Your “Talkback” piece of July 2 (about a head who appointed a fellow mason) is a sorry tale. If the facts are correct then the head concerned was not only guilty of unethical professional conduct but also broke a fundamental rule of freemasonry.
Through the process of becoming a freemason it is impressed on new members that any attempt to use their membership to gain advantage for themselves or anyone else is wholly contrary to our principles and rules. Any attempt to do so will result in Masonic disciplinary proceeedings taking place, with penalties from an admonition through suspension of membership to explusion.
I am not so naive to believe that it has never happened. With a membership of over 250,000 in England and Wales it is almost bound to happen.
We do, however, take such allegations very seriously and when a complaint is made a formal investigation always takes place. It is open to your anonymous writer to make such a complaint, which will be treated in strict confidence, to the Masonic authority in hisher area.
J M Hamill
Director of communications
United Grand Lodge of England
Freemasons’ Hall
Great Queen Street
London WC2
