THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY Colin Matthew, Brian Harrison et al, editors, Oxford University Press, 2004. 60 vols. £7,500

The Dictionary of National Biography (known familiarly as the DNB) was first published between 1885 and 1900 under the editorship of Leslie Stephen and contained over 50,000 specially written biographies of the most eminent figures in British history. It quickly established itself as an indispensable reference work. One of the great historical enterprises of recent years has been the compilation of a new edition of the DNB in which virtually every biography was rewritten to incorporate new research and thousands of extra biographies were added. The appearance in September of the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography will probably prove to be the publishing event of the new century.
    It may seem that, at £7,500 the set, the new DNB is beyond the reach of most Freemasons, but, thanks to the generosity of the Roy A. Wells Trust, a copy of this marvellous new reference work has been presented to the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London, where it can be consulted by all those interested in the history of Freemasonry.
    The new DNB includes articles presenting much new research on many prominent freemasons. For example, the article on John Senex (d. 1740), the publisher of the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, by Laurence Worms emphasises his importance as a scientific publisher and cartographer and suggests important contexts for understanding early 18th-century freemasonry. For a later period, the entertaining article by Richard Hitchcock on the prolific writer on freemasonry, Albert Frederick Calvert (1872?-1946), describes how Calvert made his fortune in the Australian gold mines, and was accused of fraudulently retaining jewels of the Russian royal family.
    Browsing the online version of the DNB reveals many remarkable figures who were freemasons, ranging from the plumber Thomas Crapper to Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco. However, it is disappointing that a number of articles do not mention that their subjects were freemasons. Thus, the articles on Sir Henry Irving, Sir Arthur Sullivan, William Hogarth or Captain Scott all omit details of their freemasonry; it is to be hoped that at some stage a project will be developed to record systematically which of those people included in the DNB were Freemasons.
    Andrew Prescott