Freemasons and questions to answer

This section was setup in August 2018 in order to move the existing related discussions from other sections into this new section to group them together, and separate from the other CH-related topics.

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Jolyon
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Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by Jolyon »

Anyone who was at CH in the 80s and 90s (and I'm betting both before and after) knew that the school had Freemason links.

During my time there were staff who would openly discuss being a Mason, and it was an open secret that one of the senior staff was a extremely highly ranked member.

Two things have made me raise this topic:

1) A young staff member who said, I'm paraphrasing as this was two decades ago, "I'm not a Mason, but my father is; that's how I got this job/opportunity"

2) The repeated pattern of pressure being applied to keep serious issues quiet. https://bit.ly/2uyEett is a pretty clear example.

If our school had a "Mason's First" staffing policy, combined with the suppression of scandal, make it a welcoming environment for well connected potential predators? Obviously when dealing with the Masons it will all be unspoken, nod and wink behavior; where nobody can ever have proof because none ever existed.

Does Bob Sillett have a case to answer? (mods please freely edit to remove the name if you have to for legal protection but I don't think it's worth tip-toeing around the topic)



Full disclosure: Over the past 3 years I've had a protracted conflict with a prominent Mason (former mason after he was disbarred and bankrupt but that's another story, and not an Old Blue). I'm aware that might give me a mildly negative view of a clandestine organisation that protects its members from legal consequences of their criminal activities.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by richardb »

Isn't one of the most important questions whether any of the dirty five were masons and, if so, whether that is why they were protected?

What they school needs to address is why these people were protected and allowed to move on? It is obvious they were protected (or certainly Burr. Webb, Husband and Karim were).

No amount of legislative and extra statutory measures will help if the same consideations still apply.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by Spoonbill »

I'd be very surprised indeed if Husband turned out to be on the square. I remember him as a man who could be pretty scathing about anything at all 'establishment' and that included fogeyishness, stuffiness, pretentiousness and elitism of all types. The Andrew Husband I recall would've considered something like the Craft completely and utterly ludicrous, just as he considered certain traditional aspects of school life ludicrous. He deliberately wore a sweater with holes in it when teaching, sent his children to the local state Infants' School and considered that his neat modern house on King Edward Close would benefit from having a chisel taken to it here and there. He certainly would've struggled to keep a straight face at a Lodge meeting.

The other four may well have been on the level though, as may Roger Martin. But just as easily, they may not have been. If they were, though, it'd most definitely need flagging up.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by richardb »

I would probably have agreed with you Spoony except Husband was a leading light in the Pickering Rotary Club so he wasn't entirely averse to clubs.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by yamaha »

There used to be a few CH lodges with names like Votum etc., that had sections in The Blue or at least contact info. - ttbomr.
Also, I remember being told that Dr. Scott was big in mason world and he was also an OB.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by Spoonbill »

Well, as a Town Clerk during his post-CH career, Husband would certainly have associated with plenty of councillors/local businessmen who were Masons, no doubt about that. But perhaps his involvement with the Rotary Club was something he embraced on the grounds that the Rotarians, like the Oddfellows, are an honest-to-goodness non-elite organisation which it's safe to involve oneself with without running any risk of being accused of having a personal agenda of self-advancement. Or perhaps I'm being naive and the simple act of getting out of bed in the morning represents a desire for self-advancement.
Last edited by Spoonbill on Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
yamaha
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by yamaha »

as may Roger Martin.
Doubt it. Very much out of his character.

He was a hero to some for refusing to play the hymn "I vow to thee my country" in a chapel service when he was a pupil and talented musician in the 50s.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by Avon »

I think it was unlikely that the indicted or guilty had Masonic links. Spoonbill neatly captures JAH’s iconoclasm, affected or otherwise.

However, I feel that given the fact that CH’s governance and pastoral care in the 80s and 90s was so **** the Masonic link is worth exploring in terms of undue influence and distraction.

After a career in the forces I can recognise organisations that are cosmetically and ceremonially obsessed a mile off. CH in my era is onesuch; preoccupied with pageantry and pomp, in awe of the Corporation of London, fond of grandiose projects, fawning to its pet minor royal, and yet behind the scenes the actual school bit was criminally inadequate.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by bakunin »

The dragging out into daylight of maggot-infested decaying feudal corpses (aka "pomp and pageantry") was always a little disturbing to me, especially as I had just moved from the French education system which was in the process of celebrating the 200th anniversary of getting rid of lots irrational and traditional fetters and burdens.

Anyway, who was head of the maths department in the 90s? Mc-something. Can't remember the name. Supposedly he was a 33rd level Mason.

Even if none of the convicted were Masons I'm sure the presence of multiple members and lodges contributed to the atmosphere of secrecy, neglect, and valuing appearance over substance at CH.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by DazedandConfused »

bakunin wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 7:15 pm
Anyway, who was head of the maths department in the 90s? Mc-something. Can't remember the name. Supposedly he was a 33rd level Mason.
McCall?
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by bakunin »

No, not McCall, someone else. He discouraged me from doing double maths A-level which was bad advice (especially as I repeatedly came first in the school in various maths exams)
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by DazedandConfused »

I can’t think who else taught Maths- Sprosen, O’Boyle and a very young teacher who can’t have been more than about 23? To say he had crowd control problems would be putting it mildly.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by marty »

bakunin wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 7:32 pm No, not McCall, someone else. He discouraged me from doing double maths A-level which was bad advice (especially as I repeatedly came first in the school in various maths exams)
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by jtaylor »

McClain I believe, and yes I recall he was a high up mason too, and must have been fairly open about it for us to know.
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Re: Freemasons and questions to answer

Post by Foureyes »

This business of C.H. and Freemasons comes up about once every five years without fail.

It is certain that there were links in the 1890s because they were paraded for all to see during the move to Horsham. There are several illustrations of the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) laying the foundation stone, surrounded by middle-aged men, all with beards and Masonic insignia, including aprons, sashes and the like.

I did some research into Old Blues who served in World War One and one who caught my attention became a very senior national officer in the Masons. Major Sir Algernon Tudor Tudor-Craig (scarcely a Housie name, but it takes all sorts!), KBE, FSA, PGD, was a very important mason. He was born in 1873 and attended C.H. from 1880 to 1887. He held numerous masonic ranks/titles, which included "Grand Standard Bearer (Royal Arch)" and "Assistant Grand Sojourner (Royal Arch)." I know these titles to be correct but have no idea of their significance. T-C was also secretary of the Christ's Hospital Lodge No 26590 from 1914 to 1924. He died in 1940.

There are now at least two Old Blue 'lodges' which, as one correspondent remarks, used to advertise membership and meetings in The Blue. See www.chl2650.org.uk/app/download/1706920 ... +0616A.pdf


I did some research on the subject and whichever avenue I pursued always appeared very innocuous. Lots of very nice people were forever telling me that '...no, we Masons never do that sort of thing... ' and they were so sincere that I really wanted to believe them, but never quite did.

As an aside, I once had a very long conversation on this subject with an RAF squadron-leader. He assured me that it was impossible to get beyond the rank of group-captain unless you were a Mason. Whether that was true, or not, I do not know, but he was a very serious-minded man and clearly thought so.
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