‘Its members are of all sorts…’, the Male Element of Early Co-freemasonry in England
Issue: Vol 4 No. 1 (2013) Vol. 4. No 1 - 2 (2013) : Women and Freemasonry
Journal: Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism
Subject Areas: Religious Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyses the ages and occupations of the men who joined co-freemasonry for men and women in the period 1902–1914. In seeking to establish why these men joined this form of freemasonry rather than the much larger, established and highly respectable all male freemasonry, it seeks to establish their beliefs and in particular their attitude to contemporary topics. The profile of the men in co-freemasonry was very similar to the members of all male lodges but what appears to distinguish them was their attitude to women and in particular their belief that freemasonry and the knowledge that it gave should be available to women.
Author: Diane Clements
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