Some freemasons

Abbott, William "Bud"
Famous half of the Abbott & Costello comedy team.

Aldrin, Col. Edwin Buzz
American astronaut and member of the first moon landing. 33 deg. Montclair Lodge No. 144 New Jersey.

Amundsen, Roald - Norwegian explorer - first to South Pole

Appleton, Sir Edward Victor
English physicist. Nobel prize for physics 1947.
Isaac Newton Lodge, No. 859, Cambridge.

Armstrong, Louis
American Jazz legend.
Lodge of Montgomery No. 18, PHA, New York

Ashmole, Elias
Founder member of the Royal Society and became the first known English speculative Mason at Warrington, Lancashire, in 1646

Banks, Sir Joseph
Founder of the famous Kew Gardens, London.
Somerset House Lodge UGLE

Barnardo, Dr. T. J.
Founder of the Barnardo home for orphaned boys

Basie, William "Count"
American jazz pianist.
Wisdom Lodge No. 102 PHA, Chicago and Shriner, New York.

Berlin, Irving
American songwriter and composer. Shriner and Scottish Rite. Munn Lodge No. 190 New York City.

Bowie, James
Famous American frontiersman, died at the Alamo.
Humble Cottage Lodge No. 19, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Brant, Joseph

Mohawk Chief,American Indian and Captain in British Army War of Independence, Hiram's Cliftonian Lodge No.814, 1776

Burke, Edmund
Irish/English statesman. Great friend to the US colonies.Jerusalem Lodge No. 44, Clerkenwell, London, UK.

Burns, Robert
Scottish poet. St. David's Lodge No. 174, Tarbolton.

Butlin William
W. Bro. Sir "Billy" Founded the chain of Butlins Holiday

camps. Heavily involved in charities.

Campbell, Sir Malcolm
World land speed record holder. Member of many Masonic bodies.

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer
English statesman and Prime Minister.
Studholme Lodge No. 1591 and Rosemary's Lodge No. 2851.

Cody, William F. (Buffalo Bill)
American frontiersman and Indian scout.
Platte Valley Lodge No. 15 Nebraska

Cole, Nathanial, (Nat King)
American singer and pianist.
Thomas Waller Lodge No. 49 PHA. Los Angeles.

Crockett, David
American frontiersman. Gained immortality at the Alamo

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan
English writer, works include Sherlock Holmes.
Phoenix Lodge No. 257, Portsmouth, England

Dunant, Henry

Founder of the Red Cross, co-winner of the first Nobel Prize for Peace in 1901.

Edward VII. King of Great Britain
Grand Master of the UGLE 1875-1901. Also Provincial

Grand Master for Lower Canada.

Edward VIII King of Great Britain.

Household Brigade Lodge No. 2614.

Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1936.

Ellington, Edward Kennedy "Duke"
American jazz musician.
Social Lodge No. 1 PHA, Washington DC.

Fields, "W.C.", William Claude
American comedian and entertainer.
E. Coppee Mitchell Lodge No. 605, Philadelphia PA.

Fisher, His Grace, The Right Honourable and Most Reverend Dr Geoffrey Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Old Reptonian Lodge No. 3725 UGLE

Fleming, Sir Alexander
Scottish bacteriologist and discoverer of Penicillin. Held Grand Office in the UGLE.

Franklin, Benjamin
American statesman and inventor.
St. John's Lodge Philadelphia PA

Gibbon, Edward

Writer, perhaps best known for the classic 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

Gable, Clark
American actor. Most famous for Gone with the wind.
Beverly Hills Lodge No. 528, California.

George IV King of Great Britain.

Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns) 1790-1813 while still Prince of Wales.

Gilbert, Sir William S.
English poet and play write, partner of Sir Arthur Sullivan. St. Machar Lodge No. 54, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Glenn, John.
American astronaut and Senator, 33 deg.
Concord Lodge No. 688, Concord, Ohio.

Hardy, Oliver
American comedian and actor, partner of Stan Laurel.
Solomon Lodge No. 20, Jacksonville, Florida.

Haydn, Franz Josef
Austrian composer. Lodge Zur Wahren Eintracht, Vienna.

Houdini, Harry
American magician and escape artist.
St. Cecile Lodge No. 568, New York City.

Jenner, Edward
English doctor who discovered the principle of vaccination. Faith and Friendship Lodge No. 270, Berkeley UK.

Kent, His Royal Highness Prince Edward the Duke of.

Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England.

King, Charles
American biochemist, isolated vitamin C. Whitman Lodge No. 49, Pulman, Washington.

Kipling, Rudyard
English Nobel Prize winning writer, born in India, most famous for The Jungle Book. Hope and Esperance Lodge No. 782, Lahore, India.

Lincoln, U. S. President Abraham, was not a Freemason. He applied for membership in Tyrian Lodge, Springfield, Illinois shortly after his nomination for the presidency in 1860. However, he withdrew his application because he felt that his application for membership at that time might be interpreted as a political tactic to obtain additional votes. He advised the lodge that he would resubmit his application again when he returned from his service as president. Lincoln, as we know, never returned. On the death of the President, Tyrian Lodge adopted, on April 17, 1865, a resolution to say "...that the decision of President Lincoln to postpone his application for the honors of Freemasonry, lest his motives be misconstrued, is the highest degree honorable to his memory."

Lindbergh, Charles
American aviator who made the first non-stop flight from America to Europe. His plane was the Spirit of St. Louis and bore the Masonic insignia. Keystone Lodge No. 243, St. Louis, Missouri.

Listz, Franz Von
Hungarian composer.
Lodge Zur Einigkeit, Frankfurt, Germany.

Macadam, John Loudon
Scottish engineer. Developed the smooth waterproof road surface.

Michelson, Albert Abraham
American physicist. Successfully measured the speed of light, gaining the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1907. Washington Lodge No. 21 New York City.

Mitchell, Reginald Joseph

Chief Engineer and designer of the Spitfire Initiated Jasper Lodge 3934 13.5.1921

Monkhouse, Bob

English comedian and television presenter, Chelsea Lodge No.3098.

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Austrian composer
Lodge Zur Wohltatigkeit., Vienna

Palmer, Arnold

Golf Professional who for years set the example to make golf a 'gentlemen's' sport

Savalas, Telly

Actor who became famous as the bald police detective who was strong on the outside but gentle inside - and always had a lollypop in his mouth

Scott, Sir Walter

Novelist and poet, his journal is an important record of the times in which he lived.

Sellers, Peter
English actor. Pink Panther, Goon Show, etc.
Chelsea Lodge No. 3098, London, UK.

Shackleton, Sir Ernest H
One of the most famous of all Antarctic explorers,
Navy Lodge 2612.

Sibelius, Jan
Finnish composer. Second only to Mozart as a Masonic composer. Suomi Lodge No. 1 Helsinki.

Sullivan, Sir Arthur Seymore
English composer with partner Sir W. S. Gilbert. Grand Organist

of the UGLE.

Swift, Jonathan
Irish poet and writer. Gulliver's travels.
Probably Lodge No. 16, Dublin.

Telford, Thomas

World famous Engineer , Salopian Lodge No. 262 Shropshire.

Travis, Col. William B.
American commander at the Alamo.
Alabama Lodge No. 3, Claiborne, Alabama.

Twain, Mark
American writer (Samuel L. Clemens).
Polar Star Lodge No. 79, St. Louis, Missouri.

Washington, George

As General of the Armies of the colonies, he led the revolution which created American independence. First President of the United States

Wayne, John
American film star. 33 Deg. Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56, Tucson, AZ

Webb, Capt. Matthew
English swimmer. First man to swim the English Channel.
Neptune Lodge No. 22.

William IV King of England,

made a Mason at Plymouth, England, March 9th. 1786.

Wodehouse, Peter Grenville (P.G.) KBE, Comedy writer and creator of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, Jerusalem Lodge No.197 UGLE

click on both sounds at the same time below for some entertainment

Men of Harlech

Zulu

ZULU

Tales of bravery among Freemasons would take up much time but it may be worth mentioning that at the famous battle of Rorkes Drift in the Zulu Wars the two principal officers who were awarded the Victoria Cross, Lieutenants Bromhead and Chard were both Freemasons and both subsequently achieved high rank.

Lt. Chard VC

the following extract from the history of St George's Lodge No. 112, Exeter, "A National Hero
When, on 3 May 1877, a 30-year-old army officer was initiated into the Lodge, no-one dreamed that two years later he would be acclaimed a national hero and be awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in battle. The young Mason was John Rouse Marriott Chard who, from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1868. He served in the Zulu War and distinguished himself when, on 22-23 January 1879, he defended Rorke's Drift with a force of 120 men against some 3,000 Zulus. When the news reached England, the Lodge prepared an illuminated address of congratulations signed by all the members."
This was presented to him at a Lodge of Emergency on 14 November 1879.

“The command at the station was not decided between Chard and Bromhead on the basis of date of commission, it was decided by Capt. Spalding (Officer in command) before going to Helpmekaar, not before saying to Chard 'Which of you is senior, you or Bromhead?' Chard said 'I don't know.' Having then checked the army list Spalding said to Chard 'I see that you are senior, so you will be in charge. Of course, nothing will happen, and I shall be back again early this evening.' “

The film Zulu also featured on the fact that it was a Welsh regiment. Although it was then based in Brecon in South Wales and called the 24th. Regiment of Foot (later to be the South Wales Borderers), it was formerly the Warwickshire Regiment. Many of the defenders had never been to Brecon. Of the 24th. Regt. at the defence, 49 were English, 16 Irish, 1 Scottish, 32 Welsh and 24 of other Nationalities. ('This is a Welsh regiment, although there are some foreigners in it in mind').