Aldworth, Mrs. Richard

Aldworth, Mrs. Richard. This lady, who, before her marriage, was Elizabeth St. Leger, was the daughter of Lord Doneraile of County Cork, Ireland. She was born in 1693 and married Richard Aldworth of New Market in 1713. There have long been current in Ireland several versions of the story as to how this young girl, before her marriage, was caught spying on a Masonic lodge and was initiated in order to obligate her to secrecy. As with most sensational or incredible stories, there is some color to this one, and it is certainly most significant that none of the family ever denied the tale and that the Lady Freemason, as she was called, had her picture made showing her clad in Masonic apron and jewels, which picture has hung in many Irish lodge rooms. Moreover, her name appears second and immediately under that of the Grand Master as subscriber to Dassigny’s book, A Serious and Impartial Enquiry etc., which was published in 1744. Also, as with most large tales, there is a serious lapse in this one, which no one seems to have detected. It is not claimed that this lady ever in her life sat in a Masonic lodge of any degree, as she was entitled to do, expected to do and probably obligated to do, if she were a Freemason.

Each variation of the story has its own inconsistencies and anachronisms. All but one seem to agree that the prank occurred before the lady’s marriage in 1713, when she was twenty years old. One version lays the scene in Doneraile Court; another places it at a public inn. One has the girl removing a brick from the lodge room wall; another is equally certain that she secreted herself in a large grandfather’s clock. That Aldworth was initiated is substantiated by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. But it is quick to emphasize this was before there was a Grand Lodge and such action would not have been sanctioned after its formation.

Macoy Collector's Note: The tale of the ”Lady Freemason” remains one of the most famous and debated legends in Irish Masonic history.