Paris. Eliphas Levi publishes Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Histoire de la Magie, La Clef des Grands Mysteres, Le Sorcier de Meudon, etc.
January. Mackenzie becomes a Fellow, of the Society of Antiquaries.
30 November. Cairo. Said Pasha signed the concession authorizing Ferdinand de Lesseps to pierce the isthmus of the Suez. A first scheme, indicated by him, was immediately drawn out by M. Linant Bey and Mougel Bey, providing for direct communication between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; and, after being slightly modified, it was adopted by an international commission of engineers in 1856.
New York. A Council of Memphis established in New York, according to Gould. Some give the date as 1856, 1856-1857.
For Routledge, in 1854-5, Mackenzie edited translations from the German (by other hands) of Friedrich Wagner's Schamyl and Circassia and J. W. Wolf's Fairy Tales, Collected in the Odenwald. Both these books reflect his erudition. His scholarly inclinations are particularly evident in his Tyll Eulenspiegel translation (1859), with its admirable bibliographical appendix.
German watchmaker Heinrich Goebel invents first light bulb.
Between October 1855 and September 1857, many of the Canadian Craftsmen withdrew themselves from under our banner alleging neglect by the officials of Grand Lodge, and thereupon erected a Grand Lodge of their men. This led to the formation of a Colonial Board in 1856 by the Grand Lodge of England, and the establishment of a second Grand Lodge in Canada. On this occasion England lost the Canadian Lodges, save a few Masons who remained faithful to their old allegiance. The two Grand Lodges, thus formed in Canada united 14th July 1858, under the designation of The Grand Lodge of Canada. These troubles led to the resignation of Brother. Williiam Henry White, who had been Grand Secretary since the union of 1813, and to the appointment in 1857 of Brother William Gray Clarke.
Mackenzie is a Member of the Royal Asiatic Society.
June. Augsburg. Karl Theodor Reuss was born [on June] 1855 in Augsburg. He attended the Gymnasium, was apprenticed as a druggist but soon got an education as a professional opera singer. He would be initiated in London in the Pilgrim Lodge No. 238, circa 1877 or later, which then was worked in the German Language and according to the usages of the Hamburg Lodge which chartered it.
Paris. Eliphas Levi imprisoned for a short time for lampooning the Emperor Napoleon III; he secured his release by addressing a conciliatory poem to the ruler whose police he had offended.
Compulsory nature of Massachusetts vaccination statute firm, and a pre- condition for school admittance. Statutes created in the belief it would "protect children from smallpox."
New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal sports an editorial which declares that "masturbation is the destroying element of civilized society." "What a bunch of jack-offs!" -- Harry Palmer.
Outbreak of cholera in England.
Pascal Beverly Randolph comes into contact with some Rosicrucian Literature in America.
24 January. Paris. Michel Bedarride appoints Dr. Hayere as his successor and bequeaths his claim against the Rite, worth 77,000 Francs.
16 February. Paris. Michel Bedarride dies.
29 March. Paris. Hayere cancelled bond; paying off Michel's debts. Rite becomes active again; still active in Gould's time, circa 1902.
4 June. London. An attempt was made to foist the ceremonial of the Mark Degree into the Craft series, but was rejected as an impossibility, as the Articles of Union state that pure Freemasonry consists of three degrees and no more; on this occasion Brother John Henderson, the Grand Registrar, said that, "no man, nor body of men, could make such an innovation as that proposed, without endangering the whole fabric of the Institution."
10 October. M. L. Davies raised to MM, 891. Enniskillen. He is registered in Grand Lodge of Ireland books as Maurice L. Howard Davies, in Lodge 891, Enniskillen, 3 October 1856. He affiliated to Lodge 184, Drum, Co. Monaghan, on 12 March 1867, and to Lodge 120, Dublin, in March 1869.
9 November. New York. Antient and Primitive Rite chartered in America, with David McClellan as Grand Master. In a piece on Harry J. Seymour, it is said that Thomas Picton was responsible for helping set up the Rite in America. Jacques Etienne Marconis de Negre, in person, established the first organization of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Memphis, in New York City, by the name and title of "A Supreme Council, Sublime Masters of the Great Work, Ninetieth Degree."
OFFICERS: John Mitchell 95°, Sublime Dai; Samuel D. Wilson, 95°, First Mystagogue; Wm. F. DuBois, 93°, Second Mystagogue; J. Franklin Wells, 94°, Orator; John Hanna, 94°, Secretary; George T. Dollinger, 94° Grand Expert; Theophilus Pratt, 95°, M. of C.; John M. Atwood, 95°, Treasurer; David McLellan, 95°, Archivist; Anthony Allaire, 94°, Messenger of Science; Josiah S. Grindle, 94°, Guardian of Sanctuary.
The Most Illustrious and Enlightened Brother, Marconis de Negre, presented the Council with the provisionary Charter or Warrant, entitling the Council to work the degrees to the 90th Degree, inclusive.
Belgium. In 1856 the directing committee of the Belgian Grand Orient declared: "Not only is it the right but the duty of the Lodges to supervise the actions in public life of those amongst its members whom it has placed in political posts, the right to demand explanations...."
Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, Paris. Eliphas Levi's Magnum Opus, published.
Daniel Coit Gilman, Andrew White and Timothy Dwight set up the Yale Trust to finance the Skull & Bones organization at Yale University. White would become first president of Cornell University and US ambassador to Russia (1892) and US Ambassador to Germany (1897-1902). White advised Herbert Hoover to set up the Hoover Institution. Gilman trained John Dewey, who would help him dominate American education in the 20th century. Gilman also trained Richard Ely, who in turn trained Woodrow Wilson (who gave the Federal Reserve System to the United States, the income tax and WWI.) All three of the men who set up the Yale Trust were educated at the University of Berlin, where they were indoctrinated with Hegelian Deteriminism, which states that everyone must be controlled to achieve predetermined goals. Of course, whoever originally wrote this undoubtedly resents A. D. White's contribution to the History of Theology, namely, his History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. This "Trufax" material may be spurious. If White was "evil" --- then so are we! And evil we ain't!
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty) becomes secretary of the East India Company. A disciple of Mill, David Ricardo originated the Theory of Rents. His descendant, Rita Ricardo, married to Wesley Campbell (head of the Hoover Institution) would advise President Ronald Reagan on Social Security.
Mackenzie's father moved to Paris. This is when the separation took place, and this had a profound effect on Mackenzie's future development.
12 January. New York City. At the fifth meeting of the Council (Memphis), ten brethren were elected, and received the Ninetieth Degree, in A&P form. They were: Nehemiah Peck, Polar Star Lodge No. 245; John Brown, Lafayette Lodge No. 64; E. T. Harris, Silentia Lodge No. 198; David Cochran, Lebanon Lodge No. 191; Daniel Sickels, Excelsior Lodge No. 195; M. L. Mann, Lily Lodge, No. 342; Charles Scholly, Puritan Lodge No. 339; Charles D. Brown, New York Lodge No 330; W. Horwitz, M.D., Mystic Tie Lodge No 272; John W. Cochran, Eastern Star Lodge No 227, all New York Lodges.
Mystic Temple, Sovereign Grand Council General, Ninety-fourth Degree, with Bro. David M'Clellan, Ninety-fifth Degree, as Sovereign Grand Master General was organized in 1857, and Charter granted by the Illustrious Brother Marconis de Negre.
3 June. Irwin initiated at Gibraltar Lodge (also known as the Rock Lodge) No. 325, Irish Constitution. Robert Freke Gould, then a young subaltern in the 31st Regiment of Foot and a Master Mason of two years standing, met Sergeant Irwin, now R. E., early in 1858, when he and another sergeant requested him to ask the DPGM for permission for them to revive the defunct Inhabitants Lodge, now No. 153.
27 June. Manchester. The nucleus of a Masonic Hall was begun here on this date, by taking the upper floor of rooms over the shops with an opening at 78 Cross Street, and dividing the same into Refreshment room supplied by a back staircase, a Lodge Room, and a Tyler's Room. A club also was established.
Proceedings of 1857, Grand Orient of France. Souverain Sanctuaire du Rite de Memphis: Grand Master, Harry. J. Seymour. Grand Chancellor: John W. Simons; Grand Secretary, J. B. Taylor. Grand Representative of the G. O. of France, near the Souverain Sanctuaire de Memphis: Robert D. Holmes. Due to misunderstandings, between the G. O. of France, and the Order of Memphis, the Sovereign Sanctuary of America withdrew from all representation, and Thevenot later complains that he had been sorry that the A & P Rite had ever been constituted in America, or transferred from thence to Great Britain and Ireland.
7 July. M.L. Davies Mark Master Mason and Royal Arch Mason, 891, Enniskillen.
In 1857, after nearly half a century of service to the Craft, William Henry White retires from office, the Grand Lodge unanimously voting him a retiring pension equal in amount to his salary. On that occasion, the Earl of Zetland, Grand Master, said:
"I know of no one, and I believe there never was anyone who has done more, who has rendered more valuable services to Masonry than our worthy Brother White."
In view of the great names in Masonic literature and labor which preceded him, the eulogium will be deemed exaggerated; but the devotion of the Grand Secretary to the Order, and his valuable services during his long and active life, cannot be denied. During the latter years of his official term, he was charged with inactivity and neglect of duty, but the fault has been properly attributed to the increasing infirmities of age. A service plate was presented to him by the Craft, 20 June 1850 as a testimonial of esteem. (Mackey's).
Could it be that White's neglect of duty had to do with the complaints of other Brethren that Masons were rifling through the papers at Freemason's Hall?
From 1838 to his retirement in 1857, W. H. White was sole Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of London. On his retirement in 1857, he admitted Robert Wentworth Little, as an R+C, and gave him the Manuscript. Little, when he was through with the papers, replaces them in the vaults at Freemasons' Hall.
New York. Jacques Etienne Marconis de Negre, Grand Master, inaugurated the Rite in Person at New York.
3 Cerneau Bodies United, and Peace established.
Vaccination in England enforced by fines. Smallpox epidemic begins in England that lasts until 1859. Over 14,000 die.
Frederick Hockley (1808 - 1885), an accountant by profession, was well known in circles which cultivated "Rejected Knowledge." He was about twenty-five years older than Mackenzie who probably first met him when he was editing the Biological Review in 1858 - 1859. Apart from his scrying experiments with crystals and so-called "Magic Mirrors", which were used to induce trance states, he was a diligent copyist of old magical manuscripts. He became a Freemason rather late in life in 1864, age 56, but his career in the Craft was not without distinction.
Ellic Howe is completely in the wrong for regarding this material as "Rejected Knowledge" at the time that Mackenzie and friends were interested in pursuing it. Had Ellic Howe been able to read French, perhaps, then he would have seen that an entire system was evolving in Paris from the mid 19th Century e.v., on, following a multidisciplinary form, and that it was very, very, popular, and very, very, influential. Its influence is still felt to this day, and not merely in the more popular occult forms, either! More Corned-beef hash!
Mexico. In the year 1858 or 1859, according to the official report, Brother Lafon de Ladebat went to Mexico, with authority from Brother Albert Pike (of Washington, District of Columbia) to organize and establish Freemasonry on a sound basis in that country. However, Brother Ladebat did not organize a Grand Lodge of Symbolic Freemasonry first, as instructed, but constituted the Supreme Council with jurisdiction over the three Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Brother William R. Singleton points out that this was entirely in opposition to Brother Pike's wishes.
February. Inhabitants Lodge resuscitated with Gould as WM and Irwin as SW. Gould's regiment soon left for South Africa and Irwin succeeded him as WM. Gould mentioned that it was at Gibraltar that Irwin first met Lieutenant Charles Warren, R.E., who was initiated there in the Lodge of Friendship No. 278 on 30 December 1859. Gould recalled, too, that Warren had a great respect for Irwin, both as a Freemason and a soldier. Many years later QC Lodge provided yet another link between these three men. (I.e., Warren was the first WM of the QC Lodge; Irwin was there, as was Gould.)
Mackenzie assists Robert Wentworth Little in organizing and using the Rosicrucian Papers which Little received from White. (I,e, the Cipher Manuscripts.)
Liverpool. The Liverpool Masonic Temple was commenced in 1858 by the purchase of a building for 1,600 Pounds.
P. B. Randolph visits London. Meets W. G. Palgrave, who represents himself as a member of a Continental Esoteric Order, operating under a Charter issued by a "Council of Seven." Echoes of 1617. He was introduced to Hargrave Jennings, Eliphas Levi, and others who eventually formed the high council of the Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia. Randolph was initiated into this Order. From this point on, two developments can be traced: 1.) The Continental Hermetic Brotherhood of Light in Paris; 2.) The Brotherhood of Eulis and FRC in the United States, which Carl Kellner would be a part of. It is unfortunate that the supposedly important and well connected pseudo adept, Howland Spencer Lewis forgot to include the names of Max Theon, Peter Davidson, and, too, perhaps, Paulos Metamon in his coverage of this story.
London Freemason. John Yarker explains his early activities in the EQUINOX:
"Many years ago, or about 1870, I was in correspondence with Mr. J. W. Papworth on the subject, and he put the question to a very learned friend whom he knew at the British Museum, and who suggested to him the above derivation[i.e., that Heredom derives from Hieros Domos, or Holy House] . As he requested that his name shouldnot appear I sent it to the Freemason's Magazine, under the signature of , and it was at once adopted by Pike; hence the term "Holy House" is about forty years old."
In the November, 1872, edition of Mackey's National Freemason, (Volume II, Number 2, Editor's Easy Chair, "Heredom,") some mention is made of this. "The most plausible derivation is one given in 1858, by a writer in the London Freemason. He thinks it should be spelled 'Heredom,,' and traces it to the two Greek words, ieroj, hieros, holy, and douoj (should read, domoj), domos, house. It would thus refer to Masonry as symbolically the Holy House or Temple. In this way the title of Rose Croix of Heredom would signify the Rosy Cross of the Holy House of Masonry. This derivation is now very generally recognized as the true one."
Mackenzie was already interested in the "Rejected Knowledge" (as Howe puts it) area by 1858, when he published (at his own expense) four issues of the Biological Review: A Monthly Repertory of the Science of Life (October 1858 - January 1859). This periodical, which soon failed, for lack of support, was particularly concerned with mesmerism's medical applications, homeopathy, a novelty called "electro-dentistry", and what Mackenzie described as "the finer Physics generally." He was greatly interested in medical matters and like so many occultists, then as now, dabbled with fringe medicine and mesmerism.
Mackenzie's father leaves for Paris. From this point on, Mackenzie gets assistance from his uncle, John Morant Hervey. His address was the same as his uncle's, at least, in 1859, 1864, and 1870. Mackenzie's father was living in Paris when he visited Eliphas Levi in 1861. His removal from the Society of Antiquaries and his withdrawal from the Anthropological Society may have been caused by pecuniary difficulties consequent on the death of his father, which also resulted in his 'aged mother' going to live with him.
Second Opium War lasts until 1860 in China. British establish Hong Kong and Shanghai corporations to act as clearinghouse for drug transactions.
England experiences a 7 year epidemic of Pertussis (ending in 1865) in which 120,000 die.
Charleston. Albert Pike is named Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Mother Supreme Council for the World of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry...yada yada yada etc... whether or not he was head of the Illuminati, or Mazzini's Superior...who supposedly was Weishaupt's hand-picked successor, succeeding the Master upon his death in 1830...and Pike, according to some of these hair-brained stories, was murdered by William Morgan in 1826, for having revealed the Masonic Secrets...Why not Joseph Cerneau or John Yarker? And Aleister Crowley was the incarnation of Sir Edward Dee...or was it Doctor John Kelly?
25 April. Port Said. The first blow of the pick-axe was given by de Lesseps on this date, and the Suez Canal was finished ten years later, in 1869.
Autumn. London. Grand Lodge first becomes aware of the Rite of Memphis' existence in England, in the autumn of 1859, although it appears to have been quietly active here since 1850. United Grand Lodge of London refuses to recognize the Memphis Body. (Which Memphis Body, the Rite itself? Or, an individual Lodge?)
24 October. The Grand Secretary of United Grand Lodge of London, William Gray Clarke, sent a circular letter to the Masters of all Lodges in the English Constitution. This document included a facsimile reproduction of a Memphis certificate issued by the "Loge Egalite, O[rient] de Stratford," from which the name of the recipient and various emblematical devices had been deleted. The certificate, with parallel texts in French and English, was undoubtedly designed and printed in France. It is headed: "Au Nom du G Conseil Gen de l'Ordre Mac Reforme de Memphis, sous les auspices de la Gr Loge des Philadelphes." The signatures of the seven lodge officers (Le Ven[erable] de la L[oge], Le ier Surveillant) etc., were all of Englishmen. The signatures of three "Grand Officers" were those of Frenchmen. The Grand Secretary's letter began:
"I am directed to inform you ... that there are at present existing in London and elsewhere in this country, spurious Lodges claiming to be Freemasons." He warned Masters to be careful not to admit any irregular "Memphis" Masons to their own Lodges and emphasized that "the Brethren of Your Lodge...can hold no communication with irregular lodges without incurring the penalty of expulsion from the Order, and the liability to be proceeded against under Act 39, George III, for taking part in the Meetings of illegal secret societies."
17 November. Cuba. A Warrant granted on this date, by the Grand Lodge of South Carolina to St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 93, 'for the purpose of establishing, with the cooperation of two other Lodges already existing on the island, a Grand Lodge...'
4 December. Letter from Stratford. Some weeks later the Grand Secretary received a polite letter from Stratford. It disclosed that the Lodge there was being joined by members of the artisan class who could not afford to join regular Lodges. The letter did not reveal that the heads of the rite in England were French radical republicans who had fled from France in 1849-1850 after Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected President of the Republic in December 1848. It is possible that the Stratford Lodge might have been "political" to an extent unknown in English Craft Lodges, in which all political controversy was forbidden. The letter was signed by Robert Meikle, Leamen Stephens, David Booth, Charles Ashdown, Charles Turner, Stephen Smith and another whose name is illegible. Its first paragraph follows:
"Equality Lodge King of Prussia Stratford.
"The 4th day of December 1859 V E Sir and Brother,
"As it appears from a Circular issued by the Board-for [sic] General Purposes addressed to the Masonic Body in England, that a great misconception exists in the minds of the Members of that Board as to the real objects and character of the Brethren comprising the Equality Lodge at Stratford we are instructed by the W. M. and Council of the Lodge to forward to you for the information of the Board such facts as may be useful to make known at the Quarterly Communication. In the first place Stratford and its neighbourhood contains a population of some thousands of skilled Mechanics, Artisans, and Engineers, many of whom from their superior attainments or from the exigencies of Trade are called upon to pursue their avocations in the various states of Continental Europe or in our own colonial possessions and to whom therefore the advantages rising from Masonic Fraternity are of great consequence. A desire therefore has long existed for the erection of a Masonic Temple in this district and one or two abortive attempts have been made for this purpose by Brethren in connection with your Grand Lodge, the failure arising chiefly from the large sums necessary for Initiations and Raisings. The matter would probably have rested here, had it not happened some eighteen months since that several parties now Brethren of this Lodge were brought into communication with a number of Foreign Brothers meeting in London...We feel honoured therefore by our association with those Intellectual and Honourable men to whom we owe our existence as a body; we are sympathetic to their misfortunes, and regret the causes that have made them exiles from their native land."
5 December. Santiago de Cuba. Grand Lodge formed, Grand Lodge of Colon.
27 December. Santiago de Cuba. Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite 33° was founded here by Andres Cassard, under the approval of the Supreme Council of the AASR for the Southern Jurisdiction, which meant Charleston.
Establishment of the Society for the Reparation of Souls. This was established by the Abbé Joseph Boullan (1824 - 1893), and Adele Chevalier. Boullan had apparently seduced Chevalier, who was a young nun at the convent of La Salette. This society was based on sexual rites, its overall philosophy being that humanity would find redemption through sex if used as a sacrament. While this may seem pure and alchemical in nature, Boullan extended the benefits of this rite to the animal kingdom. Sometime previously, Boullan, the priest, became first, the confessor, and then the lover of, a nun named Adele Chevalier, who left her cloister and bore at least two children by him. He and Chevalier established the Society, which specialized in exorcising devils. The methods used for this 'casting out of demons' revealed a certain scatological bias in Boullan's way of thinking: he fed his patients on a mixture of consecrated hosts and human excrement..... Memories of the Marquis de Sade?
Crétineau Joly publishes L'Eglise Romaine en face de la Revolution, reproducing the documents of the Haute Vente Romaine.
Stampede into the oil fields of Pennsylvania. Property prices skyrocket and the Rockefellers begin to make their fortune in oil.
Darwin's Origin of the Species is published.
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All Original Material (i.e., arrangement and interpretation),Copyright 1998-2001 e.v., Jonathan Sellers. All Rights Reserved.