Discovering Secrets Of The Unlawful Societies Act

This is the first academic study that has been carried out of a neglected subject, undertaking a comprehensive and country-wide analysis of official documents that provide details about 34,000 Freemasons.

Recent research has brought to light, for the first time, a treasure-store of authoritative detailed information about the kind of men who belonged to Freemasonry and the lodges which they formed. Under the terms of the Unlawful Societies Act, Masonic lodge Secretaries were ordered to send to the Court of Quarter Sessions a full list of members, with additional details, every year from 1799 to 1967.

Many of these documents have survived but few of them have been explored in a systematic manner. To start the process of examining them, this book investigates all the surviving documents from lodges in Wales. Although it is a Welsh study, it has important lessons for those who are interested in English social history because many of its discoveries and conclusions apply to both countries.

It describes who belonged to the organisation, where they met and how their lodges grew and shrank.

• Illustrates the important part played by Freemasons in the life of the nation.
• Provides a rich new source of information which will be of deep interest to students of social and masonic history.
• Aids in genealogy and family history research.
• Informs many of the social and economic developments which have taken place in Britain over the past two centuries.

Paperback 400 pages