Franz Hartmann acquires a Medical Degree at St. Louis, became an American citizen, and practiced medicine in many different parts of the U.S. He was interested in spiritualism and joined the Theosophical Society after reading Isis Unveiled, sometime after 1877. He probably comes into contact with Randolph's group.
17 January. The Eminent and Perfect Illustrious Brother F. G. Irwin formed the first Council of the Knight of Constantine at the St. Aubyn Lodge, Devonport, and several eminent Masons were entrusted with the secrets of the Order, and were elevated to the degree of Knights of Constantinople.
7 June. The subject of the Mark Degree was again brought under discussion and it was resolved to refuse recognition to the Mark Grand Lodge which had been established in 1856, the ceremonial being treated as comparatively modern.
13 July. Spain. Gerard Encausse, aka "Papus," born.
27 December. Mexico. The Grand Lodge of Yorkinos ceased to exist, and the "Scots Rite," divested of all political coloring, erected -- December 27, 1865 -- a Supreme Council, 33°, this being done after the overthrow of the Maximilian Empire.
London. J. C. Hotten publishes, in one volume, Richard Payne Knight's A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus (and its connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients); and Thomas Wright's The Worship of the Generative Powers during the Middle Ages of Western Europe. This work attracts the attention of Hargrave Jennings, who sees in these works the key to the mysteries of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism.
In 1865 a revision of the Book of Constitutions was made and it was directed that the term Provincial Grand Master in England, should be District Grand Master in the Colonies and foreign parts.
In 1865, according to an article on the Golden Dawn, Eliphas Levi was elected 52nd Imperator of the Freres Aines de la Rose Croix, from 1865 to 1874.
In 1865 the G. M. of the Grand Orient of France, Marshal Magnan, appointed representatives with the Sovereign Sanctuary of America.
It is said that it was Irwin who introduced the Knight of Constantinople degree into Freemasonry at this time. It was " brought to Plymouth from Malta by a military Brother, and three Councils were erected there to work it in full form."
Charleston, S. C. Harry J. Seymour expelled from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. At the same time, the Rite of Memphis was very popular in Canada for a time and spread from there to Australia and New Zealand. Seymour is said to have reduced the rite to 33 degrees as an act of retaliation against the AASR, who expelled him.
Paris. Antient and Primitive Rite degrees reduced to 33° by the Grand Orient. Concordat executed between the two Bodies. Relative value of the different degrees settled, with rights to revive and use the supplementary degrees and establish representatives with the Order in America.
Paris. While on a summer holiday in Paris, Franz Hartmann travels to Le Havre, and "on impulse" decides to set sail for the United States. He applies for the post of ship's doctor in a vessel that was just about to set sail with emigrants to the United States. 42 days later he disembarked in the United States, where he remained for 17 years.
George Peabody (Rothschilds) conceives of "tax exempt charitable foundation".
United States Military Railroad set up by banks and railroads.
Union stockyards open in Chicago.
Lincoln assassinated.
Maxwells Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism published.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded.
5 April. Death of William Henry White.
London. The Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia (S.R.I.A.) Founded. This is the year that William H. White dies (5 April.) Robert Wentworth Little is Supreme Magus, and a prominent Freemason. He was Secretary of the Province of Middlesex, and Secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls. He became the first Supreme Magus and Master General of the College (SRIA). His knowledge and authority emanated from two sources, and were supplemented by the learning and researches of several other prominent students of occult philosophy.
Brother William Henry White, the Grand Secretary of England, preserved certain Rosicrucian papers which had come into his possession on attaining office in 1810, at Freemason's Hall, and of these he made no use; Brother Little found these papers and used them. At the same time and with the object of re-constituting a Rosicrucian College in London, he availed himself of certain knowledge and authority which belonged to Brother Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, who had, during a stay in Germany in earlier life(i.e., in his first twenty years, circa 1830s to early 1850s), been in communication with German Adepts who claimed a descent from previous generations of Rosicrucians. German Adepts had admitted Mackenzie to some grades of their system, and had permitted him to attempt the formation of a group of Masonic students in England, who under the Rosicrucian name might form a partly esoteric society. With this license and with the manuscripts of ritual information, which Brother White had discovered in the vaults of Freemason's Hall, Fratres Little, Hughan, Woodman, O'Neal Haye, Irwin and some others, the present English rituals were adopted, and have been in use with some modifications made by Dr. Woodman and his successor, (i.e., Westcott), ever since the first regular meeting of the Society.
Other members of note at this time include: W. J. Hughan, Frederick Hockley, Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, William Robert Woodman, Benjamin Cox, F. G. Irwin, John Yarker, George Kenning, Eliphas Levi, Edward Bulwer Lytton, etc. (But see 1873, when Lytton died. He was the honorary patron of the SRIA, who used his name to sell the Society. It is said that Lytton never even knew he was the Honorary Patron of the SRIA, and this is entirely possible.)
According to Nesta Webster: "The first of these societies to be founded in England was the Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia, founded in 1867(sic) by Robert Wentworth Little on instructions received from abroad. Only Master Masons are admitted -- a procedure not condemned by the Grand Lodge of England, which regards the S.R.I.A. as a perfectly innocuous body. Although neither political nor anti-Christian, but, on the contrary, containing distinctly Christian elements and claiming to descend from Christian Rosencreuz -- a claim which must be dismissed as an absurdity -- the S.R.I.A. is nevertheless largely Cabalistic, dealing with the forces of Nature, alchemy, etc. If its progenitors are really to be traced further back than the Rosicrucians of the nineteenth century -- Ragon, Eliphas Levi, and Kenneth Mackenzie -- they must be sought amongst certain esoteric Masons in Hungary and also amongst the French Martinistes, whose rituals doubtless derived from a kindred source. It will be remembered that Martines Pasqually bequeathed to his disciples a large number of Jewish Manuscripts which were presumably preserved in the archives of the Martiniste Lodge at Lyons. The Order of Martinistes has never ceased to exist, and the President of the Supreme Conseil, Dr. Gerard Encausse, well known as "Papus," an avowed Cabalist, only died in 1916. To these archives another famous Cabalist, the renegade Abbé, Alphonse Louis Constant, who assumed the name of Eliphas Levi, may well have had access. It is said that one of Eliphas Levi's most distinguished disciples, the occultist Baron Spedalieri of Marseilles, was a member of the "Grand Lodge of Solitary Brethren of the Mountain," an "Illumined Brother of the Ancient Restored Order of Manichaeans," a high member of the Grand Orient, and also a "High Illuminate of the Martinistes." We do not know which certain esoteric Masons in Hungary, unless it has something to do with survivals of the Asiatic Brethren.
Of course, we can state that there is more of a Martinist influence than we at once believed there to have been, now that we have seen internal histories of what is called Martinesism and Martinism, by an Initiate of the Pasqually succession that bypassed the Saint Martin tradition. After All, The Loge Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Sainte Cité at Lyons was a Martinist Lodge, and the "Tres Venerable" of the Loge Theodore du Bon Conseil at Munich was Franz Xaver von Baader, and he was not only a disciple of Martines Pasqually, he was Adam Weishaupt's Superior, and gave Weishaupt his orders. For those who think Weishaupt did it all by himself, guess again!
7 May. Irwin moves to Bristol. He had served in the ranks for almost twenty-four years and on 7 May 1866 was appointed Adjutant of the 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps with the rank of Captain. He was to remain at Bristol until his death in 1893.
Belgium. When in 1866 at a funeral ceremony in honour of the deceased King Leopold I the Grand Orient of Belgium displayed the maxim, "The soul which has emanated from God is immortal," the Freemasons of Louvain entered a violent protest on the ground that "Free-thinking had been admitted by the Belgian lodges in 1864 as its fundamental principle," and that the Grand Orient had therefore violated the convictions of its members.
Geneva. First Congress of Internationale at Geneva.
"Black Friday" on London Stock Exchange.
Alfred Nobel invents dynamite and Whitehead invents torpedo.
Hungary. The existence of so-called border-lodges can be understood by the double-constitution after the adjustment between Austria and Hungary in 1867. Franz Josef I., the Monarch who was enthroned in 1848 by Habsburg, did not reign over a centralistic state but, in personal union, two states which had in common only foreign affairs and fiscal policy plus the army: the kingdom Hungary with a liberal constitution and the conservatively administred "cislatin" regions. Both together were called "the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy". The Hungarian situation and their model image on the rest of the Reich waked the hopes of the german speaking liberals. Several of them achieved a re-admission of Masonry forbidden since 1849 when revolting Vienna was taken by the troops of Prince Windischgraetz.
Attempts to approve lodges according the Austrian law of society of 1867 failed because paragraph 18 demanded a control of societies through governmental commissioners. And when they finally agreed, they failed again. But the Hungarian law of society accepted the first lodges already in 1868 in Pest and in 1869 in Oedenburg. Therefore, the writer Franz Julius Schneeberger had the idea to install lodges near the Hungarian border in order that the Austrian brothers could lead an adapted life in Austria while visiting their lodge in Hungary.
20 March. M. L. Davies, Knight Templar, 184 Drum.
The learned Brother Dr. George Oliver was interred with Masonic honours.
Alexandria, Egypt. Gould:
"We next learn that the Grand Orient of Egypt, in accordance with powers which are duly set forth, convoked all the Patriarchs --- of whom 95, created such by Marconis, resided in Egypt --- and founded the first Sanctuary of Memphis in Egypt, in substitution of the demolished Sanctuary in Paris.
"This occurred in 1867, and Prince Halim Pasha, son of the famous Mehemet Ali, was elected Grand Master of the Order, which prospered greatly until 1868, when the G. M. was exiled, and the Lodges and Councils ceased to work."
It might be worth mentioning, too, that Ferdinand de Lesseg is alleged to have belonged to Egyptian Freemasonry, probably the Rite of Memphis, since he was on excellent terms with the Prince, who became the Grand Master. He is also said to have belonged to a very Secret Egyptian Society. Would this be the original of the H B of L? Part of the group of Egyptian Initiates who Initiated Napoleon and Kleber in the shadow of the Great Pyramid in 1798? Or part of the group that Paolos Metamon hailed from? And the same secret group that would communicate information in the 1990s to Murry Hope?
Annie Besant marries the Reverend Frank Besant (d. 1917); afterward the vicar of Sibsey, Lincolnshire, but obtained a separation from her husband in 1873.
In 1867, Mazzini writes to Bismarck: "I believe in the unity of Germany, and I desire it as I desire that of my own country. I abhor the empire and supremacy that France arrogates to herself over Europe."
Vaccination Act of 1867 in England begins to elicit protest from the population and increase in the number of anti-vaccination groups. It compelled the vaccination of a baby within the first 90 days of its life. Those who objected would be continually badgered by magistrates and fined until the child turned 14. The law was passed on the assurance of medical officials that smallpox vaccinations were safe.
Joseph Lister introduces sanitation into surgery, over the objections of leading English surgeons.
Nonpayment of fines for skipping smallpox vaccination result in harsh penalties.
John Morant Hervey, Grand Secretary for United Grand Lodge of London. Also Secretary of the ParaGas Company Ltd., and K. R. H. Mackenzie's uncle.
7 July. St. Kew Lodge No. 1222 was consecrated at the assembly rooms at Weston-super-Mare. F. G. Irwin was its first Worshipful Master. He was forty years of age and Chief Accountant of the Local Board of Health at an annual salary of 180 pounds. He was later promoted to Town Accountant (Borough Treasurer). At an emergency meeting on 16 July 1868 Benjamin Cox was ballotted for, initiated and forthwith invested with the Secretary's collar and jewel. Ignorant of the finer points of Masonic etiquette he soon turned to Irwin for advice.
16 September. Cox to Irwin: "A member having paid all dues and passed to F. C. can he propose a candidate for Freemasonry or do [sic] that privilege belong exclusively to M. M. s? I have purchased of Brother Breamer...a M. M.'s Apron. I suppose as a F. C. I can wear such apron in a Lodge if I cover the rosette(s) on the flap until I am raised. I must apologize for so many questions wishing to act truly Masonic in all things. When we encounter Irwin in the first of Benjamin Cox' letters to him in September 1868 he had been a member of the Craft for eleven years and had just been installed as the first WM of St. Kew Lodge No. 1222 at Weston-super-Mare, then a quiet seaside resort about fifteen miles from Bristol.
27 October. Cox to Irwin: "If we intend to work Craft, Mark and 2 Chivalric Orders it will occupy the whole of the first Wednesday of every month...only one sum being paid for the whole day it will be cheaper for us while we retain the present rooms to work any of the Orders on that day." The inference is that Cox was already a Mark Mason and had joined two Chivalric Orders. One of them must have been the recently established Rose and Lily Conclave No. 10 of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine.
On the death of William Gray Clarke in 1868, Brother John Hervey became Grand Secretary.
Bakunin founds International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, supposedly inspired by the Illuminati.
The German anti-Semite Goedsche published Biarritz.
A periodical called Les États Unis de l'Europe was published by Ferdinand Buisson at this time. This is claimed by Webster to be a carryover of Anacharsis Clootz' idea of the Universal Republic, first coined by him in 1793. This was also the plan of the Hieron du Val d'Or, and of the Alpha Galeates in the 1940s. It later was worked into the Common Market, and into the Schuman Plan, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This is what the European Union is. See the works by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and The Messianic Legacy.
Albert Pike publishes Sepher ha Debarim, The Book of the Words. Pike wrote extensively on the Primitive Aryan ancestry. Where did he get his knowledge from? "The number seven has always been a sacred and mystic one. It owed this, probably, at first, to the Seven Stars of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, two of which always point to the North Star; and which, in that high northern region near Samarcand, which was the cradle of our Great Aryan race, rose high in the Heavens, and, never setting, described its eternal circle with unvarying regularity." - p. 79.
Mexico. The Supreme Council established in 1865, and that which was established in 1858 - 1859 were joined together and both were fused with the National Grand Lodge, the President of the Republic, Benito Juarez, being one of the highest officials. However, this union was more of a friendly pact than of a thorough nature, as each Rite was independent of the other with regard to its own ritual and internal government.
The National Academy of Science is set up by an act of Congress.
Karl Haushofer born. He paid several visits to India and the Far East, and was sent to Japan, where he learned the language. He believed that the German people originated in Central Asia, and that it was the Indo-Germanic race which guaranteed the permanence, nobility and greatness of the world. While in Japan, Haushofer is said to have been initiated into one of the most important secret Buddhist societies and to have sworn, if he failed his "mission," to commit suicide in accordance with the time-honored ceremonial.
Irwin appointed PJGW in the Province of Somersetshire and in the same year was made an honorary member of the Loge Etoiles Reunis at Liege, Belgium...
March. In 1869, almost ten years had passed since Grand Lodge issued its warning that the Rite of Memphis was irregular. It still existed in England although it cannot have had many members. The amnesties of 1859 and 1869 had made it possible for its French Brethren to return to France. Robert Wentworth Little, the editor of the recently-established weekly periodical The Freemason (No. 1, 13 March 1869), and second clerk and cashier in the Grand Secretary's office at Freemason's Hall, referred to the rite in the issue of 3 April 1869. An extract from his leading article follows:
"We are induced to use very strong language in allusion to this pretended rite, from the fact that its adherents have dared to erect their "ateliers," or workshops in the heart of London, and because they now claim to be connected, on terms of amity and alliance, with some Masonic bodies on the continent, notably with one or two Lodges in the South of France, and even with the Supreme Council of the 33° at Turin.
"We grieve to learn, however, that doubtless in ignorance of this caution (i.e., the Grand Secretary's warning in 1859, some members of English Lodges have given countenance to the "Philadelphes," by attending their soirees and balls, where, tricked out in fantastic finery, as "Hierophants of the Star of Sirius," "Sovereign Pontiffs of Eleusis," and "Grand Masters of the redoubtable Sacred Sadah," these impostors libel the simplicity and purity of our noble Craft...The gravest rumours are also in circulation as to the designs of these intriguing "Philadelphes," the most revolutionary ideas, it is said, have been broached in their mystic assemblies, and Orsini like conspirators have been seen emerging from their dark and dangerous dens."
April. Irwin received permission to form a Bristol College of the Rosicrucian Society( SRIA). Membership was to be restricted to twelve including himself as Chief Adept. Cox, now indispensable for such duties, was its Secretary. There was a snag in the person of Bro. Major General Gore Boland Munbee, Indian Army (Retired), who brought a breath of Poona, where he had been a member of Lodge Orion in the West, No. 415, to placid Weston-super-Mare.
11 April. Freemasons' Hall had now been separated from the tavern, and was formally inaugurated on this date.
2 June. The Earl of Zetland, G. M., informed the Grand Lodge that H R H the Prince of Wales had been received into Freemasonry by the King of Sweden.
September. Earl of Zetland, G. M., elected a Past Grand Master of England, and the Prince attended Grand Lodge in December of 1869. The number of Lodges on the Roll had increased from 723 in 1844, to 1299 in 1869.
2 September. M. L. Davies, Past Master, Drum, Co. Monaghan...
16 September. Cox appointedProvincial Grand Steward.
21 November. Death of Jacques Etienne Marconis de Negre.
December. Santiago de Cuba. Massacre of the Freemasons. All the members of the Grand Lodge of Cuba were assassinated. Their widows and orphans were shunned from all society and forced to live in the countryside near Santiago, forbidden to leave, or to seek relief, and all society was ordered to have not a thing to do with them. Appeals reached the United States. An attempt was made by volunteers and crew of the Tornado to exterminate them.
By order of Gonzales Bret, an officer of the Cuban Government, eighteen persons were seized without warrant, and immediately shot, without trial, for being Freemasons, one of them the Grand Master of Colon. Many others were arrested and committed to prison for the same offence. Cuban Lodges in 1868 amounted in number to about thirty, had fallen in 1870 to about seven.
Marseille. Although desirous of keeping out of politics, de Lesseps was a candidate in Marseilles in 1869, but lost to Gambetta, and afterwards declined the candidatures for the senate (1876), and the Chamber (1877).
Alexandria, Egypt. The Sanctuary of Memphis which worked for a time in secret with a limited number of Patriarchs, also fell into abeyance.
Gougenot Des Mousseaux publishes Le Juif, le Judaisme, et la Judaisation des Peuples Chretiens.
Bakunin's Polemique contre les Juifs (or Etude sur les Juifs allemands) published, directed mainly against the Jews of the Internationale.
Conference of the British Medical Association devotes its surgery discussions to an attack on antiseptic theory and the work of Lister.
Transcontinental railroad completed in the United States.
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