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Bro. George Oliver's Alienation from Masonry
Bro. George Oliver's Alienation from Masonry
Excerpts from a Lecture
Delivered under the Auspices of the Grand Master of Massachusetts, Masonic Temple, Boston,
By Brother Roscoe Pound, Professor of Jurisprudence in Harvard University.
Printed in the March 1915, Volume 1, No. 3 of the
The Builder Magazine.
Bro. Roscoe Pound writes:
"Unhappily Oliver's views of Masonic law were not in accord with those which prevailed in England in 1840. In consequence when in that year Dr. Crucefix, one of the most distinguished of nineteenth-century English Masons, was suspended by the Grand Lodge and retired from Masonic activity. Oliver also incurred the displeasure of the authorities by claiming the right, though a Provincial Deputy Grand Master, to take part in a public demonstration in honor of Crucefix, in which a large number of prominent Masons joined. This led to his losing his office by the action of the Provincial Grand Master and to his withdrawing from active connection with the Craft. But English Masons soon came to see the soundness of Oliver's views as to the independence which Masonry must allow to the individual in his belief and opinion as to what is Masonic law. Accordingly, four years later nearly all the Masons in the kingdom joined in subscribing for a presentation of plate to Oliver in recognition of his great services to the Craft. But justice was not done to Oliver as it was to Preston possibly because Oliver was not the type of man to urge it for himself as Preston would have done. In consequence Oliver was out of touch with active Masonic work for the last twenty-two years of his life."
"George Oliver was born at Pepplewick in the county of Nottingham, November 5, 1782. His father was a clergyman of the established church, and his mother was the daughter of a country gentleman. Hence, he had the advantage of being brought up under conditions of culture and refinement. He was educated at Nottingham and made such progress that at twenty-one he was made second master of the grammar school at Caistor in Lincolnshire. Six years later he was made headmaster of King Edward's grammar school at Great Grimsby. In 1813 he took orders but continued to teach. In 1815 he was given a living by his bishop as the result of an examination and at the same time, as the phrase was, was put on the boards of Trinity College, Cambridge, as a so-called ten-year man. That is, he was given ten years in which to earn his degree. Thus in 1836 he was able to take his degree of Doctor of Divinity. In the meantime, he was successively promoted to parishes of more and more importance till he became rector of Wolverhampton and prebendary of the collegiate church. In 1846 the lord chancellor gave him an easier and more lucrative living. He died in 1866 at the age of eighty-four."
"Beginning in 1811 Oliver was a diligent student of and a prolific writer upon antiquities, particularly ecclesiastical antiquities and his writings soon brought him a high reputation as an antiquary. It is worthwhile to give a list of the more important of these books since taken in connection with the long list of his Masonic writings it will afford some idea of his diligence and activity. I give only those which have been considered the more important."
1. History and Antiquities of the Collegiate Church of Beverley. 2. History and Antiquities of the Collegiate Church of Wolverhampton. 3. History of the Conventual Church of Grimsby. 4. Monumental Antiquities of Grimsby. 5. History of the Guild of the Holy Trinity, Sleaford. 6. Druidical Remains near Lincoln. 7. Guide to the Druidical Temple at Nottingham 8. Remains of the Ancient Britons between Lincoln and Sleaford.
"To these must be added a great mass of papers and notes on antiquarian matters published between 1811 and 1866. And be it remembered the author was, while most of these were writing, a teacher studying during his leisure hours in preparation for orders and later for his degree and when the remainder were written was rector of an important parish, a magistrate, a surrogate for the bishopric of Lincoln and a steward of the clerical fund for his diocese. This sounds like one man's work and a good measure at that. To it, however, we have to add a Masonic literary career even more fruitful and more enduring in its results."
Bro. Roscoe Pound adds:
"Oliver was made a Mason at the age of nineteen. This statement, startling to the modern Masonic ear, requires explanation. As Masonic usage then stood a "lewis," that is the son of a Mason, might be initiated by dispensation before he came of age. The privileges of a lewis have never been defined clearly. He was supposed to have a right of initiation in precedence over all other candidates. Also, in England and France he was supposed to have the right to be initiated at an earlier age, namely eighteen. The constitutions are silent on this point, but the traditional custom was to grant a dispensation in the case of a lewis after that age. It is hard to say how far this right has ever been obtained in America. At present it is not recognized. But there is evidence that it was obtained in the eighteenth century as, for example, in the case of George Washington who was initiated at the age of twenty. At any rate Oliver became a Mason in this way at the age of nineteen being initiated by his father in St. Peters Lodge at Peterborough in 1801."
"Oliver's father was a zealous and well-informed Mason and a ritualist of the literal school, that is of the type who regard literal expertness in ritual as the unum necessarium [one necessary thing] in Masonry. Accordingly, Oliver was thoroughly trained on this side--which indeed is indispensable not only to Masonic advancement but, I suspect, to Masonic scholarship--and as a result of his thorough knowledge of the work and his tireless activity his rise in the Craft was rapid."
"In 1809 Oliver established a lodge at Grimsby where he was the master of the grammar school and chiefly by his exertions the lodge became strong and prosperous. He was master of that lodge fourteen years. Thence successively he became Provincial Grand Steward (1813); Grand Chaplain (1816); and Deputy Grand Master of Lincolnshire (1832). The latter office he held for eight years. It should be remembered that the post of Provincial Grand Master was reserved in England for the nobility. It is interesting to know in passing that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts gave him the honorary title of Past Deputy Grand Master."
The list of Oliver's Masonic writings is very long. He is the most prolific of Masonic authors and, on the whole, has had the widest influence. He began by publishing several Masonic sermons but presently as one may suspect by way of revolt from the mechanical ritualistic Masonry to which, as it were, he had been bred he turned his attention to the history and subsequently to the philosophy of the Craft.
His first historical work is the well-known "Antiquities of Free Masonry: comprising illustrations of the five grand periods of Masonry from the creation of the world to the dedication of King Solomon's temple." This was published in 1823.
Then followed in order:
2. The Star in the East, his first philosophical work, designed to show the relation of Masonry to religion.
According to Pound: "Probably no one not by profession a writer can show such a list, bearing in mind how many of the foregoing are books of the first order in their class."
Bro. Pound concludes: "In consequence to his losing his office by the action of the Provincial Grand Master and to his withdrawing from active connection with the Craft, Oliver was out of touch with active Masonic work for the last twenty-two years of his life. That this was in no way due to improper obstinacy on his part is, I think, manifest from merely looking at his portrait — which radiates benevolence and amiability. Moreover, all accounts of his personality agree with the impression one gets from the portrait. All accounts bear witness to his lovableness, his geniality, his charitableness, and his readiness to oblige. All who have written of him testify that he was to the highest degree unassuming, unaffected, and easy of approach. That such men as Krause and Oliver should suffer from the jealousies which greater knowledge seems to engender in those who regard ability to recite the ritual with microscopic fidelity as the sum of Masonry is not wholly to be wondered at. The breadth which such knowledge inevitably brings about threatens the very foundations of the literalism which the strongest men in our lodges have been taught or have taught themselves is the essence of the institution. But it is strange and is an unhappy commentary upon human nature that the arrogant, ambitious Preston could at length obtain justice which was denied to Krause and to Oliver."
