UPDATE (27 Apr 2018): Finally I realized that it was his brother and his son who were the Freemasons. See here.
I have found an interesting information in The Freemason's Chronicle (17 April 1875, p. 247). It suggests that John Benjamin Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien's grandfather (Arthur Tolkien's father) was a Freemason, a "Brother John Tolkien S.W. 573"*:
I have found an interesting information in The Freemason's Chronicle (17 April 1875, p. 247). It suggests that John Benjamin Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien's grandfather (Arthur Tolkien's father) was a Freemason, a "Brother John Tolkien S.W. 573"*:
Humphrey Carpenter and other writers refer the Tolkien family as baptist. But in the sources I couldn't find any traces of John Benjamin Tolkien's Christian devotion. Maybe he was a Freemason? It could explain the Tolkiens' criticism of Mabel Tolkien's conversion into Catholicism in the new light.
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* Do you know what "S.W. 573" means? It is probably Senior Warden. And where there was the Lodge No. 573?
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* Do you know what "S.W. 573" means? It is probably Senior Warden. And where there was the Lodge No. 573?
Whole text of The Freemason's Chronicle can be seen here:
The Unity of the Brethren (Unitas Fratrum)
OdpowiedzUsuńhttp://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-13/unity-of-brethren.html