FREEMASONS AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY Alphabetical List of ...

Fellows of the Royal Society who are or were Freemasons, listed alphabetically
Educ by Jesuits in Paris, studied law, turned to writing. For lampooning the Duc d’Orléans, he was imprisoned in
the Bastille 1717–18, where he rewrote his tragedy Oedipe, bringing him fame, but enemies at Ct forced him to go
into exile in England 1726–29. The Church condemned him as an atheist (though he was really a Deist). On his
return, he wrote plays, poetry, historical and scientific treatises and his Lettres Philosophiques, 1734. Regained favour
at Ct, become Royal Historiographer, then moved to Berlin, 1750–53, at the behest of Frederick II (‘The Great’),
King of Prussia, a Freemason, a correspondent for many years. Settled near Geneva 1755, where Candide was
written, 1759. From 1762, produced a range of anti-religious writings and his Dictionaire Philosophique, 1764.
Returned to Paris, 1778, a celebrity. He was a brilliant satirist and a defender of victims of religious intolerance. His
ideas were an important influence on the intellectual climate leading to the French Revolution, 1789, 540 though by
then he had died.
Initiated, aged 83, 7 Apr 1778, 541 L. Les Neuf Sœurs [Nine Muses], Paris, attended by 250 brethren, and supported
by Benjamin Franklin, FRS [qv, above]. Joseph Lalande, FRS [qv, above], WM, gave the address. 542 Following his
death, the members convened a memorable L. of Sorrow, 28 Nov 1778.
540 Crystal, 964.
541 The date 7 Apr 1778, ‘two months before his death’, is the one given by Hamill and Gilbert, ocit., in ‘Gallery of 275 Famous Masons’ 244,
as does an Internet website, http://www.masonicdictionary.com/voltaire.html, quoting Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry; but Lennhoff, 77,
gives it as 17 Feb 1778.
542 Lennhoff, 77–78.
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