The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-10-10
KING GEORGE is NOT
MEMBER OF MASONS.
ny ia srAnouIsE DE roNrEsoY.

ny ia aIhnaUIsE DE ToNTENoY.
~ ING GEORGE, unlike most other
/ X Protestant rulers, is not Ma
llN son, although he has Just con-
] sented to become the patron of
/ great charitable institution in Eng
land, founded and maintained by tho
Masonic fraternity His. father. Ed
ward VII. had-becn Mason for close
upon fifty years at the time OF his
death this spring. having been first in
itiated as a Mason at Stockholm, ring
a visit TO Sweden prior to his mar
riage; Immediately indeed, after his
return to Europe from the United
fury preceding his accession to the
throne he was grand master of the
English Freemasons, and as such it
became his duty on two occasions to
Masons to hold any Masonic inter-
course whatever with French and
Italian lodges, which deny the exist
| ence. OF the Divinity, and which have
| itect OF the Universe from their ancient
| ritual. When he came to the throne
( he resigned the grand mastership 10
| his. brother, the Duke OF connaught,
! owing TO the apprehension that he
might be called upon in his capacity
as chief of the craft in Great Britain
/ to give his name TO measures that were
not consistent with the advice of his
/ minister's
King George always resisted his
fathers recommendation that he should
become Freemason, and the Only
| other Protestant monarch who has
Kept similarly ialoof from the frater-
nifty Is the Kaiser. whose father was
an enthusiastic Mason. The Emperor's
brother, Prince Henry. Is Mason and
! so. too. Is Prince Henry of the Neither
low 4.
Denmark. Greece and Wnrtemberg.
| Emperor Frederick was Grand Master
| of the German Masons during the last
thirty years of his life, and the Office
pold of Prussia, the Kaiser's brother
| in-law.
Napoleon III. was a Freemason of the
Italian rite. and endeavored to counter
act the tendency of the French Masons
| 10 radicai!sm md republicansm by
getting his cousin. Prince Murat. ap-.
! pointed grand master of the Grand
Orient of France. but his efforts In
and 1t was the Masonic element in
| French politics which contributed more
| than anything else to the overthrow
OF the empire.
1t is Interesting to add in this con-
I nection that the vast majority of the
| Presidents OF the United States from
! George Washington down to Theodore
Roosevelt have been Masons; notable
.
| Adams who talked and wrote against
! the order with much vigor, and 1t was
mentioned the other day that u re-
cent poll OF the two Houses OF Con-
| gress at Washington had revealed the
| fact that 81 per cent. of the members
4 OF the lower house and so per cent. of
the members of the Senate belonged
TO the fraternity
Lord Gort, who arrived in this cour
! try the day before yesterday, is the
| owner of East Cowes Castle familiar
to every American visitor to the Isle
of Wight, presenting as 1t does q most
/ attractive picture viewed from the So
/ lent. with Its battlemented walls. in
the midst of a richly wooded domain.
In spite of its medieval appearance.
Its walls, it was built only about 100
years ago, by the well-known archi-
ttect Nash. the protege of the Prince
ingham Palace as residence for HIM
self. The Lord Gort of his day was
SO delighted with the place that he
i engaged Nash to build replica OF it
| OF Tough Coeter. at an expense OF near
4 ly 100000, and by strange turn OF
the wheels of fortune, the castle on
Tough ,coeterF has long since pnssed
/ While Nash's own castle at Cowes has
BECOME their principal home.
Lord Gort may be said to come from
sporting stock, especially through his
i who eighteen months ago contracted
q second marriage. with Colonel STAR
ling Benson. retaining her title by
i courtesy, is a3daughter OF RobertSmith
surtees the famous sportsman, and
author Of the immortal "Jorrocks Of
Hanley Cross" and "Mr. Sponge's
4 Sporting Tour" Indirectly, too, he was
Responsible for another famous figure
in literature: for 1t was "Jorrocks" who.
4 first suggested the idea Of "Pickw!ck''
to Charles Dickens and to his pub
fishers, Chapman, Hall s. Seymour.
4 Lady Gort is rich in her own right;
and while there Is no doubt that her
second husband will be we'll provided
4 for In the case of his surviving her,
] her two boys. of whom Lord Gort Is
B siderable fortune.
Lord Gort is the head Of the houses
i OF Prendergast and OF Yereker. The
Mas Maafs E9ha
was one Of tho principal Norman
knights associated with strongbow:
! Earl Of Pembroke, In the invasion OF
irish than the irish. giving up I his
4 Castle of Prendergast. In Wales. to the
knights OF ST. John Of Jerusalem and
q contenting himself with his estates IN
1.-THE slgnatores Of Magma Gharta His
founded the. Abbey OF Enniscorthy, I,
! The Prendergasts were despoiled or
4 their estates by Oliver Cromwell on
4 the occasion OF his invasion OF Ire-
/ land, and the male line became ex-
q tinct through the death Of Sir Thomas
Prendergast Postmaster-Gene OF
Il ireland, In the eighteenth century. He
y was succeeded BIZ his sisters eldest
son, John, who became first Viscount
4 Gort, and dying chilJless WAS follow
4 ed in his honors and In the inheritance
y OF the estates. by the aon OF his own
q sister, who had married Thomas Vere-
kerr
This nephew of his. Charles yereker: