FREEMASONS AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY Alphabetical List of ...

Fellows of the Royal Society who are or were Freemasons, listed alphabetically
Merchant in West Indies trade, Whig MP, Hindon, 1727–34, and Southwark. Dir of South Sea Coy. Lord Mayor
of London, 1742. Opponent of the Hanoverian Ct and sympathetic to the Stuart cause. The playwright Samuel Boyce
published The Friend of Liberty: an Ode to George Heathcote Esq, Late Alderman of the City of London in 1751.
Member, 1723, 1725, unnamed and unnumbered L. at Rummer, Charing Cross, London. 243
Hele-Shaw, Henry Selby FRS [1 Jun 1899] (29 Jul 1854-30 Jan 1941). Engineer.
Born in Billericay, Essex, Hele-Shaw studied engineering at Bristol and became the first Professor of Engineering
there in 1881 at the age of 27. Moved to University College, Liverpool in 1885 as Professor of Engineering. Later
established a college of engineering in South Africa. Noted as an inventor in hydraulics.
Initiated in Imperial College Lodge No 2711, Liverpool on 17 Dec 1903 (passed 17 Nov 1904 and raised 15 Dec
1904) whilst at University College there. Resigned 15 Oct 1908. Joined Imperial College Lodge No 4536, London on
10 May 1924, resigned 8 Dec 1928
Helvétius, (Jean) Claude-Adrien, FRS [24 Apr 1755] (18 Jul 1685–17 Jul 1755), French philosopher.
Born in Paris, trained for financial career, but in 1738, appointed Farmer-Gen, a lucrative office, but in 1751,
withdrew from public life to the family estate at Voiré, where he spent the remainder of his life in philosophy and as
host to Les Philosophes, a group of French thinkers. In 1758, published the controversial De l’Esprit, advancing the
view that sensation is the source of all intellectual activity and that self-interest is the moving force of all human
action The book was promptly denounced by the Sorbonne, condemned by Parliament in Paris to be publicly burnt,
which was duly carried out by the executioner, 1761. As a result, it was widely read, translated into all main European
languages and, with posthumous De l’homme, 1772, greatly influenced Jeremy Bentham and the English
utilitarians. 244
Member, L. Les Neuf Sœurs [Nine Muses], Paris. His apron, following his death, was handed to Voltaire, FRS [qv,
below], at his Initiation. 245
Hely-Hutchinson, The Hon John, PC, FRS [6 Mar 1794] (1724–4 Sep 1794), son of Francis Hely of Gortroe, Co
Cork, and Prudence Earbury, dau of Mathias Earbury.
Educ at Trinity Coll, Dublin; Irish barrister 1748. MP: Lanesborough, 1759–61; Cork, 1761–90; and Taghmon,
1790–94. Prime Serjeant, 1761–64. Provost, Trinity Coll, Dublin, 1774–94. Prin Sec of State, Ire, and Keeper of the
Privy Seal, 1777–94.
Married, 8 Jun 1751, Christiana Nickson (†1788), dau of Abraham Nickson, of Munny, Co Wicklow, and greatniece
of Richard Hutchinson, of Knocklofty, Co Tipperary, created, 16 Oct 1783, Baroness Donoughmore (I) in her
own right, and they had 6 sons and 4 daughters. On her death, 24 Jun 1788, the title devolved on the eldest son,
Richard Hely-Hutchinson (1756–1825), as 2 nd Baron Donoughmore, created 20 Nov 1797 1 st Viscount Donoughmore
(I), then, 31 Dec 1800, 1 st Earl of Donoughmore and, 14 Jul 1821, 1 st Viscount Doughmore (UK). Lt-Gen, Govr, Co
Tipperary and Ld Treas’s Remembrancer, Ct of Exchequer, Ire, then, May 1825, Gen. GM, Ire, 1789–1813, but died
unm.
Initiated, 28 Feb 1791, Grand Master’s L., Dublin (IC).
2 more of his successors each became GM, Ire: Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 6 th Earl of Donoughmore, KP (1875–
1948), 1913–48; and John Hely-Hutchinson, 7 th Earl of Donoughmore (1902–1981), 1964–81.
Hely-Hutchinson, Richard John, styled Viscount Suirdale, 246 later [14 Sep 1851] The Rt Hon 4 th Earl of
Donoughmore, PC, FRS [25 247 Mar 1865] (4 Apr 1823–22 Feb 1866), only son of The Rt Hon John Hely-
Hutchinson, 3 rd Earl of Donoughmore, KP, PC (1787–1851).
243 th
One of the List of Ls. 1723–24 and included in the two ‘Lists of the Regular Ls. as Constituted ’till Mar 25 1725’ [Lane, 29 & 30 (2)].
244
Crystal, 435–6.
245
Lennhoff, 77.
246
The courtesy title of Viscount Suirdale was questioned more than once in George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, revised by The
Hon Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday and Lord Howard de Walden and others (15 volumes) (St Catherine’s Press (Volumes I–XIII [Vol. XII being
in two parts], 2 nd edn, 1910–59; Vol. XIV (Sutton Publishing Limited, 1998) – cited as GEC, with Volume and page no.(s) added. According to
GEC, the justification for its use originated in the mistaken belief that the 1st Viscountcy was Donoughmore, of Suirdale, instead of Donoughmore,
of Knocklofty. One note reads:
It is difficult to account for this designation; no such title appears to have been conferred on his ancestors. The word is derived from the River Suir
(pronounced Shure), which runs through the Donoughmore estates.
Valentine Heywood, author of Br Titles: The Use and Misuse of the Titles of Peers and Commoners with some Historical Notes (Adam and Charles
Black, 1951), 96–10, at 99, sets out at some length the background to the various titles granted to 4 family members. The author then proceeds to
quote from the reply to his query, penned by the 7 th Earl of Donoughmore, who, after confessing that he had no documentary proof, apart from an
old Family Tree, as the original Patents creating the titles might have been lost, possibly when the Four Cts [the Cts of Justice in Dublin] were
burned during the Troubles in 1916, then recited the history of the titles much as set out earlier in the passage quoted for the 1 st Earl, above and,
referring to the succession of John Hely-Hutchionson, the 3 rd Earl, he added:
His eldest son (my grandfather) Richard John was certainly called Viscount Suirdale―and this habit has been followed by the subsequent Lords
Donoughmore.
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