The Manawatu Freemason

  Bro Joseph Rudyard Kipling 30th December 1865 - 18th January 1936 Bro Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay India on the 30th December 1865, and was known to the family as Ruddy.  At the age of five he was brought over to England and spent five years living with a foster family in Southsea where he was miserable due to mistreatment, beatings and being victimised.   As a result of this he suffered from insomnia and poor health for the rest of his life.  At the age of 17 Rudyard returned to India and began his career as a writer beginning as the sub-editor of the Civil and Military Gazette and Pioneer in Lahore.   According to Lodge records he was Initiated on 5th April 1886.  Passed to the Degree of a Fellowcraft the following month on 3rd May 1886 and Raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason on 6th December the same year into Lodge Hope and Perseverance No.782.  He also went on to become a joining member of Independence with ...

Is Father Christmas a Freemason? I have a very serious question to put to you all. I would like to raise it with you and then do some detective work, examining the evidence that might lead us to answering it. It is a most important question that I am sure you have often asked yourself, and relates our Craft to the wider society in which we live and concerns several major issues of this season. This very serious question is "Is Father Christmas a Freemason?" Let us consider the facts of this case: Of whom does this remind you? A worthy gentleman, who is (we must admit) getting on a bit in years and is perhaps a little overweight,  who wears a very distinctive costume as the badge of his activities,  who provides the opportunity for friends and visitors to meet in fellowship,  who is surrounded by secrecy and mystery, dispenses goodwill and the charity of gifts all over the world (avoiding ostentatious public display while doing so) and is there doing it year after year! We...