Through the Key Hole - RoseCroix.org.au

99
GRAND CHAPLAIN HANGED FOR
FORGERY
By Keith Stockley
William Dodd was born at Bourne in Lincolnshire in 1729 and took
his BA Degree at Cambridge in 1750, became an MA in 1759 and
LL.D in 1766. He was ordained in 1751 and immediately began
work as a Curate at West Ham where he began to earn a reputation
as an effective and popular preacher. He was a founder of the Magdalen
Home at Streatham for fallen women.
In 1763 he was appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to King George III
and in 1765 he was made a Prebendary of Brecon.
He was initiated into Freemasonry at the St Albans Lodge on 3 April
1775 and one month later he was chosen to be the Grand Chaplain
of the Grand Lodge of England, the first brother to hold the office. In
other words he was the first Grand Chaplain ever.
It is certainly hard to grasp that such an exalted member of the craft
and clearly a very talented individual who moved in very high social
circles, should have been hanged for the crime of forgery some two
years after being appointed Grand Chaplain, yet this is in fact an
actual occurrence.
There are a few other strange aspects to the story—or at least I find
it so. Firstly, there is, I believe, the mystery of his appointment. He
was given an extremely high level position after a mere one month’s
membership in the Order. It is a great pity that the written records of
those days have not survived to throw some light on this subject.
Certainly Dr Dodd moved in very high circles and it is clear from
publications that were made available ,much later on, that he was
indeed an eloquent speaker and held in high regard by his fellow
Masons.
This is amply demonstrated by the eye-witness accounts that appear
in “The Revelations of a Square” written by the Rev. G Oliver
DD who quoted word-for-word occurrences from his father’s diary
which covers the workings and doings of the Craft and its members
from 1717 onwards.
76
ALEISTER CROWLEY—THE WICKEDEST MAN
IN THE WORLD
Taken from the website of the Grand Lodge of
British Columbia and Yukon.
Born Edward Alexander Crowley on 12 October 1875 was an English
occultists, prolific writer, mystic and hedonist. His accomplishments
included being a chess champion, mountain climber, poet, painter,
astrologer, drug experimenter but is mostly known for his occult writings.
He was a prominent and influential member of several occult
organizations including The Golden Dawn, Argenteum Astrum and
Orde Templi Orientis (OTO).
He was a brilliant student of symbolism and ritual and had at least
four major contacts with Freemasonry as a complete body.
In 1900, in Mexico, Crowley became involved with a Supreme Council
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. This period of Central
American Craft Freemasonry has been described as a chaotic mess;
Masonic bodies springing up and dissolving within a matter of days.
Crowley was supposedly initiated into the 33ºof the Ancient and Accepted
Rite, thus obtaining the title of Grand Inspector General. This
title is actually one of official rank and not a Degree. The 33º is
styled Sovereign Grand Inspector-General and is sparingly conferred
by the Supreme Councils of the recognized jurisdictions. There does
not appear to be any record of this conferment other than his claim
made in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.
In about 1904 he was initiated into Craft Freemasonry in Anglo-
Saxon Lodge No. 343, recognized as of 1954, under the jurisdiction
of the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise in Paris as No.103. At the
time it was under the jurisdiction of the Grande Loge de France and
so was not recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England as a
regular Masonic body.
He was initiated, passed and raised over a period of several months
in 1904. It is suggested but unconfirmed that he was proposed by a
country parson from Oxfordshire.