‘2022 Prestonian Lecture’

    

Magpie file photo

Obtaining this scant information was like extracting secrets from the proverbial Bone Box, but that’s what I do for my readers. You three mean a lot to me.

Bro. John Hawkins will be the 2022 Prestonian Lecturer, presenting his “The Royal Family and Freemasonry.”

I certainly would be interested in hearing that. For three centuries, Freemasonry in England has courted royal patronage, beginning with the Duke of Montagu, Grand Master in 1721. Subsequent grand masters have included princes, dukes, earls, the occasional marquess, plus the odd viscount. And, of course, there were those kings at the Navy Lodge 2612.

Anyway, that’s all the information I was able to learn at this time. My thanks to W. Bro. Tony Harvey, the Prestonian Lecturer of 2012, for answering my query. He also says Bro. Hawkins will present his lecture at Nottinghamshire’s Installed Masters Lodge on June 1.

W. Bro. George Boys-Stones is still on duty, presenting his lecture, “A System of Morality,” through the current term, which is an extension of his 2020 tenure that was interrupted by the pandemic. In fact, he will be speaking tomorrow at Lodge of Antiquity, where William Preston served in the East in 1774. I had him booked for dates in New York and New Jersey a year and a half ago, and maybe that still can be salvaged. Hope ends in fruition.

Commemorative bookplate for those who buy
Bro. George’s book tomorrow.

The Prestonian Lecture is a tradition in the United Grand Lodge of England, and is named for William Preston (1742-1818), who published his Illustrations of Masonry in 1772, which informs the rituals worked in a great many Craft lodges to this day.

Congratulations Bro. Hawkins!

     

‘The Prestonian Lecturer for 2021 will be…’

     

This just in: The United Grand Lodge of England decided its Prestonian Lecturer for next year will be Bro. George Boys-Stones!

Bro. George, of course, is the current Prestonian Lecturer. His lecture, titled “A System of Morality: Aristotle and English Masonic Ritual,” is available in book form via Amazon.

“My failure to deliver the 2020 Prestonian Lecture has proven so popular that I am to be reappointed for 2021,” he says. “People just can’t get enough Aristotle, it seems! Or any.”

I had had Bro. George booked to speak at two events in and around New York City next week, but the pandemic changed our plans. We will get those rescheduled, but it is great there will be even more time for other lodges everywhere to make their own arrangements.
     

‘2020 Prestonian Lecture book now available’

     

The book of the 2020 Prestonian Lecture was published a few days ago, and now is available for purchase via Amazon.

A System of Morality: Aristotle and English Masonic Ritual by George Boys-Stones can be had in Kindle format and as a paperback. From the publicity:


English Freemasonry defines itself as a “system of morality,” but what does that phrase mean? This new study traces it back to the work of William Preston (1742-1818), who argued that Freemasonry teaches a philosophical approach to virtue. According to Preston, the rituals of Freemasonry are designed to lead the initiate through the ethical thought of Aristotle. His view proved popular, and was decisive in shaping the ritual approved for use by the United Grand Lodge of England shortly after its formation in 1813. Almost all English lodges, and many others throughout the world, still use a ritual derived from this one, and, perhaps without realizing it, continue to pay silent testimony to Preston and to Aristotle in their work.


I had Bro. Boys-Stones booked to present his Prestonian Lecture next month at my lodge in Manhattan and my research lodge in New Jersey, but Coronamania intervened. We’ll get those events rescheduled. In the meantime, I’m getting this book!

Every year, the United Grand Lodge of England selects a worthy brother to serve as the Prestonian Lecturer; in this capacity, he travels the jurisdiction to deliver his lecture in lodges and other venues. Sometimes they travel abroad. This tradition was commenced upon the death of William Preston in 1818 with a bequest to the new grand lodge, and has continued uninterrupted (excepting the years of the Second World War) since.