Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076 - Meetings 2012

02.02.2012

Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076 - Meetings 2012

The detailed programme for the entire year has not been finalized yet but details will be posted here as and when they become known.

Unless otherwise stated all meetings are held at Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London and start at 5.00 p.m. precisely

Thursday, 16th February 2012

The Prestonian Lecture 2011-2012, delivered by Bro James Campbell, PAGSuptWks.

Title: Was Sir Christopher Wren a Freemason?

Freemasonry can trace its origins to the Middle Ages, but there is little doubt that Freemasonry as we know it today largely emerged in the seventeenth century. In its early years it retained links with the building industry. This lecture will look at one of the most important figures in the history of English architecture, Sir Christopher Wren. It will critically examine the historical evidence for his membership. It will also use this as a vehicle to explain what life was like in the seventeenth century, how the building world operated and the place of Freemasonry in society at that time.

The evidence for Wren's membership of the Craft has been disputed to such a degree that it is now frequently claimed that there is no evidence that he was a Mason. As this lecture will show, this is incorrect: there is plenty of evidence. However, in the 18th century, Grand Lodge and certain members of the Lodge of Antiquity made increasingly wild claims for Wren's involvement in Masonry and his rank in the Craft. These later claims -which were generally without foundation- had the unfortunate effect of leading later commentators -including the great Masonic historian Robert Freke Gould- to reject all assertions that Wren was a Mason, ignoring the evidence to the contrary. This lecture aims to redress the balance. It will carefully explain the limits of what we do and do not currently know about the Craft in the late 17th and early 18th century and Wren's involvement in particular. It will place the evidence in its context and explain the various arguments that have been made for and against its veracity. It will aim to show that Wren probably was a Mason but not in the way we understand it today and certainly not in the way some commentators later claimed.

About the author:

James joined the Middlesex Lodge No. 143 at the age of 21 and Mount Moriah Chapter No. 143. He is also a member of Archibald Campbell Lodge No. 4998 (founded by his grandfather); Old Union No. 46 (a red apron Lodge); Isaac Newton University Lodge No. 859 and Metropolitan Grand Stewards' Lodge No. 9812, as well as numerous other orders. He currently sits on the Council of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys and was Assistant Grand Superintendent of Works in 2009 and 2010.

Thursday, 10th May 2012

Title: The Earliest Speculative Working Tool (preliminary title).

Brother Robert Cooper, Senior Warden, will present details of what is believed to be the earliest working took used in a Lodge for symbolic/moralistic purposes. In other words this artefact was not used by operative stonemasons but by Freemasons in a Lodge for non-operatve purposes. The artefact originates from the pre-Grand Lodge era and its analysis ought to provide an important insight to the esoteric practices within Lodges before 1717. The paper will outline the first scattered references to working tools and, where possible, their place in Lodge ceremonial before describing the artefact in detail with the use of photographs. The paper will conclude with a reassessment of our understanding of pre-Grand Lodge ritual, its origins and development.

About the author:

Robert L D Cooper is the Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and has occupied that position since 1994.

Thursday, 28th June 2012

Title: 'Breast the Storm': Vermont Freemasonry During the Antimasonic period, 1826-46.

This paper examines how Antimasonry brought the Grand Lodge of Vermont to that brink of darknes, how Vermont Freemasons sustained themselves through nearly twenty years of attacks and how the Craft reconstituted and reformed the itself after its enemies' demise. Since the formation of the 1717 London Grand Lodge, Freemasons have fought similar war of survival, but the Grand Lodge of Vermont's story may be unique. It's steady legal, moral and common sense rhetoric deflected the Antimasonic Party's political assaults. Its wise choice of leadership, especially Grand Master- Nathan Haswell, preserved the Craft as membership dwindled and Lodges stopped meeting. Lastly its reliance on Masonic precedence, and adherence to its constitution combined with broad reform, enabled the Grand Lodge's rebirth and rapid growth after 1845. This paper is a testament of Masonic temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice and Vermont Freemasons' response mass masonophobia of the period should be an example to all Freemasons.

About the author:

Brother Mark Allen Tabbert was born and raised in Iowa, Mark graduated from Allegheny College with a B.A. in European History in 1986. He received his M.A. in American History and Museum Studies at Duquesne University in 1996 while working at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. Between 1997 and 1998 he worked for the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis. During this time he became a Freemason in Malta Lodge #318 AF&AM in Burlington, Iowa. In 1999 he began work at the Scottish Rite Masonic National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts as Curator of Masonic and Fraternal Collections. In 2005 the National Heritage Museum and New York University Press jointly published his book American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities. In 2006 he moved to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. He is the Director of Collections and overseas the library, museum, exhibitions and special projects. In 2011 he published Museum and Memorial: Ten Years of Masonic Writings (Cornerstone Books). With William D. Moore, Ph.D, he expects to soon publish "Secret Societies in America" & Other Foundational Studies of Fraternalism (Cornerstone)

As a Freemason, he is a Past Master of Mystic Valley Lodge, Arlington, Massachusetts, a member of St. John's Lodge, Boston, and The Lodge of the Nine Muses #1776, Washington, D.C. He is a member of the three York Rite Masonic Bodies and a 33rd Degree in the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, NMJ, of Freemasonry. He is an honorary member of several US Lodges of Research and in 2006 became a member of the Masonic Society of Blue Friars. He currently serves as President of the Masonic Library and Museum Association, Secretary/Treasurer of the Masonic Restoration Foundation and on The Masonic Society's board of directors.

Thursday, 13th September 2012

Details to follow

Thursday, 8th November 2012 (Installation Meeting)

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