Throughout history there have been many notable Freemasons involved in a broad variety of activities. Here are just some of those ‘Famous Freemasons’.
Actors
David Garrick (1717 – 1779)
Edmund Kean (1787 – 1833)
Pictured on the right, Ernest Borgnine (1917 – 2012)
Sir Henry Irving (1838 – 1905)
Sir Donald Wolfitt (1902 – 1968)
Richard Todd (1919 – 2009)
Peter Sellers (1925 – 1980)
Artists
Sir James Thornhill (1676 – 1734)
William Hogarth (1697 – 1764)
John Zoffany (1733 – 1810)
Pictured on the left, Sir John Soane (1753 – 1857)
The Army
Gen Sir John Moore (1761 – 1809)
Field Marshal The Duke of Wellington KG (1769 – 1852)
Field Marshal The Viscount Combermere GCB, GCH, KSI, PC (1773 – 1865)
Field Marshal The Earl Roberts of Kandahar VC, KG, KP (1832 – 1914)
Field Marshal Lord Methuen GCB, GCMG, GCVO (1845 – 1932)
Field Marshal The Earl Kitchener of Khartoum KG, KP (1850 – 1916)
Field Marshal The Earl Haig KT (1861 – 1928)
Field Marshal Sir John French, 1st Earl of Ypres KP (1852 – 1925)
General Sir Reginald Wingate Bt, GCB, GCVO, GBE, KCMG, DSO, TD (1861 – 1953)
Field Marshal The Earl Alexander of Tunis KG
(1891 – 1969)
Field Marshal The Viscount Wolseley KP (1883 – 1913)
Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE (1884 – 1981)
Lieutenant-Colonel ‘Paddy’ Maine DSO (1915 – 1955)
Authors
Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)
Edward Gibbon (1734 – 1794)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 – 1816)
Robbie Burns (1759 – 1796)
Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832)
Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882)
Sir William S Gilbert (1836 – 1911)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930)
Pictured left Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)
Musicians
Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) (Rule Britannia)
Samuel Wesley (1766 – 1837)
Sir Henry Bishop (1786 – 1855) (Home sweet home)
Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842 – 1900)
Pictured on the right, Rick Wakeman (b: 1949)
Sportsmen
Len Shackleton (1922 – 2000)
Joe Wade (1921 – 2005)
Leslie Compton (1912 – 1984)
Herbert Sutcliffe (1894 – 1978)
Bill Bowes (1908 – 1987)
Sir Thomas Lipton Bt, KCVO 1848 – 1931)
Tony Allcock MBE (b: 1955)
Sir ‘Alf’ Ramsey (1920 – 1999)
Peter Ebdon (b:1970)
Mark Wildman (b: 1936)
Harold Abrahams CBE (1899 – 1978)
Jackie’ Milburn (1924 – 1988)
Sir Malcolm Campbell (1885 – 1948)
Sir Donald Campbell CBE (1921 – 1967)
Sir Leonard ‘Len’ Hutton (1916 – 1990)
John ‘Jock’ Stein (1922 – 1985)
Sir Alec Rose (1908 – 1991)
Jim Peters (1918 – 1999)
Sir Arthur Gold (1917 – 2002)
The Royal Navy
Admiral Sir Sidney Smith KCB(1764 – 1840)
Admiral The Lord Beresford GCB, GCVO (1841 – 1919)
Pictured on the left, Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Jellicoe GCB, OM, GCVO, SGM (1859 – 1935)
Scientists
Sir Joseph Banks (1744 – 1820)
Dr Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823)
Sir Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955)
Sir Bernard Spilsbury (1877 – 1947)
Statesmen
Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797)
George Canning (1770 – 1827)
Lord Randolph Churchill (1849 – 1895)
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Leopold S Amery (1873 – 1955)
Monarchs
King George IV (1762 – 1830)
King William IV (1765 – 1837)
King Edward VII (1841 – 1910)
King Edward VIII (1894 – 1972)
Pictured on the left, King George VI (1895 – 1952)
Religion
Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (1887 – 1972)
Sir Israel Brodie (1895 – 1979)
The Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force The Lord Newall GCB, OM, GCMG, CBE, AM (1886 – 1963)
Squadron Leader Henry Melvin “Dinghy” Young DFC (1915 – 1943)
Explorers
Sir Richard Burton (1821 – 1890)
Capt Robert Falcon Scott, RN (1868 – 1912)
Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922)
Phillanthropists
Dr T J Barnardo (1845 – 1905)
Lord Leverhulme (1851 – 1925)
Sir William “Billy” Butlin (1899 – 1980)