Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I don't understand these secret societies broadcasting their membership lists all over the internet. The only names I recognized were Higgins, Sillett, and Overend

I do remember receiving an "introductory VHS" from the masons a few months after the Leaving Service. I suppose this was a bit like an "infomercial", but in the absence of QVC, the masons had to resort to the Royal Mail.

I didn't sign up but I was aware of a few contemporaries that did, and am guilty of having judged them somewhat harshly for having done so.

By the time I was an undergraduate - at a respectable redbrick but not Oxbridge - it was acceptable to take the p*ss somewhat mercilessly of our colleagues from other public schools who were "on the square".

Possibly the last laugh is theirs; I imagine they are the ones operating the military-industrial complex that governs us all.

Freemasons are not so secretative of their activities.

I have been approached twice to think about becoming 'one of the chosen'. I declined on both occasions.

Yes, I was approached again later in life by a good friend unconnected with CH. I didn't sign up, thanks in part I suppose to CH-fostered prejudice about freemasonry.

What he suggested at the time was that the real reason for all the secrecy was to conceal the fact that it was really just a drinking club, rather than a grand international conspiracy, but that the wives would never let them go to the lodge if they knew the truth.

jakew wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:20 pm
Possibly the last laugh is theirs; I imagine they are the ones operating the military-industrial complex that governs us all.

I don't know about that. The only freemason I remember working with (he was a Worshipful Master or Sublime Goathead Pursuivant, or something equally ridiculous) was also a big noise in the Morris Dancing world. He was barely capable of operating a photocopier let alone a military-industrial complex. Only person I've ever come across who believed post-it-notes needed to be attached with staples.

Are you saying they don't?

Spoonbill wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 12:38 pm Are you saying they don't?

Not always, no. Sometimes sellotape or a 6 inch nail will suffice.

If I'd stayed in the UK after school and joined the cops I'd probably have signed up with the shifty handshake crew in a heartbeat, but other than that I never really saw the point.

If all you're looking for is a drinking club it's far easier to join a rugby/football/hockey/rowing club. Most people still do charity work, which is one thing masons like to bang on about what separates them from the others, but have far fewer rules to remember. Plus, no dress code.

To answer a point raised in the OP, I think the entire SMT of the time will have questions to answer, and I don't think it's going to be an enjoyable experience for them. The "I don't recall" defence is not going to go down well in public, not in this era. That said, I don't expect much would be made of any potential masonic link or influence. While it might be tempting to conflate lodge membership with gross dereliction of duty, it feels like people are looking for a conspiracy to explain callous decisions, incompetence, and blind eyes.

Foureyes wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:00 pm 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.

Quite the obverse in the Senior Service - in my branch at least, there seemed to be a smallish tradition of senior ratings being ‘something’ in the Masons but for officers it was viewed as thoroughly infra dig. I can’t claim credit for the line but someone once described Masonry as a slightly homoerotic way of getting a slightly cheaper patio. In the Navy we don’t have patios.

Avon says:"...Quite the obverse in the Senior Service..."
Hmmmm? What about Navy Lodge 2612 which is described as "the Lodge for Commissioned Officers of the Royal Navy."? It describes itself as: "...being the premier Naval Lodge in the world, with an unparalleled history that encompasses four monarchs (HM Kings Edward VII, Edward VIII, George VI and George II of the Hellenes) and other members of the Royal Family (HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent; HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh); three winners of the Victoria Cross; more Admirals, Generals, Vice-Admirals and Senior officers to mention; as well as notables such as Shackleton, Scott of the Antarctic and many more."
David

Well seeing as they describe themselves thus, it must be so, clearly.

Admittedly I inhabit a junior arm of the Senior Service but culturally - and publicly - Freemasonry was derided, practically proscribed. There was a FONA in the 90s who once told our wardroom something along the lines of ‘and none of you had better be bl**dy Masons either.’

It’s more likely that a few decades of war fighting as opposed to sitting around spinning yarns about how tough the Cold War was has also thrown the urge to sit in the company of other middle-aged men holding daggers to each other’s nipples into sharp contrast, and it just feels a bit silly.

Still, they do a lot for charidee, don’t they? Oh hang on, that’s Rotarians.

Still, Masonry isn’t as weird as the Legion of Frontiersmen.

Avon,
You say: "...Still, they do a lot for charidee, don’t they? Oh hang on, that’s Rotarians..."

I think that that is a little unfair and were you to consult https://mcf.org.uk/ you would see that the Masons do quite a lot for charity.

I was in the Army for 32 years and never knowingly met Masons, either as individuals or as a group. I am not saying that they did not exist, but only that I never came across them. Perhaps I was not the 'right sort of chap.' A group that I knew existed in several units, although I never had anything to do with them, was the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) - which were neither Royal, nor Antediluvian, nor Buffaloes, but we can set that to one side. My impression was that they were/are a 'freemason-style' organisation, but not Freemasons per se, whose main activities are dining and drinking - and also raising money for various charities. (How did I know they existed? Mainly because there were signs on various buildings pointing to the 'RAOB Lodge.')

However, I would not disagree that there is a widespread feeling that Masons (and perhaps Buffaloes) will help each other, especially if one of them is in trouble, but whether that is true or not I just do not know.

David

One CH Lodge (Votum), two Chapters (Royal Arch and Rose Croix) - no idea of the difference between a Lodge and a Chapter, but they used to be listed in the back of The Blue in the 70s with David McLean (Head of the Royal Mathematical School) listed as one of the contacts. Sillett still listed as an Lodge Officer on the web in 2015/16.

Avon wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:25 pm
Still, Masonry isn’t as weird as the Legion of Frontiersmen.

Nor as bonkers as the Order of the Garter or even the Panacea Society (who maintain a bedsit in Bedford ready for Jesus to use on his return) . Not that I’ve ever been invited to join either of them, or the masons or the Morris Men or even MI5.

Where did it all go wrong?

blueeyedboy wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:36 pm One CH Lodge (Votum), two Chapters (Royal Arch and Rose Croix) - no idea of the difference between a Lodge and a Chapter, but they used to be listed in the back of The Blue in the 70s with David McLean (Head of the Royal Mathematical School) listed as one of the contacts. Sillett still listed as an Lodge Officer on the web in 2015/16.

Glancing at a copy of The Blue from the Sixties, I find two other lodges listed: the Christ's Hospital Lodge (No. 2650) and the Christ's Hospital Lodge of Mark Master Masons (No. 1202). The Votum Lodge was/is No. 6517.