What prompted some scientific enthusiasts to join the Society while others did not accept membership? To what extent could membership be due to motives that had nothing to do with an interest/skill in science? While it may be accepted that the Society did form some kind of English elite in the field of ‘scientific investigation’, it remains unclear even to this date what precise relationship its membership bore to the contemporary English scientific community generally and no one has yet been able to answer the following crucial and related questions: For instance, it is by no means certain what kind of sample the membership of the Society provides.
However, before too much weight is placed on this remarkable incidence of Fellows of the Royal Society as freemasons, the morphology of Royal Society membership itself. The assumption is that there must have been something more than the mere re-enactment of medieval builders’ ceremonies which attracted these distinguished men who contributed to the scientific literature of the nation. Therefore, it has been assumed that this ‘elite’ membership was not concentrated in just a few Lodges nor were they simply responding to the novelty of belonging to a new institution nor to the social cachet of belonging (when it may have been perceived that some important noblemen had accepted the titular leadership of it in successive years). It has also been noted that these Fellows were members of at least 29 different Lodges that worked mostly in or around the central London area. Examination of the Lists for 1723, 17 shows that nine Fellows continued their membership of their various Lodges throughout the decade. By 1725, 59 Fellows (i.e., still 25% of the Society’s total membership!) were freemasons. Of this latter ‘intake’, 16 had been elected to their Fellowships before their Initiations and 11 were elected after that. Examination of the 1723 List shows that 32 of these 40 Fellows still retained their membership of their Lodges and it also shows that a further 27 had been initiated before them. Of the former sub-group, 13 had been elected before the ‘re-founding’ of the Grand Lodge in June 1717. Of these, 23 were Fellows before their Initiations and 16 were elected to their Fellowships after their Initiations. According to the 1723 masonic membership List, 40 Fellows (i.e., 25% of the total membership of the Royal Society) belonged to London Lodges.
Attention has been drawn from time to time to the fact that at any one time during the first half of the 18 th century at least 25% of the Fellows of the Royal Society were freemasons. Steward provides no details as to the names of the members alluded to below. Note: The following extract from Trevor Stewart’s ‘dissertation’ on Freemasonry and Hermeticism is printed here to lend some general background material for consideration. ” See also, Lomas, Robert, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, Barnes & Nobles Books, New York. R., as Appendices I and III in his paper The Royal Society and Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry, AQC 80, 1967, pp. UGLE Grand Masters & DGMs and Fellows of the Royal Society - 1719-1741 AQC Vol. Heinmiller Director, Onondaga and Owego Masonic Districts Historical Societies Liverpool and Phoenix, New York, USA
This is a work ‘in progress.’ If you have information you would like to share, add, or correct, please contact the present compiler at or Fraternally, Gary L. Additionally, there are other charts available for the genealogical connections of many of the founding members of the Knights Templar and the Kings of Jerusalem, specially the ‘Baldwins’ and their lines. I have additional papers on the interesting genealogical connections, of many of the below Brothers and also Masonic connections to the Royal Society of London of some of these and other early Brothers, for those who may be interested such matters. Hence I have dug through my genealogical archives and such other sources as noted below, to give a summary of these founders and pillars of the Craft. While many famous and notable royals have served the Grand Lodge, the Titles somehow hide the actual names of the persons serving with such distinction. The below data has been complied for reference owing to the frequent usage of ‘royal’ Titles for personages in the ranks of the United Grand Lodge of England. Grand Masters of the United Grand Lodge of England and of Scotland ref: Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry - History of Masonry in England during the Reign of King George II * also data from Laurence Gardner – The Shadow of Solomon, pg.