‘Berman to return as Prestonian Lecturer’

    

Bro. Ric Berman, of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 among others, will serve again as Prestonian Lecturer in the New Year.

Every year, the United Grand Lodge of England selects one scholar to travel around the jurisdiction and present his research at the invitation of lodges. Typically a charity is made beneficiary of whatever proceeds from the sales of the book of the lecture, and sometimes the lecturer travels abroad too.

Bro. Ric has come in this way and manner before; he was Prestonian Lecturer in 2016. Next year, his subject will be “The Second Grand Lodge: the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the London Irish, and Antients Freemasonry.”

Yes!

(The Marshal of my lodge called me a nerd yesterday, intending it in a most complimentary way, because I do get excited over these things.)

The book is available via Amazon already. Ten bucks!

The last time he had the job, he visited America for a short tour during which I was able to book him for a stop at New Jersey’s research lodge. Hopefully he’ll come this way again.

I’m a big fan of the Prestonian Lecture tradition, but I’m not an expert in its history so I can’t name another lecturer who has been appointed a second time. Bro. George Boys-Stones recently had two consecutive years, but that was because the pandemic ruined his intended tenure.

I wonder about the Prestonian’s future. The current honoree is an American—Bro. Akram Elias, Past Grand Master of the District of Columbia. Is English Freemasonry running short on scholars? I’m active in three research lodges and I can see hardly anyone is interested in researching and writing about Freemasonry, and going on tour to present the work. It’s a rarely considered aspect of the shrinking of the Masonic fraternity.