Louis XV and disguised himself as a woman. He was awarded the Cross of Saint-Louis and became known as the Chevalier d’Eon.
     In 1763 he was sent to London as a Minister, to spy for King Louis XV. It was rumoured that he was actually a woman; a betting pool was started on the London Stock Exchange, questioning his gender. Two years after his return to France in 1779, d’Éon demanded that the Royal Court recognise him as a woman. This was assented to as long as he dressed as one.
     Among his (now formally her), various escapades he wrote to the French National Assembly, offering to lead a division of women soldiers against the Hapsburgs; an offer that was declined. When he died in London in 1810 doctors confirmed his body to be anatomically male. As a Freemason, d’Eon was initiated into the Moderns lodge L’Immortalité de L’Ordre No. 376, founded in 1766 by the French exile, de Vignoles, for European Masons living in London and he is recorded serving as the Junior Warden in 1770, the year the Lodge appears to have ceased working. It was erased in 1775.
     We had only touched the tip of the iceberg and neither time nor space allowed to us to go much further. This very small selection of prints from the vast collection, will not do justice to the wonderful Leicester Masonic Museum holdings. It will, however, give a taste of the importance and quality of the holding of prints, books, ephemera and other artefacts.

The Museum is open on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30am to 12:00 noon. Other days by appointment, please contact Walter Glover on 0116 25 453 256