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Post by billmcelligott on Apr 20, 2008 23:29:33 GMT
March 26, 2008 Freemasonry celebrates its many female brethren Sarah Jane Checkland Time was when the only way that women could become freemasons was for them to eavesdrop on the doings of this all-male preserve. But as Lady Elizabeth St Leger of Co Cork found out when she got caught in the act in 1732, this could be a high-risk strategy. As the rulebook of 1717 firmly states: “No Bondmen [ie, slaves], no Women, no immoral or scandalous Men” can ever join the brethren. For two days, the story goes, Lodge 44 held Lady Elizabeth under lock and key while they debated what to do with her. Eventually they offered her a stark choice: death or full initiation. For generations Lady Elizabeth remained the only recorded female mason. But who knows how many ladies never lived to tell their tale? Times have changed. Exactly 100 years ago a group of suffragettes led by Annie Besant and Lady Lutyens, wife of the architect Sir Edwin, burst into this all-male preserve by setting up the first lodge for both men and women. This didn't last long because of objections from the all-male lodges. But the women persevered, setting up their own lodges. Now not only are there an estimated 20,000 women freemasons in Britain alone, but their male counterparts in the United Grand Lodge of England have decided to give the ladies a pat on the back by celebrating their centenary year with a special exhibition at their headquarters in Covent Garden, starting on June 4. It will be the first British exhibition on women and their involvement with freemasonry. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article3620126.ece
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Post by maat on Apr 21, 2008 0:53:14 GMT
Hi Bill
Thank you for posting that, many will find it very interesting. Not wishing to be rude, and you know I love you and all that, but I have to say it, may I trade my pat on the back for the Lions Grip?
Maat
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Post by lauderdale on Apr 21, 2008 2:15:34 GMT
Bill, Annie Bessant of course also was instrumental in the creation of Le Droit Humain, Co-Freemasonry, in the UK. Her photo adorns Hexagon House our UK HQ.
LDH in the UK has being going for over 100 Years now, whatever objections Male Only Lodges may have had then and now. Not bad for something that "didn't last long".
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Post by leonardo on Apr 21, 2008 7:32:20 GMT
Thanks Bill.
Things have certainly moved on since Lodge 44 (now based in Clonmel Co. Tipperary and probably boasting the smallest Lodge in the Irish Republic) initiated Lady Elizabeth St Leger.
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Post by billmcelligott on Apr 21, 2008 7:42:13 GMT
Hi Bill Thank you for posting that, many will find it very interesting. Not wishing to be rude, and you know I love you and all that, but I have to say it, may I trade my pat on the back for the Lions Grip? Maat 20 Years ago even this would have been thought impossible. It does seem to be focused on Women in Freemasonry and seems to stop short of including Co Masonry. Maybe another 20 years ? But in the whole scheme of things this is a big gesture.
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Tamrin
Member
Nosce te ipsum
Posts: 3,586
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Post by Tamrin on Apr 21, 2008 8:01:23 GMT
The old order changeth, yielding place to new
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ricardo
Member
Australia
Posts: 161
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Post by ricardo on Apr 21, 2008 12:43:48 GMT
Thanks Bill. Things have certainly moved on since Lodge 44 (now based in Clonmel Co. Tipperary and probably boasting the smallest Lodge in the Irish Republic) initiated Lady Elizabeth St Leger.Try Lodge 14 in Galway! S&F Ricardo
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Post by leonardo on Apr 21, 2008 13:11:01 GMT
They'd sit well beside each other ;d
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imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
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Post by imakegarb on Apr 21, 2008 17:20:25 GMT
Indeed, we *do*
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Post by leonardo on Apr 21, 2008 21:36:58 GMT
Indeed, we *do* ;D ;D
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Post by billmcelligott on Oct 9, 2008 10:26:26 GMT
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imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
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Post by imakegarb on Oct 9, 2008 19:39:14 GMT
Hi!
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