David J. Butler: Elizabeth Aldworth, William Henry Beamish, David J Butler, Anderson Cooper, Freemasonry, Elizabeth St Leger, Tuckey Street

David J. Butler: Elizabeth Aldworth, William Henry Beamish, David J Butler, Anderson Cooper, Freemasonry, Elizabeth St Leger, Tuckey Street

Cork's Built Heritage

David is a member of the Freemasons and talks about the Masonic Hall building on Tuckey Street. It dates back to the late 1700s when it was used as a meeting place for several different groups until it was bought by the Freemasons in 1844. He lists several links between Saint Fin Barres Cathedral and the Cork Freemasons and mentions some local historical figures who were Cork masons, such as William Henry Beamish.
He portrays Freemasonry as a classless fraternity and explains that the criterion for membership is a belief in a Supreme Being as the originator of the universe, regardless of a person’s religious denomination. He talks about Elizabeth St Leger, a rare woman Freemason.

Note: this interview was conducted for the DVD If the Walls Could Talk.

15 October 2013

CFP_SR00494_butler_2013

Cork City; Ireland; Built Heritage; 1770s-200Os;

If the Wall Could Talk: Stories Of Cork's Heritage Catalogue Numbers: 

CFP_SR00492_herlihy_2013;
CFP_SR00493_walsh_2013;
CFP_SR00495_faris_2013;
CFP_SR00496_osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00497_ryan_2013;
CFP_SR00498_holland_2013;
CFP_SR00499_hartnett&osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00500_mccarthy_2013;
CFP_SR00505_healy_2013;
CFP_SR00506_gleeson_2013;
CFP_SR00507_miller_2013;

Published Material:

If the Wall Could Talk: Stories Of Cork's Heritage (2013) DVD

If the Stones Could Speak: More stories from Cork's heritage (2015) DVD

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English

Sound

1 .wav File

20m 24s

Masonic Hall, Tuckey St, Cork City, Ireland

.wav

24bit / 48kHz

The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com

D B: William Henry Beamish who was probably managing director or managing partner of Beamish and Crawford was provincial deputy grand master or vice president as such of the province of Munster for a long time he was deputy to Lord Bandon, the fourth Earl of Bandon whose portrait is on the stairs, that was very much in those days a ceremonial title and it was the deputy who did all the work. We have two oil portraits in the Lodge Room one over each of the entrance doors, one is of William Henry Beamish and one is of a man called Anderson Cooper who was head of the provincial Bank of Ireland here in Cork for a long time. Freemasonry always been a bit unusual in that it attracts people of rank and no rank, privilege and no privilege in equal measure and even today you would have, from the unemployed student and the taxi driver through the farmer and shopkeeper to the substantial property owner and you know, the modern day successor of the so called ‘landlord’, and it was always like that. I think, in some families it might of ran in families in inverted commas but there, I think the oldest family with continuous linkage with Freemasonry proven back as far as the 1720’s when our records begin in 1725, would be the Noonan family and they would have been property owners in Cork and in Carrigaline for a long number of years. But it would vary hugely you would have a lot of generations skipped in families you know it doesn’t always follow through.
M W: If you went back a little bit of, back there a small bit to Elizabeth St. Ledger, did she continue as a Freemason?, I mean --
D B: She did
M W: She did?
D B: To her death.
M W: Yeah, so it wasn’t just that like she stuck, you the legend is you know she stumbled across the ritual and they, you know --
D B: And they had to initiate her --
M W: Had to initiate her and --
D B: And in those days there, there were only two degrees of membership, now, since then are three or it was divided out a bit more to three but no she was given the then two full degrees of membership and it would appear that she became chairperson of her lodge in time and [pause] some of the organisations even still extend today even the women only some of them refer to each other as brother and worship and master even though they are women, they don’t say sister and worship and mistress at all. So it is a bit peculiar and I am not sure how it works in co-masonry. But from what I can see, she was, I think she was subscriber to a Masonic publication where she would have given money to purchase a copy before it came out to help it on its way. And --
M W: Because you know like I was just reading up on when she was buried in St. Finbarres like didn’t the, I can’t remember the details now but didn’t the like the Cork Freemasons probably this crowd here didn’t they?
D B: They would have attended I am sure.
M W: They would have attended like yeah.
D B: Well she probably got a Masonic funeral which isn’t something that has happened for a long time it is long gone. I think it was still happening in the mid to late eighteen-hundredths but not since it wouldn’t, I suppose it would have involved people attending wearing their officer's attire and so on and you know that kind of thing. It gives a bit of pomp and circumstance.