Freemasonry has always been considered the preserve of men who since earliest times, have enjoyed the pleasures of brotherhood. Men are of course clubbable creatures, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, society dictated that women should take no part in the wide array of men’s pursuits, chief among them Freemasonry.
    A variety of assaults have been mounted from time to time by women on male bastions, but one of the most significant must surely have been the initiation into Freemasonry in 1882, in the Lodge Les Libres Penseurs in France, of Maria Desraimes, the first woman to be formally initiated into the Craft.
    Maria was only the first, and in the years that followed several more were welcomed into the brotherhood in France. In 1889, a Co-Masonic Order was founded in Paris, and prominent women from many walks of life thronged to the Order. Among them were the Englishwomen Francesca Arundale and Annie Besant – later prominent in the Theosophical Society – who crossed the Channel to be made masons, and in 1902 the first Co-Masonic Lodge was consecrated by them and others in London.
    Very soon, the Brethren of this Lodge felt that the French constitutions were not consistent with the traditional Masonry as practised by the United Grand Lodge of England, and set about forming the Order of Antient Masonry. A Grand Lodge was constituted in 1908, convened in Notting Hill Gate, and granted petitions for the formation of three lodges.
    There existed as early as 1911 some conflicts of loyalty among those men who had membership of the mixed Order and of the United Grand Lodge. In 1913 some of the members wished to work the Holy Royal Arch degree, but were prevented from doing so by their Grand Lodge, who said that if they wished to do so, they must first obtain the secrets of that degree legitimately, not an easy thing to do. They also wanted a women only Order.
    As a result, eleven Brethren (the term Sister had long since been rejected) seceded from the Order and founded The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, an Order for women only, who very soon established themselves as serious and committed Freemasons. The Order of Antient Freemasonry from which they had seceded later became the Order of Women Freemasons with their headquarters in Notting Hill Gate, who are today the larger of the two bodies, having some 260 Craft lodges and many side degrees. On the face of it they appear to be very similar to the Honourable Fraternity, with the same ritual and the same objectives. It is hard to see what keeps the two obediences apart – perhaps one day we may see a union on the lines of the 1813 union between the two rival men’s Grand Lodges.

VISITING THE LADIES’ GRAND LODGE

The Honourable Fraternity this year completes its ninety-third year of existence, and I went to meet them in their premises in Finchley Road in London. There to greet me were their Grand Master Sheila Norden, Assistant Grand Master Bernice Abram and Grand Secretary Helen Levene. The greeting was a characteristically warm one – the Order prides itself on its warm relations with others, and is referred to, even by United Grand Lodge officials as ‘the congenial Order’.
    In fact until recently the Order was not even acknowledged to exist by the United Grand Lodge of England. Nowadays, although recognition is witheld by them, their existence is acknowledged and friendly relations exist between the two bodies. In fact in some cases, the Order shares meeting places with the ‘Older Obedience’, at Cole Court in Twickenham, in the Cotswolds, the north of England, and in Gibraltar.
    For many years the Order was based at Great Cumberland Place near Marble Arch in London, but because of increasing costs, not least the rental, they have recently moved to the Childs Hill area of Finchley Road, where their splendid temple and dining facilities are already in place. The premises were officially opened by the Mayor of Barnet and the actor Robert Powell attended. They plan to build another temple and bigger dining area, and the funds for this are already largely in place. ‘We were left a legacy of £90,000 by one of our senior Brethren,’ explained the Grand Master, ‘and we have raised a lot of money in addition, so that we are well on the way to realising the total cost of some £200,000 for this work.’
    The Grand Master, Sheila Norden, has had a varied and eventful life. Born in Bow Road in London, she moved to Willesden when she was nine but was evacuated to Brighton when war started. After a spell in St. Albans, she came back to London at the end of the war and got a job with a firm of solicitors. ‘My father was a Freemason, and he took me to his ladies’ nights. At one of these, I met the man who was later to become my husband.’ In 1948 she left work to marry. ‘At that time women didn’t work, especially not after they were married. Once I left work, that was when I needed the interest that Freemasonry could provide.’With her father’s and husband’s involvement in Freemasonry, she very soon became interested as well. ‘My father was a very good ritualist. He had taken to the ritual very early on, and I suppose I followed in his footsteps.’ Sheila was initiated in 1955, was installed in the chair of her lodge in 1966 and in the chair of her Mark lodge in 1985.
    The Order currently comprises some thirty-two lodges and counts more than one thousand Brethren on its rolls. Most of them are active not only in Craft masonry but also in Royal Arch, Mark and Royal Ark Mariner, Knights Templar, and an Order of Royal and Select Masters is being considered. ‘All our Grand Lodge Officers are working Officers. They are not just given the title without the job. Before being accorded the title of Very Worshipful, the Brother concerned must have been through the Chair in the Craft, Chapter and Mark Degrees.’ Nor is the Warden’s office in a private lodge earned without qualification. ‘Our Installed Master’s Lodge examines Wardens before they are appointed, to make sure they can do the work.’

MASONIC CHARITY

Although a relatively small Order, they are fiercely proud of their charitable work. To date this year they have already raised £49,000 ‘in memory of a muchloved Past Deputy Grand Master, Edith Saunders’, of which £20,000 was raised to dedicate a room at the Teenage Cancer Trust, and their charitable work supports hospices, air ambulances and paramedics amongst others.
    ‘Would you say that charity is the main focus for your members?’ I asked. ‘Charity is important, but the ritual comes first. Freemasonry for us is a way of life, and it has changed my life.’ How, I asked? Bernice Abram cut in. ‘It’s a way of cementing friendships – we’re like a family. When I first joined, my mother was already in the lodge, but I was very shy. I met all her friends, but it was difficult to call older people by their first names.’ Sheila regards Freemasonry as having changed her life. ‘It makes you more tolerant. It cures shyness. It gives you the opportunity to meet people from any walk of life, and to meet them on the level.’
    Do the Freemasons of the Order treat it as a social and dining club first and foremost? ‘Not so many. It’s hard to put a figure to it, but I would say a maximum of 25%. Most people want to join to learn and to progress in themselves, especially the younger ones. A young lady joined recently and after her raising, she said to me “I didn’t realise how interesting it all is. I’m getting all my work cleared so that I can read the ritual and start learning it.” The young ones are so impatient – they all want to get there tomorrow!
    ‘You know, we pride ourselves on having a lot of brotherly love between us. If ever there’s anything gone wrong for one of our members, we all rally round to help. Is it because we’re women, that it’s natural for us? I don’t know.’
    Even if nowadays the pressures of work are far greater than just after the war, making it more difficult for some of their members to attend meetings, nothing has prevented their Order from becoming a multi-faith and multicultural fraternity. They count Christians, Hindus, Jews, and many more amongst their members. One lodge in the Cotswolds has a high proportion of fairground people in it. And in a bold initiative some seventeen years ago, Sheila brought over twelve ladies from Gibraltar, initiated, passed and raised them, and constituted them into a lodge which now works in Gibraltar. ‘In addition, we have now opened up two lodges in Spain, which are growing steadily.’
    How has the Order adapted to the changing society of the twenty-first century? One lodge in Bournemouth has had considerable success in recruiting via the internet, so there is no fear of modern technology. They have also adapted to changing work patterns and the demands of busy mothers. ‘One of our lodges, Peace and Friendship Lodge, meet at eleven in the morning because of school times and so on. We are very conscious of the professional and domestic pressures on our members.
    ‘But having said that, there are those who will go to extraordinary lengths in the pursuit of their Freemasonry. One young initiate who wanted to see the ceremony again so that she could make sense of her own experience, had arranged to come to the Cotswolds lodge to be present at an initiation. But her mother died, and the funeral was on the same morning. Notwithstanding, she travelled after the funeral from Coventry to Witney to be present. “I couldn’t miss it,” she said. Maybe the ceremony helped her over the death of her mother – I don’t know.’
    There is an infectious, joyous spark about this band of women who, although they have been going for nearly one hundred years, still evince something of a pioneering spirit in all they do and say. As with Alexandre Dumas’ Musketeers, you can still sense, in the atmosphere, the unspoken cry ‘all for one and one for all’, and their brand of Freemasonry is clearly one which enriches them, and to which they are proud to belong.

The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons – www.hfaf.org Tel: 020 7743 5268

Teenage Cancer Trust – www.teenagecancertrust.org