‘Deceased on this date two centuries ago’

     

William Preston by Samuel Drummond

William Preston died on this date in 1818. My friend Ben, the most prolific scholar in New Jersey Freemasonry, once described Preston to me as “the original Magpie Mason,” and for good reason. He is often remembered inaccurately as the author of Masonic rituals in the late 18th century, but in truth he was an anthologist of the rituals and lectures that are so influential to our degrees today. An editor and printer by profession, Preston was naturally inclined to gather and compile elements of the Craft degrees and other customs he witnessed into a holistic—if that’s the right word—body of ritualized lessons in the meaning of Masonry.

His book, Illustrations of Masonry, was reprinted an unusual number of times in the first years of its existence, with changes made along the way, and was the basis of Thomas Smith Webb’s own Freemason’s Monitor, which really was a key source in the development of rituals in the United States.

He was an amazing figure in and out of Freemasonry. If you undertake no other form of research into the Craft’s history, make a point of reading Preston, and reading about him. He is near and dear to my heart in large part because he was expelled from Freemasonry in 1777 by the Premier Grand Lodge, but he didn’t stop serving for the benefit of the fraternity and, a decade later, the Grand Lodge reversed itself and restored Preston to all the rights and benefits of Masonry.

And, of course, he is the namesake of the Prestonian Lecture, established posthumously with a bequest from Preston who, again, was raised to the Lodge on High on this date 200 years ago.

Read about William Preston at Masonic Dictionary here; at the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon here; and at Masonry Today here, for starters.

I know it’s a holy day, but raise a glass of whatever you’re enjoying to the memory of a Mason to whom we are greatly indebted.