The lodge Illustrated V.S.L.
The Volume of the Sacred Law, published by G. Swindells of Manchester in 1792, beautifully illustrated throughout.
Consecrated 3rd October 1912
The Lodge
A founding lodge of the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London, perpetuating the memory of the Hon. Lady Elizabeth Aldworth (1695–1775).
Our history
Over a century of London Freemasonry
Doneraile Lodge was consecrated on 3rd October 1912 to perpetuate the memory of the Hon. Lady Elizabeth Aldworth (1695–1775), who was initiated into Lodge No. 44 at Doneraile Court, Co. Cork in 1712 and was later installed as Worshipful Master.
On that day the R.W. Viscount Doneraile, P.G.W. — Edward St Leger, 6th Viscount Doneraile — was installed as Worshipful Master of Doneraile Lodge No. 3558 at its Consecration at Freemasons' Hall by the V.W. Bro. Sir Edward Letchworth, F.S.A., Grand Secretary.
The title Doneraile was originally pronounced ‘Dunnaral’. Over time it changed, and within the Lodge it is now pronounced ‘Don-ner-rail’.
There are various stories about women in Freemasonry — not to be confused with the Women's Freemasonry of today — but the Craft as we know it is a male fraternity. Doneraile Lodge is unique in that it has true connections to a Lodge that had a woman as its Worshipful Master.
"Haut et Bon — High and Good."
The lady Freemason
The Hon. Mrs Aldworth
Let me tell you the legend of how Miss St Leger became a member of the Craft.
It appears that the first Viscount (of the creation) Doneraile was a most zealous member of the Masonic Brotherhood, and held a Warrant under authority of which he was privileged to open a lodge at Doneraile House, in County Cork, Ireland.
It so happened that on an occasion when some repairs and alterations were being made in the room in which the lodge was usually held, the wall at one place had been knocked down and only temporarily rebuilt with loose bricks. There was a room on the other side of this wall whose entrance was close to the door opening into the lodge-room, and in this room it happened that the daughter of the house, Mistress Betty St Leger, found herself by accident on the evening in question.
Whether she had lain down to rest on one of the loungers, or had become interested in reading, the writer knows not; but at any rate she awoke to the fact that something mysterious was going on in the next room. By this time twilight had set in, and she perceived a ray of light falling through a crevice where the loose bricks were piled up. Being a daughter of Eve, who will blame her that she stole up to where the tell-tale ray escaped, and beheld a scene never before beheld by a woman — a scene which it is not lawful to describe. Having sufficiently satisfied her curiosity, a certain feeling of dread took possession of her, and she determined to leave the place of her espionage with all possible expedition, lest she should be discovered.
She stole to the door of the room, opened it gently and stealthily stepped into the corridor; but judge her alarm when a man armed with a sword — the trusty Tyler who guarded the door of the lodge-room — arrested her, judging from her manner that she had been an unprivileged witness of some of the rites. Still retaining hold of her by the arm, he drew her into the dark room from which she had just emerged, where his worst fears were confirmed: he soon discovered the "Judas-hole" through which she had peeped.
Leading her to the lodge-room, the Tyler sounded the alarm. The Inner Guard came to the threshold, and there beheld the trembling girl in the hands of her stern captors. The matter was hastily explained, and it is stated that the Brethren, in the first moments of indignation and alarm, determined to take most serious steps; but finally, moved by the earnest supplications of her young brother Hayes, who was fortunately present and to whom she was most dear, it was determined to spare her life on the condition of her consenting to be initiated into the Masonic mysteries — an alternative which the terrified girl gladly accepted.
Miss St Leger — or the Hon. Mrs Aldworth, or Lady Aldworth as she is popularly called — lived to become a mother in Israel as far as Masonry was concerned, and to be looked upon as a beloved and venerated member of the Order, taking part in all the processions and assemblies in Cork and neighbourhood until she died in 1775, at the age of eighty.
She was buried in the Davies' vault, beneath the old Cathedral of St Finbarre's, Cork. The late Dr Richard Caulfield writes that shortly before the erection of the present Cathedral he had an opportunity of seeing her remains. The body of the venerable lady was enclosed in a leaden shell and was in a wonderful state of preservation:
"She was attired in a dark silk dress, white satin shoes and silk stockings of a similar colour. Her person was comely; her face of a dusky or ash-colour; her features quite perfect and calm. She wore long silk gloves, which extended above the embroidered lace wristbands; her bosom was full and large for her age. She wore a white head-dress, with a frill round her neck, the plaits of which were not even ruffled."
The inscription on the stone slab which covered her vault had become almost indecipherable by the passage of countless feet, so when the present cathedral was being built, it was placed where it would be safe from further injury. It now forms a portion of the floor of the little chamber at the top of the great tower. The motto of the St Leger family is Haut et Bon, and well Elizabeth Aldworth, née St Leger, acted up to it. She was a high-spirited, high-principled woman, and her brethren of the Masonic Confraternity know how the tongue of good report followed her through life.
Lineage
The St Leger family & its connection to Doneraile Lodge
When William I landed in Hastings in 1066, it is said that he leaned on the arm of a Robert St Leger as he stepped from the boat to the shores of Sussex. Sir Robert afterwards settled at Ulcomb in Kent, but attended King Richard I to the Holy Land. A descendant of his married Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, eldest daughter of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and sister of King Edward IV.
In later years a Sir Anthony St Leger, a scion of this illustrious family, went to Ireland in 1557 and served there under three English Sovereigns. He became Lord Deputy and was created a Knight of the Garter by Henry VIII. He was succeeded by his second son, Sir Warham, who was appointed Lord President of Munster when that office was first established in 1567 — afterwards killed in single combat by Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, who was slain at the same time.
Through the seventeenth century the family was succeeded by Sir William St Leger, killed at the battle of Newburg in 1644, and by his brother John of Doneraile, afterwards Baron of Exchequer in Ireland. John's son Arthur married, on 24th January 1690, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Hayes, Esq., M.P. for Winchelsea in Sussex, and had three sons — Arthur, John (killed in a duel in 1741) and Hayes — and one daughter, Elizabeth: the lady Freemason herself.
Arthur St Leger, of Doneraile in Ireland and Eggisford in Devon, was created by Queen Anne in 1705 Baron Kilmagdow and Viscount Doneraile. With the death of the fourth Viscount childless, the titles became extinct, while his estates descended to his sister, the Hon. Elizabeth St Leger, who had married Richard Aldworth of Newmarket, Cork. Their second son, St Leger Aldworth, succeeded on the death of his mother and assumed the name St Leger, being created Baron Doneraile on 2nd July 1776 and Viscount Doneraile on 22nd June 1785.
Elizabeth Aldworth, the lady Freemason, was the great-great- grandmother of the late, and the great-great-great-grandmother of the (then) present Viscount — Edward St Leger, 6th Viscount Doneraile (1866–1941), our first Worshipful Master.
Family tree
The Viscounts Doneraile
The title of Viscount Doneraile was twice created in the Peerage of Ireland, both times for members of the St Leger family. It was first created in 1703 and became extinct in 1767; it was created again in 1785, with the subsidiary title of Baron Doneraile (1776).
First Creation (1703)
- Arthur St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile (d. 1727)
- Arthur St Leger, 2nd Viscount Doneraile (1694–1734)
- Arthur Mohun St Leger, 3rd Viscount Doneraile (1718–1750)
- Hayes St Leger, 4th Viscount Doneraile (1702–1767)
Second Creation (1785)
- St Leger St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile (d. 1787)
- Hayes St Leger, 2nd Viscount Doneraile (1755–1819)
- Hayes St Leger, 3rd Viscount Doneraile (1786–1854) — Representative Peer, 1830
- Hayes St Leger, 4th Viscount Doneraile (1818–1887) — Representative Peer, 1855
- Richard Arthur St Leger, 5th Viscount Doneraile (1825–1891)
- Edward St Leger, 6th Viscount Doneraile (1866–1941) — first Worshipful Master, 3rd October 1912
- Hugh St Leger, 7th Viscount Doneraile (1869–1956)
- Algernon Edward St Leger, 8th Viscount Doneraile (1878–1957)
- Richard St John St Leger, 9th Viscount Doneraile (1923–1983)
- Richard Allen St Leger, 10th Viscount Doneraile (b. 1946)
Milestones
Key dates
- 1712The Hon. Elizabeth St Leger is initiated into Lodge No. 44 at Doneraile Court, Co. Cork.
- 1775Death of the Hon. Mrs Aldworth, aged 80; buried in the Davies' vault beneath St Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork.
- 1912Doneraile Lodge No. 3558 consecrated on 3rd October at Freemasons' Hall by V.W. Bro. Sir Edward Letchworth, F.S.A., Grand Secretary. The 6th Viscount Doneraile installed as first Worshipful Master.
- 1916The Lodge's ceremonial Poniard is said to have been carried by a Brother at the Battle of the Somme.
- 1941Death of the 6th Viscount Doneraile; the original chart, chain of office, jewel and Doneraile Castle timber pass to the Lodge.
- 2003A founding lodge of the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London.
- 2012Centenary year — a hundred years of unbroken labour.
From the lodge cabinet
Items of interest belonging to the Lodge
The ceremonial poniard
A Scottish Skean Dhu. The original was carried and used by a Brother of the Lodge at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 — his name now lost to time.
The alms bowl
A copy of a very early Alms Bowl. The top and base are crafted in Irish silver bearing the Doneraile Arms; the wood is taken from a tree that grew on Lord Doneraile's estate in Ireland. Inscribed: ‘Presented by Bro. A. R. Appach – 1915.’
The Master's goblet
Presented by Bro. A. R. Appach and used at Festive Boards by the Worshipful Master. ‘Ye Tyler's Toast’ is engraved upon the bowl; the Lodge emblem and ‘Doneraile Lodge’ adorn the stem and base.
At the Secretary's desk
On display: a photograph of the memorial tablet to the Rt. Hon. Lady Aldworth in St Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork — "In pious memory of the Honourable ELIZABETH ALDWORTH, wife of Richard Aldworth of Newmarket Court, Co. Cork, Esq. Daughter of Arthur, First Viscount Doneraile. Born 1695, Died 1775. Initiated into Masonry in Lodge No. 44 at Doneraile Court A.D. 1712." Beside it hangs a portrait of the Hon. Mrs Aldworth, and a transcription, in permanent form, of the original chart hand-written by the Viscount Doneraile — the original safely preserved beneath. The chart, chain of office, jewel and frame timber all came into the possession of the Lodge upon the death of Lord Doneraile in 1941. The wood comes from the same tree as the rest of the Lodge furniture — one that once grew in the grounds of Doneraile Castle.
A book worth reading
Memoir of the Lady Freemason
Published by Brother John Day; printed by Guy & Co. Ltd., 70 Patrick Street. Doneraile Lodge holds a Third Edition dated 1941, inscribed inside the cover: "Fred. P. Young. Presented by G.L. Ireland. Jan 1949."