Joseph Rudyard Kipling

The Mother Lodge

Rudyard Kipling

THERE was Rundle, Station Master,
An' Beazeley of the Rail,
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat,
An' Donkin' o' the Jail;
An' Blake, Conductor-Sergeant,
Our Master twice was 'e,
With im that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.

Outside - " Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!
Inside - 'Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!

We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,
An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,
The Roman Catholick!

We 'adn't good regalia,
An' our Lodge was old an' bare,
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,
An' we kep' 'em to a hair;
An' lookin' on it backwards
It often strikes me thus,
There ain't such things as infidels,
Excep', per'aps, it's us.

For monthly, after Labour,
We'd all sit down and smoke
(We dursn't give no banquits,
Lest a Brother's caste were broke),
An' man on man got talkin'
Religion an' the rest,
An' every man comparin'
Of the God 'e knew the best.

So man on man got talkin',
An' not a Brother stirred
Till mornin' waked the parrots
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird.
We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed,
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.

Full oft on Guv'ment service
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed,
An' bore fraternal greetin's
To the Lodges east an' west,
Accordin' as commanded.
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!

I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
An' the hog-darn passin' down;¹ .
An' the old khansamah snorin' ² .
On the bottle-khana floor, ³ .
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more.

Outside - Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!'
Inside- Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother - Lodge out there!

Cigar-lighter
2.

Butler
3.

Pantry

December 30, 1865 - January 18, 1936

Born in Bombay, India, Rudyard Kipling was educated in England, returning to India in 1882. As a poet, author, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907, he published over 80 stories and ballads. Most of his work celebrated the English Empire and its soldiers in India.

Although only active masonically for a few years, Freemasonry's effect can be noted in many of his works. His autobiography also has a number of references to Freemasonry.

Initiated: April 5, 1886 (by dispensation)
Passed: May 3, 1886
Raised: December 6, 1886
Demitted: March 4, 1889
Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782. E.C.
Lahore, India

Joined: July 8, 1909
Sociata Rosicruciana in Anglia

Honorary Member:
Author's Lodge No. 3456, E.C.
Motherland Lodge No. 3861, E.C.

Founding Member (January, 1922):
The Builders of the Silent Cities Lodge No. 12, St. Omer, France, F.R.

Harry Carr, "Kipling and the Craft." Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. vol. 77, London: 1964. pp. 213-253. Also see: vol. 77, pp. 207-8.

Born in Bombay India, December 30,1865, Rudyard Kipling was educated in England. He received his learning at United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. By 1880, he returned to Lahore, India where he began writing as a sub-editor for "The Civil and Military Gazette". He was just seventeen.

In 1892, he married an American, Caroline Starr Balestier with whom he became acquainted with notable American authors of the day. He received an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 along with one of his contemporaries, Mark Twain. During the same year he was granted the Nobel prize for literature, the first British writer so honoured.

Rudyard Kipling was also a Mason. His writings contain many allusions and references to the Masonic experience. He was made a Mason at Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782 at Lahore Punjab, India on April 5, 1886. It was an English Constitution Lodge. His initiation required special dispensation, because he was only twenty years, two months old at the time. The same evening that he was raised, he was elected secretary of his Lodge so that he recorded his own initiation in the minutes of his Lodge.

A few months later, he delivered a lecture to his Brethren on the "Origin of the Craft First Degree."

He advanced in the Mark Degree in Fidelity Mark Lodge on April 12, 1887 and was elevated in Mt. Ararat Mark Mariners Lodge at Lahore on the same day. He attended an Installation meeting of Independence with Philanthropy Lodge No. 391 at Allahabad, then in Bengal, on December 22, 1887. On March 4, 1889, he demitted from his Craft Lodge and resigned from his other Lodges three months later on June 30, 1889.

Returning to England, he was offered an honorary membership with Author's lodge No. 3456 sometime after its founding in 1910 and with Motherland Lodge No. 3861, London, in 1918. There is no record of him attending either of these Lodges. He was a Founding Member of Builders of the Silent Cities Lodge No. 12, retaining his membership until his death. In 1905, Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge No. 2, Edinburgh, Scotland chose him as poet laureate as they had a previous Brother, Robert Burns. The Philalethes Research Society in North America also lists him as an honourary member although there is no record of any attendence, correspondence or submission of research papers. Kipling joined the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle in May, 1918, remaining a member until his death. Although he paid his dues promptly, there is no record of his attending a meeting. On November 17, 1924 he is recorded as attending Rosemary Lodge No. 2851 E.C., giving his Lodge as Motherland No. 3861.

In 1925, he wrote in the London Times, "I was Secretary for some years of Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782, E.C. Lahore which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was entered by a member of Bramo Somaj, a Hindu; passed by a Mohammedan, and raised by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an Indian Jew. We met, of course, on the level, and the only difference anyone would notice was that at our banquets, some of the Brethren, who were debarred by caste from eating food not ceremonially prepared, sat over empty plates." The Lodge minutes prove the details of his Entry to be wrong and those of Passing are probably wrong also.

A few examples of his poetry can be found at freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/kipling_r/kipling.html

Cf.: Harry Carr, "Kipling and the Craft." Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. vol. 77, London: 1964. pp. 213-253. Also see: vol. 77, pp. 207-8.

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