R.W.Bro. Dr. W.J. Chetwode Crawley
Past Senior Grand Warden
R.W.Bro. W.J. Chetwode Crawley
15th November, 1843 - 13th March, 1916 |
RIGHT Worshipful Brother Dr. William John Chetwode Crawley, who has taken a very prominent part in educational work and in the cause of education generally in Ireland, was born on 15th November, 1843. His father was William Crawley, of Manficldstown, formerly of Bedfordshire, who married Margaret Brown Crawley, of Friar's Croft, Irvine, Scotland, and he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. with First Class Honours. |
For many years Bro. Chetwode Crawley was Director of the wcll-known Dublin Military Classes, and for a period of more than twenty years he was a member of the Academic Council elected to co-operate with the Board of Trinity College in the government of the University of Dublin. Amongst other important functions discharged by him, he acted for years as Chairman of the Dublin Council of Teachers' Guild of Great Britain and Ireland, and as a member of the Council of the Classical Association, of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and of various other Societies, while he held several Civic appointments in the City and County of Dublin, credentials not often associated in the same person.
Bro. Chetwode Crawley was initiated in 1873 in the Scientific Lodge, No. 250, Dublin, Irish Constitution, which was merged in the Trinity College Lodge, No. 357, Dublin, at the consecration of the latter in 1874, of which latter Lodge he was a Founder. After serving in each office he was installed Master. He was also a Founder of the Chetwode Crawley Lodge, No. 395, Dublin, consecrated in 1905, and named in his honour. In 1887 he became a member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, London, in which he is member of the Permanent Committee and an officer for the current year. In 1881 he was appointed Grand Inner Guard of Ireland, served each progressive office up to and including that of Senior Grand Deacon, and was elected Grand Treasurer in 1904, to which office he has been re-elected each year up to the present time. lie is also a Past Grand Secretary of the Grain! Lodge of Instruction, with twelve years' service to his credit.
As a Royal Arch Mason he was exalted in the University Chapter. No. 33, Dublin, in 1874, in which he filled all the minor offices and was installed First Principal. In the Grand Chapter of Ireland he ranks as a Past Grand Registrar of the Grand Chapter of Instruction.
In the Mark Master Masons' Degree he was advanced in the University Chapter, No. 33, filled the usual offices and was installed Master.
Without going into the various details as to minor offices, it may be as well to record that in the Order of the High Knight Templars of Ireland he ranks as Past Great Chancellor of the Great Priory, a Grand Commander of the Temple, and an officer of the Great Preceptory of Instruction of Ireland. In the Order of Prince Masons of Ireland, he is Secretary of the Furnell Chapter, No. 4, Dublin; Grand Secretary General, and Keeper of the Archives, of the Grand Chapter of Ireland, and Grand Chancellor of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite for Ireland, the most exclusive Body to be found in the Freemasonry of Ireland, which claims to perpetuate the High Degrees of the period antecedent to the foundation of the American Supreme Councils.
Quite a number of Honorary Memberships have been bestowed upon him, some of high rank, as a compliment to his literary work for Freemasonry. Amongst these may be mentioned Honorary Member of the York Lodge, No. 236, York, English Constitution, and the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, Edinburgh, Scottish Constitution; Honorary Past Senior Grand Warden of British Columbia; of Ohio, U.S.A.; Iowa. U.S.A.; and the Federal District of Columbia, U.S.A.; also an Honorary Member of some six or seven Masonic Veterans Associations in the Old and New Worlds. Not the least remarkable tribute to his wide reputation is the celebrated Medal struck in his honour by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, and justly regarded as a triumph of the engravers' art.
In his personal capacity, he is a Vice-Patron of the Masonic Female Orphan School, Dublin, Vice-Patron of the Masonic Orphan Boys' School, Dublin, and a Life Governor of the Victoria Jubilee Masonic Annuity Fund of Ireland, besides exercising innumerable official votes.
From a very early period in his Masonic life, Bro. Dr. Chetwodc Crawley applied himself, with an amount of industry and perseverance which has never been surpassed and rarely equalled by any student of the Craft, to an investigation of the real History of Freemasonry in Ireland. For this purpose it was essential to exhume old records and documents, to re-discover old and forgotten books, and withal to present the results of such long continued and happily conducted research in a guise that would ensure their meeting with the close and immediate attention of the critics and scholars of Freemasonry. All this was done in a most pleasant and seductive manner, and placed before his listeners and readers in sound arguments framed in convincing language. His productions as an author cover a wide field, and it might be urged that he has touched every possible topic that Freemasonry suggests or presents. The three handsome volumes of "Caementaria Hibernica," published respectively in 1895, 1896 and 1900, arc not only a splendid record of Irish Freemasonry, but they also cast a strong and much needed light on a variety of matters that were previously obscure in Masonic history. Other matters from his pen are " The Wesleys and Freemasonry," "The Craft and its Orphans in the XVIII. Century," and " Masonic Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library." Bro. Robert Freke Gould, the eminent Masonic Historian, who thus wrote of Bro. Dr. Crawley, also said : "The Essays from his pen have been mainly given to the world in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge ('Ars Quatuor Coronatorum'), and may be classed among the choicest specimens of Masonic learning and research which are to be met with in that famous repository." Non-Masonic works from his pen include " The Handbook of Open Competition" (10th edition) and the Editorship of "The Open Competition Handbooks " in Latin, French and other languages, also of several accredited educational works.
Bro. Dr. Chetwode Crawley is a Doctor of both Civil and Canon Law in more than one of our Universities, but his Alma Mater is Trinity College, Dublin, of which he has been a conspicuous member for nearly half a century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, of the Royal Historical Society, and of many other learned Societies at home and abroad.
He married Ellen M., daughter of John M'Carthy, formerly of Desart Serges, Coun Cork, and has four sons. His eldest son is the distinguished Ophthalmic Surgeon, Dr. Frank C. Crawley, of Dublin; and his youngest, Major Chetwode Crawley, R.A., Chief of the Imperial Wireless Telegraph Commission, 1913-1915.
He resides at Merton Park, Sandford, County Dublin, and is a member of the University Club, Dublin, New Oxford and Cambridge Club, London, and the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Kingstown.
Bro. Chetwode Crawley was initiated in 1873 in the Scientific Lodge, No. 250, Dublin, Irish Constitution, which was merged in the Trinity College Lodge, No. 357, Dublin, at the consecration of the latter in 1874, of which latter Lodge he was a Founder. After serving in each office he was installed Master. He was also a Founder of the Chetwode Crawley Lodge, No. 395, Dublin, consecrated in 1905, and named in his honour. In 1887 he became a member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, London, in which he is member of the Permanent Committee and an officer for the current year. In 1881 he was appointed Grand Inner Guard of Ireland, served each progressive office up to and including that of Senior Grand Deacon, and was elected Grand Treasurer in 1904, to which office he has been re-elected each year up to the present time. lie is also a Past Grand Secretary of the Grain! Lodge of Instruction, with twelve years' service to his credit.
As a Royal Arch Mason he was exalted in the University Chapter. No. 33, Dublin, in 1874, in which he filled all the minor offices and was installed First Principal. In the Grand Chapter of Ireland he ranks as a Past Grand Registrar of the Grand Chapter of Instruction.
In the Mark Master Masons' Degree he was advanced in the University Chapter, No. 33, filled the usual offices and was installed Master.
Without going into the various details as to minor offices, it may be as well to record that in the Order of the High Knight Templars of Ireland he ranks as Past Great Chancellor of the Great Priory, a Grand Commander of the Temple, and an officer of the Great Preceptory of Instruction of Ireland. In the Order of Prince Masons of Ireland, he is Secretary of the Furnell Chapter, No. 4, Dublin; Grand Secretary General, and Keeper of the Archives, of the Grand Chapter of Ireland, and Grand Chancellor of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite for Ireland, the most exclusive Body to be found in the Freemasonry of Ireland, which claims to perpetuate the High Degrees of the period antecedent to the foundation of the American Supreme Councils.
Quite a number of Honorary Memberships have been bestowed upon him, some of high rank, as a compliment to his literary work for Freemasonry. Amongst these may be mentioned Honorary Member of the York Lodge, No. 236, York, English Constitution, and the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, Edinburgh, Scottish Constitution; Honorary Past Senior Grand Warden of British Columbia; of Ohio, U.S.A.; Iowa. U.S.A.; and the Federal District of Columbia, U.S.A.; also an Honorary Member of some six or seven Masonic Veterans Associations in the Old and New Worlds. Not the least remarkable tribute to his wide reputation is the celebrated Medal struck in his honour by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, and justly regarded as a triumph of the engravers' art.
In his personal capacity, he is a Vice-Patron of the Masonic Female Orphan School, Dublin, Vice-Patron of the Masonic Orphan Boys' School, Dublin, and a Life Governor of the Victoria Jubilee Masonic Annuity Fund of Ireland, besides exercising innumerable official votes.
From a very early period in his Masonic life, Bro. Dr. Chetwodc Crawley applied himself, with an amount of industry and perseverance which has never been surpassed and rarely equalled by any student of the Craft, to an investigation of the real History of Freemasonry in Ireland. For this purpose it was essential to exhume old records and documents, to re-discover old and forgotten books, and withal to present the results of such long continued and happily conducted research in a guise that would ensure their meeting with the close and immediate attention of the critics and scholars of Freemasonry. All this was done in a most pleasant and seductive manner, and placed before his listeners and readers in sound arguments framed in convincing language. His productions as an author cover a wide field, and it might be urged that he has touched every possible topic that Freemasonry suggests or presents. The three handsome volumes of "Caementaria Hibernica," published respectively in 1895, 1896 and 1900, arc not only a splendid record of Irish Freemasonry, but they also cast a strong and much needed light on a variety of matters that were previously obscure in Masonic history. Other matters from his pen are " The Wesleys and Freemasonry," "The Craft and its Orphans in the XVIII. Century," and " Masonic Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library." Bro. Robert Freke Gould, the eminent Masonic Historian, who thus wrote of Bro. Dr. Crawley, also said : "The Essays from his pen have been mainly given to the world in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge ('Ars Quatuor Coronatorum'), and may be classed among the choicest specimens of Masonic learning and research which are to be met with in that famous repository." Non-Masonic works from his pen include " The Handbook of Open Competition" (10th edition) and the Editorship of "The Open Competition Handbooks " in Latin, French and other languages, also of several accredited educational works.
Bro. Dr. Chetwode Crawley is a Doctor of both Civil and Canon Law in more than one of our Universities, but his Alma Mater is Trinity College, Dublin, of which he has been a conspicuous member for nearly half a century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, of the Royal Historical Society, and of many other learned Societies at home and abroad.
He married Ellen M., daughter of John M'Carthy, formerly of Desart Serges, Coun Cork, and has four sons. His eldest son is the distinguished Ophthalmic Surgeon, Dr. Frank C. Crawley, of Dublin; and his youngest, Major Chetwode Crawley, R.A., Chief of the Imperial Wireless Telegraph Commission, 1913-1915.
He resides at Merton Park, Sandford, County Dublin, and is a member of the University Club, Dublin, New Oxford and Cambridge Club, London, and the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Kingstown.
Bro. W.J. Chetwode Crawley was held in such high esteem by the Lodge of Research No. CC that at the first meeting of the Lodge after its Constitution, held at Freemasons' Hall, Molesworth Street on the 30th October, 1914 "in recognition of his many learned works upon the History of Irish Freemasonry, was elected the first Honorary Member of the Lodge".
Also on his death in 1916 Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 said of its esteemed member "William John Chetwode Crawley (1844-1916) was facile princeps the most brilliant of the Lodge's list of sixty-five members. Practically the whole of his Masonic writings were contributed to the pages of the Transactions, and these in themselves are sufficient to stamp the "Ars" as a publication of the highest literary merit. His fluent writing was inspired by a genius and grace of style which enabled his erudite scholarship to be appreciated by all. Everything that he wrote is readable and worth reading, and his contributions on subjects relating to Ireland have done much to place the history of the craft in that somewhat distressful country on a sure basis. His three fasciculi of "Csementaria Hibernica" cannot possibly be disregarded by any Masonic student, and at once established our brother's reputation as an author and historian. He was a delightful correspondent, and although I do not know that he was of Irish blood, his long residence in that country inspired his utterances with the charm of the educated classes of that island. There is no need here to tabulate his writings, as a reference to the appendix will show both their wide range and frequency".