THE GENESIS OF FREEMASONRY David Harrison, Lewis Masonic, Hersham, 2009. Hardback, 224 pages, £19.99. ISBN 978-08531-8322-8

The title of this book is misleading: ‘Genesis’ would suggest that it concerns the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but this is not the case, rather, it focuses upon the development of English Freemasonry during the eighteenth century. The ‘genesis’ does though receive attention in the first chapter where Harrison comes down firmly in support of the ‘transition’ theory: that operative masonic lodges, accepting non-operative members, changed into speculative lodges.
     Since evidence for this is minimal this theory has come in for strong criticism in recent years but we cannot dismiss it entirely for there is at least some hard data to support it – the minutes of some operative lodges in York reveal non-operative members joining from at least 1569 although curiously Neville Cryer’s work on these important records is not mentioned by Harrison.
     Freemasonry can be divided into form and content: the form carries the content but the two may have different origins. While Harrison is aware of this distinction he makes no attempt to explore its significance. So this opening chapter is rather unsatisfactory; it needs more research.
     Harrison then explores Freemasonry during the formative years of the eighteenth century; one of his chapters concerns the split between the Jacobites and the Hannoverians. It has been argued by historians that Freemasonry supported the new Hannoverian royal dynasty but Harrison shows that this cannot be the case since the neutral ground of Freemasonry allowed members of both factions to socialise in the same lodges.
     However, as every Freemason knows, one can be a member of a lodge but rarely attend, so it requires some evidence from lodge minute books to establish whether such a mingling of the factions truly occurred on a regular basis. Surprisingly Harrison does not explore this.
     This is not an easy book to read: the structure is so loose that on occasion Harrison loses control and begins repeating himself; it frequently struggles under the weight of its prose and it has the added eccentricity of all the notes being marked by Roman numerals.
     However, as a general introduction to the developments in Freemasonry during the Enlightenment it is informative for the general reader who is prepared to untangle the ideas. I find myself, yet again, wondering whether Lewis Masonic Publishers ever have an editor work through the books they publish.

Michael Baigent