Born the Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger, she was known in her time as "The Lady Freemason", and was the first recorded woman to be initiated into Regular Freemasonry.
Aldworth was the daughter of Arthur St. Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile and 1st Baron Kilmayden of Doneraile Court, County Cork, Ireland. She was married in 1713 to Richard Aldworth, Esq. Nothing else of her life is known between her initiation into Freemasonry as a young girl and her death almost sixty years later.
The tradition of Aldworth's initiation is that Aldworth had fallen asleep while reading on a dim winter evening in the library, which was located next to the room in which the Lodge was meeting. In consequence of construction going on in the library, she was woken by the voices she heard next door, and the light shining through the loose brickwork. She removed some of the bricks and watched the proceedings. when she understood the solemnity of the proceedings, she wished to retreat, but was caught by the Lodge Tyler, who was also the family butler. Realizing her predicament, she screamed and fainted. The tyler summoned the Brethren (among them her father), and they ultimately decided to initiate her into the Lodge.
Aldworth was the daughter of Arthur St. Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile and 1st Baron Kilmayden of Doneraile Court, County Cork, Ireland. She was married in 1713 to Richard Aldworth, Esq. Nothing else of her life is known between her initiation into Freemasonry as a young girl and her death almost sixty years later.
The tradition of Aldworth's initiation is that Aldworth had fallen asleep while reading on a dim winter evening in the library, which was located next to the room in which the Lodge was meeting. In consequence of construction going on in the library, she was woken by the voices she heard next door, and the light shining through the loose brickwork. She removed some of the bricks and watched the proceedings. when she understood the solemnity of the proceedings, she wished to retreat, but was caught by the Lodge Tyler, who was also the family butler. Realizing her predicament, she screamed and fainted. The tyler summoned the Brethren (among them her father), and they ultimately decided to initiate her into the Lodge.
Born the Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger, she was known in her time as "The Lady Freemason", and was the first recorded woman to be initiated into Regular Freemasonry.
Aldworth was the daughter of Arthur St. Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile and 1st Baron Kilmayden of Doneraile Court, County Cork, Ireland. She was married in 1713 to Richard Aldworth, Esq. Nothing else of her life is known between her initiation into Freemasonry as a young girl and her death almost sixty years later.
The tradition of Aldworth's initiation is that Aldworth had fallen asleep while reading on a dim winter evening in the library, which was located next to the room in which the Lodge was meeting. In consequence of construction going on in the library, she was woken by the voices she heard next door, and the light shining through the loose brickwork. She removed some of the bricks and watched the proceedings. when she understood the solemnity of the proceedings, she wished to retreat, but was caught by the Lodge Tyler, who was also the family butler. Realizing her predicament, she screamed and fainted. The tyler summoned the Brethren (among them her father), and they ultimately decided to initiate her into the Lodge.
Aldworth was the daughter of Arthur St. Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile and 1st Baron Kilmayden of Doneraile Court, County Cork, Ireland. She was married in 1713 to Richard Aldworth, Esq. Nothing else of her life is known between her initiation into Freemasonry as a young girl and her death almost sixty years later.
The tradition of Aldworth's initiation is that Aldworth had fallen asleep while reading on a dim winter evening in the library, which was located next to the room in which the Lodge was meeting. In consequence of construction going on in the library, she was woken by the voices she heard next door, and the light shining through the loose brickwork. She removed some of the bricks and watched the proceedings. when she understood the solemnity of the proceedings, she wished to retreat, but was caught by the Lodge Tyler, who was also the family butler. Realizing her predicament, she screamed and fainted. The tyler summoned the Brethren (among them her father), and they ultimately decided to initiate her into the Lodge.
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
