The Manawatu Freemason

  Conspiracy theorists often tell us that Freemasons are secretly united. Supposedly, once a man joins the fraternity, he becomes part of a vast network all working toward the same hidden agenda. History suggests otherwise. John Stith Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, was a Freemason.  Caleb Davis Bradham, the inventor of Pepsi-Cola, was also a Freemason.  Yet the companies they founded spent more than a century locked in one of the most famous business rivalries in modern history. For over 100 years, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have battled for market share, advertising dominance, restaurant contracts, shelf space, sponsorships, and consumer loyalty.  Entire generations have picked sides.  Billions of dollars have been spent trying to outperform the competition. The rivalry became so famous that it earned its own name: "The Cola Wars" This presents a problem for the claim that Freemasons are all secretly united.  If that were true, somebody forgot to tell Coke...

  The Steel and the Stone: The Legend of Jim Bowie Long before his name was etched into the stone walls of the Alamo, Jim Bowie was a man forged by the untamed American frontier.  He was an adventurer, a land speculator, and a dedicated Freemason.  Bowie knelt at the altar of L'Humble Chaumière Lodge No. 19 in Opelousas, Louisiana, where he swore solemn oaths of brotherhood and virtue.  This Masonic foundation stayed with him as he traveled west, instilling a deep sense of loyalty and duty that would define his actions in the turbulent years to come.  History would truly immortalise him through a weapon that bore his name, though it was born from another man's mind.  It was his brother, Rezin, who designed the initial blade.  It was a master blacksmith named James Black who hammered the steel into its iconic, lethal clip-point shape in Arkansas.  Yet, it was Jim Bowie who gave the knife its soul.  In 1827, during the infamous Sandbar Fight ne...

  The Most Worshipful Brother William Lee Plunket Governor of New Zealand, installed for the third time Grand master of the Free and Accepted Masons of New Zealand, at Auckland.  May 9 1906 MW Bro William Lee Plunket. 5th Baron Plunket, GCMG, GCVO, KBE, KStJ, DL (19 December 1864 – 24 January 1920) was a British diplomat and colonial administrator. He was Governor of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910. Interestingly however, despite popular opinion - it was Lord Plunket's wife (m 1894), Lady Victoria Alexandrina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, who gave her name to the Plunket Society, a New Zealand society promoting the health and well-being of mothers and children and was a patron of the Mothercraft Training Society. SIR WILLIAM LEE PLUNKET. Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Dublin (where he graduated B.A. and was captain of the rowing club), he joined the diplomatic service in 1889 as honorary attaché to the embassy in Rome. In 1892 he was transferred to Constantinople. Retirin...

  Coca-Cola played an important role in standardizing the modern, jolly, red-and-white-suited version of Santa Claus Every Christmas, millions of people see the same image: a cheerful, bearded Santa Claus in a bright red suit.  While the character of Saint Nicholas is centuries old, the modern image of Santa was heavily popularized through Coca-Cola's advertising campaigns in the twentieth century. That creates an interesting Masonic footnote to a holiday tradition most people never think about. The man who invented Coca-Cola, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, was a Freemason.  He was a member of Columbian Lodge No. 7 in Columbus, Georgia.  Before creating the world's most famous soft drink, Pemberton worked as a pharmacist and chemist, eventually developing the beverage that would become Coca-Cola in 1886. Just before Pemberton's death, Asa Candler acquired the formula and built Coca-Cola into a global brand.  Decades later, Coca-Cola commissioned artist Haddon Sundblo...

  President George Washington laying the cornerstone of the United States Capitol   during a Masonic ceremony on September 18, 1793 The ideals celebrated on Independence Day closely align with Masonic principles The Fourth of July, or American Independence Day, is a date of profound historical importance. It marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776—a defining moment that established the birth of the United States. For Freemasons around the world, this day also holds special significance, as many of the ideals celebrated on Independence Day closely align with Masonic principles. The influence of Freemasonry on the founding of the United States is not just symbolic—it is woven into the very fabric of the nation’s origin story. The Declaration of Independence was more than a political document; it was a bold philosophical statement inspired by Enlightenment ideals. Core beliefs such as liberty, equality, and the right to self-governance echoed strongly withi...

  Sir Thomas Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO Tea Magnate Bro "Tommy" Lipton was born on May 10 1848 in Glasgow and emigrated to the USA in 1865 where he ended up working in the tobacco fields of Virginia and rice plantation.  He is reputed to have said  "People must eat...and the store that tempted people to buy goods would never be empty of customers" In 1870 he returned to Glasgow and helped his parents run their small shop.  It was this same year that he was Initiated into the Scotia Lodge No 178 Glasgow on the 31st May 1870 aged 22.  He was Passed on 17th August 1870 and Raised later that same evening. On his 21st Birthday he opened his own shop at 101 Stobcross St in Glasgow. The shop  was in the heart of industrial Glasgow, with its smoke and fog.  The shop was said to be so brightly lit at night that it became a beacon in the street, Goods were stacked in the American fashion, not for the convenience of the proprietors, but with the purpose of catchin...

  The Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Aldworth, nee St. Leger, known as ‘The Lady Freemason’ The Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Aldworth, nee St. Leger, known as ‘The Lady Freemason’ was the first woman recorded as being initiated into Freemasonry sometime between 1710 and 1712, into a Lodge which met at her family home, in County Cork, Ireland. It was presided over by her father Viscount Lord Doneraile, and it is said that Mr. Richard Aldworth, whom she later married, was also present.  According to a memoir published in 1811, the teenage Elizabeth fell asleep in the library, and was awakened by the sound of voices coming through some loose brickwork left behind from an unfinished restoration.  Her curiosity aroused, she managed to loosen the bricks and watched spell-bound; as she eavesdropped upon the masonic ceremony going on in the next room.  As it neared its conclusion, she tried to escape unnoticed, but on opening the door, was met by a grim-faced Tyler holding a drawn sword; her fa...