Among Our Brethren

Distinguished Members

FOUNDER · 1885
Sir William N. W. Hewitt V.C. K.C.B.
Victoria Cross recipient, 1854. Personally decorated by Queen Victoria at the Hyde Park Review, June 1857. A Founding Member whose military distinction was not initially recorded beside his name in the Lodge's roll.
FOUNDER · 1885
Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen K.C.M.G.
First Worshipful Master of Empire Lodge. Director of the South Kensington Museum. Central figure in the organisation of imperial exhibitions and principal architect of the Lodge's founding vision.
WORSHIPFUL MASTER · 1903–04
Viscount Tadasu Hayashi
Japanese Minister and Ambassador to the Court of St James's. Initiated, Passed, Raised, and installed as Worshipful Master — his Raising attended by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, Grand Master of UGLE. A singular distinction in English Masonic history.
INITIATED · 1906
H.H. The Sultan of Johore
Among the first Malay rulers received into English Freemasonry. His son, Prince Ahmed Bin Ibrahim of Johore, followed him as a member fifteen years later.
WORSHIPFUL MASTER · 1932
Sir Maurice Jenks, Lord Mayor of London
Simultaneously Lord Mayor of London and Worshipful Master. Installation held at the Mansion House by dispensation — a combination of civic and Masonic authority unique among the metropolitan lodges.
WORSHIPFUL MASTER · 1941, 1952 & 1960
Lord Baillieu KBE CMG
The Right Honourable Lord Baillieu served as Worshipful Master of Empire Lodge three times — a distinction held by very few. He presided at the 75th Anniversary Meeting in 1960, attended by the Grand Master and 39 Grand Officers, with letters of congratulation from 10 Dominion Grand Lodges and 27 District Grand Lodges. In 1961, Lord Baillieu and his two sons presented to the Lodge a silver loving cup — a gift that combined generosity with an understanding of what the Lodge meant. Father of the Hon. Edward Latham Baillieu, Deputy Grand Master 1982–1989.
DEPUTY GRAND MASTER · 1982–1989
The Hon. Edward Latham Baillieu
Initiated Empire Lodge 4 December 1946. Worshipful Master 1958. Grand Director of Ceremonies 1968; Assistant Grand Master 1976–1982; Deputy Grand Master 1982–1989. Second Grand Principal, Supreme Grand Chapter 1982–1989. Captain, Royal Artillery 1939–45. Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford. Member, London Stock Exchange. Director, Rio Tinto Zinc.
PAST MASTER · 1903–1921 · QUATUOR CORONATI 1929
Henry Thomas Cart de Lafontaine
Joined Empire Lodge 1903; Past Master. Joined Empire Chapter 1904. Sheriff of the City of London 1914. Worshipful Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 (the premier lodge of Masonic research) in 1929. Founder of the Grand Loge Nationale de France, 1913. Prestonian Lecturer 1930 — delivered 'Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences' at the Albert Hall before the Pro-Grand Master. Died 22 November 1937.
WORSHIPFUL MASTER · 1956 & 1977 · JUNIOR GRAND WARDEN 1988
Major-General Denis Arthur Beckett C.B. O.B.E. D.S.O.
Initiated Empire Lodge 6 March 1946. Worshipful Master 1956 and 1977. First Principal, Empire Chapter 1970 and 1988. Junior Grand Warden 1988; Past Senior Grand Warden 1992. Board of General Purposes 1983–1997. Served in West Africa, Middle East, Italy, Greece. Commander, 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment. D.S.O. 1944, O.B.E. 1960, C.B. 1971.
MUSEUM OF FREEMASONRY

24 July 1986

Opening of Prince George Duke of Kent Court, RMBI Home

Named at the express wish of H.R.H. the late Princess Marina

Pictured at the opening: H.R.H. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent — Grand Master — shaking hands with W.Bro. Squadron Leader D. Alun Lloyd D.F.C., D.F.M.; facing the camera, R.W.Bro. James A. Terry, Chairman of the RMBI; and at W.Bro. Lloyd's right, V.W.Bro. the Hon. Edward L. Baillieu, Grand Director of Ceremonies — initiated in Empire Lodge No. 2108 in 1946, Past Master 1958.

This photograph, preserved in the Museum of Freemasonry, London, captures three men with direct connections to Empire Lodge No. 2108 assembled in the presence of the Grand Master — a record of the Lodge's standing at the highest levels of English Freemasonry.

The Reception of HRH The Prince of Wales as Past Grand Master, 1869, Museum of Freemasonry

The Reception of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales

as Past Grand Master, 1 December 1869

Museum of Freemasonry, London  ·  c. 1870
Signed portrait of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in Masonic regalia, 1927, signed Edward

SIGNED PORTRAIT  ·  H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES
GRAND LODGE REGALIA  ·  1927
SIGNATURE: Edward

PRIMARY DOCUMENT  ·  ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS  ·  1927

H.R.H. The Prince of WalesProvincial Grand Master for Surrey  ·  1927

This signed portrait — signed Edward in his own hand — was presented at the 129th Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls, 18 May 1927. He is shown in full Grand Lodge regalia as Provincial Grand Master for Surrey, in the chair as Chairman of the Festival.

Eight years later, on 27 November 1935, the same Prince of Wales attended Empire Lodge's Golden Jubilee meeting — the Lodge he would have known through its brethren and through Freemasonry's highest circles.

He abdicated in December 1936. He signed the photograph as Edward — the signature of a man who would briefly be King Edward VIII before becoming the Duke of Windsor.

"Chairman: R.W.Bro. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales K.G., P.G.W., Vice Patron of the Institution, Provincial Grand Master for Surrey. Presented to Bro. C.E. Boote in grateful recognition of valuable services rendered as Steward when the record amount of £201,046.9.2 was collected by 17,031 Stewards."

INSCRIPTION ON THE PRESENTED PHOTOGRAPH  ·  18 MAY 1927