‘Nepotism, patronage, and a Grand Master’

    

QCCC

Magpie coverage of the 250th anniversary celebration of American Union Lodge is forthcoming but, first, something in the mail.

Volume 138 of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the 2025 book of transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076, is reaching U.S. mailboxes. Bro. Ric Berman has a brief piece in the Notes & Queries section titled “The First Grand Master of and in New York.” This provides some intriguing biographical info and previously elusive context to the story of British Army Captain Richard Riggs, who was appointed Provincial Grand Master here on November 15, 1737.

(“In New York” is an allusion to Daniel Coxe, who was appointed Grand Master of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York—and who resided in New Jersey—in 1730.)

Riggs would serve until 1751 but, like Coxe before him, seems to have exercised no known Masonic authority. Except for several newspaper notices concerning a few meetings of a couple of lodges, there exists no information on the Craft’s existence in the Province of New York during his tenure.

Ric’s essay traces the nepotism and patronage that evidently fueled Riggs’ advancements in both the military and Masonry. (When the reader follows the connecting of those dots, he’ll be grateful for living in a society where no such naked inequity is possible!)

To receive AQC every year, simply join the QCCC ASAP.

     

‘Time to join/renew to receive AQC 138’

    

It is time to renew with (or join) QCCC for 2026. Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle is the corporate side of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. Membership in the lodge is limited to a small number of scholars who are elected, but guys like you and me may join QCCC, the principal benefit of which is possession of the treasury that is Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the lodge’s annual book of transactions.

QC2076 will meet one more time this year for its installation of officers next Thursday at Great Queen Street. Bro. Richard Gan will be seated in the Solomonic Chair and will present his inaugural paper. From the summons:

Printed Masonic Periodicals

in England 1793-2024

Richard’s paper tracks the progress and regress of Masonic publishing through to the present day, a time when there is no longer any Masonic periodical with a national circulation in England, the last having ceased hard-copy publication in December 2024 when it transferred online.

Richard L. Gan was born in 1950 Bradford to Polish parents. He was educated at the Becket School, Nottingham, and graduated in Geology at London University, where he also took a Master’s Degree in education; in addition, he holds a Degree in Management Studies from the Open University. Richard’s professional career included teaching, educational management and Masonic administration.

He retired in June 2010 as Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and thereafter was editor of The Square until 2014.

Richard was initiated in Ribblesdale Lodge No. 8020 in Nottingham in 1977 and promoted to Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 2008. He is a Grand Officer in all the major Orders of Freemasonry and in addition has served as the Grand Principal Conductor of the Work (Assistant Grand Master) in the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters and as Provincial Grand Master in the Mark for Middlesex.

Richard lives in Lincolnshire and writes and researches on subjects that include Victorian Freemasonry and the Orders beyond the Craft. He was elected a full member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 2014. He has been a regular Masonic speaker and has delivered more than fifty talks and lectures on a range of Masonic subjects; he has authored four monographs, six papers and eight books.

For next year’s meetings, the lodge has scheduled:

Thursday, February 19

Rob Hammond

“Does Freemasonry

Follow the Railroad?”

Thursday, May 14

Paul Calderwood

“Welsh Freemasonry

& the Unlawful Societies Act”

Thursday, June 25

Rod Taylor

“Masonic Firing Glasses”

Thursday, September 10

Daniel Johnson

“Solomon’s Temple in Myth & Ritual”

The 2026 Prestonian Lecture

Thursday, November 12

Installation Meeting

Installation Paper

Someday I will visit, I keep telling myself. Click here to join QCCC or click here to renew your membership.

     

‘Time to join/renew QCCC’

    

If it’s November, it is time to join or renew with QCCC for 2025. Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle is the corporate side of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. Membership in the lodge is limited to a small number of scholars who are elected, but guys like you and me may join QCCC, the principal benefit of which is possession of the treasury that is Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the lodge’s annual book of transactions.

QC2076 will meet one more time this year for its installation of officers on November 14 at Great Queen Street. Bro. Trevor McKeown, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, will become the 138th Master of the lodge.

For next year, the lodge has scheduled:

Thursday, February 20

Thoughts on the Early History of the Royal Arch

Christopher Powell  

Thursday, May 8

The Prestonian Lecture: The Second Grand Lodge, The London Irish & Antients Freemasonry

Dr. Ric Berman

Thursday, June 26

The Catholic Church and Freemasonry: From UK Foreign Office Files

Dr Jim Daniel

The meeting will be held in Bristol.

Thursday, September 11

Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: Insights from the Debate on the Eleusinian Mysteries

Dr. Ferdinand Saumaurez Smith

Open Meeting–Non-Masons are welcome to attend.

Thursday, November 13

Installation Meeting

Installation Paper

Someday I will visit, I keep telling myself. Click here to join QCCC or click here to renew your membership.

     

’Time to join/renew to receive next year’s AQC’

    

And speaking of research lodges’ dues and meetings (see post below), it is time to renew with QCCC for 2024. Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle is the corporate side of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. Membership in the lodge is limited to a small number of scholars who are elected, but guys like you and me may join QCCC, the principal benefit of which is possession of the treasury that is Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the lodge’s annual book of transactions.

QC2076 will meet one more time this year for its installation of officers on November 9 at Great Queen Street. W. Bro. David Peck of Buckinghamshire will be seated in the Solomonic Chair. (Enjoy his recent paper here.)

For next year, the lodge has scheduled:

Thursday, February 15

The Masonic Allusions in James Joyce’s Ulysses

Tim Blakemore

Thursday, May 9

William Farquharson Lamonby,1839-1926, A Portrait of an Unknown Freemason

Brendan Kyne

Thursday, June 27

Provincial Grand Masters in the 18th Century

Prof. Aubrey Newman

At Leicester Masonic Hall. Details to come. 

Thursday, September 12

A Chequered and Colourful History: Freemasonry in North Wales 1727-1851

Rob Hammond

Thursday, November 14

Installation Meeting with Installation Paper

Someday I will visit, I keep telling myself. Click here to join QCCC or click here to renew your membership.

     

‘Join the Corporation’

     

A long time ago I failed to renew membership in Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, but at last corrected that mistake a few days ago.

You should join too. Click here.

QCCC is the corporate arm of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. It sends members the annual book of transactions of Freemasonry’s first lodge of Masonic research. A square deal if I ever saw one. Plus there are other benefits of membership. You’ll stand a little taller, for starters.

If I understand correctly, the current edition of AQC won’t reach me until wintertime but, in a way, that just may be the best time.

     

‘New QCCC Local Secretary’

      

Over in New Jersey, one of the research lodge’s very own has been tapped to serve Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle. Congratulations Bro. Erich! He’s the new Local Secretary.

QCCC is the corporate arm of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076, and it serves to unite Freemasons wherever dispersed around the world in a membership that receives Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the annual book of transactions published by the lodge.

The official announcement:

Welcome to Erich Huhn,

new Local Secretary

in New Jersey

Erich Morgan Huhn is a PhD student in History & Culture at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. His research focuses on the historical role of membership as a ‘placing marker’ within society, with a particular interest in the history of Freemasonry in the English-speaking world.

Erich’s upcoming capstone paper will examine the role music has played in Masonic culture. Erich has presented on various Masonic topics, collects rare Masonic texts, and in 2019 published New Jersey’s Masonic Lodges, which provides a photo guide analysis of the development of Masonic architecture from the Colonial period to the present. Erich was raised as a Master Mason in November 2013 and is active within New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education, No. 1786. He has also participated in QC’s North American Conferences, most recently in Alexandria.

Erich can be contacted here.

     

‘AQC volumes on sale at Lewis’

     

I don’t know how to say “Prices so low we’re practically giving it all away!” in Latin, but Lewis Masonic is now selling recent editions of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum for three bucks each. Both softcover and hardcover copies.

You’re welcome.

These are the annual books of transactions of Quatuor Coronati 2076 that are provided to members of QCCC Ltd.

Lots of other great stuff to buy also, of course.
     

‘The new AQC is here!’

     

Courtesy Aspen Film Society

Like practically everything in the world of Masonic research publishing, you never know exactly when to expect it, but evidently the new edition of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum is hitting mailboxes in the United States now.

AQC is the annual book of transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 in London, the first Masonic lodge of research ever chartered, having received its warrant from the United Grand Lodge of England in 1884. What we have now is Volume 124, representing the lodge’s output for the year 2011. Receipt of this book each year is the principal benefit of membership in the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle—the corporate side of the lodge’s endeavors—which unites Masons from all over the globe in the joy of advancing in Masonic knowledge.

To join QCCC, click here. (Membership in QC2076 itself is exclusive, but QCCC members who are regular/recognized Masons may attend the meetings of the lodge.)

Contents of this edition include:

• “The Little Man,” a Masonic biography of Bro. T.N. Cranstoun-Day, with a look at early Freemasonry in South Africa – the inaugural paper by the Worshipful Master, Bro. Thomas V. Webb.
• “Early 17th Century Ritual: Ben Jonson and His Circle” by Bro. John Acaster. (I turned to this one first, having met John a few times over the years.)
• “Thomas Dunckerley: A True Son of Adam” by Susan Mitchell Sommers. I assume it is part of, or at least sidebar to, her eye-opening new book titled Thomas Dunckerley and English Freemasonry, a most welcome fresh look at the highly influential figure in early Masonry. Look for my book review in The Journal of the Masonic Society soon.
• “Opposition to Freemasonry in 18th Century France and the Lettre et Consultation of 1748” by Michael Taylor.

And there is a lot more. Check it out. Support your local research lodge. Bring informed lecturers to your lodges. Show your brethren that there is more to Freemasonry than feting the VIPs and showing the Stewards when to ground their rods. There is culture. There is history. There are things tangible and intangible that are worth handing down to future generations.
    

‘The new AQC is here!’

   

Courtesy Aspen Film Society

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum is here! And perfect timing too, with a fresh foot or so of snow on the ground, there’s plenty of time to light up some Christmas Cheer and read.

The book of course contains the annual transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, edited by Bro. John Wade. It is available to members of QCCC, so sign up today.

This is Vol. 121 for 2008. I am especially looking forward to Bro. Robert Davis’ “The Communication of Status: An Essential Function of Masonic Symbols,” and Bro. Trevor W. McKeown’s “An Historical Outline of Freemasons on the Internet.”

An amateur blogger and moderator of a number of Masonic Yahoo! Groups™ myself, I couldn’t resist quickly scanning McKeown’s paper before reading it. It was fun to see:

“One notable group, created by Josh Heller on 8 May 2000, provided the inspiration for The Temple That Never Sleeps.”

And it is nice to see friends Bessel, Blaisdell, Hodapp, Poll, and others mentioned for their hard work over the years.