Bro. William James Hughan



Bro. William James Hughan, was an author in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Born 1841 and initiated in Lodge St. Aubyn No. 954, Devonport, in 1863 he joined Phoenix Lodge 331 in Truro in 1864 and Fortitude Lodge 131 also in Truro, in 1866. He served as WM of the latter in 1868 and again in 1878. He was exalted in Glasgow Chapter No. 50 (SC) of Holy Royal Arch in 1865, and joined Kilwinning Chapter No. 80 (SC) in Ayr in 1868, of which he became First Principal in 1873. An Honorary Member of many Home and Foreign Lodges and Societies,he was in 1880 made Honorary Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, an honour from which he withdrew in 1886.

In 1876 Hughan was granted the Rank of Past Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Egypt, and was Grand Representative of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania from 1872.

Besides holding Past Rank as Grand Secretary in his own Province of Cornwall, he was, in acknowledgment of his Masonic researches granted the rank of Past Senior Grand Deacon of England in 1874. At the same time he declined Past Rank in Grand Chapter, which he later accepted in 1883, as Past Assistant Grand Sojourner.

Hughan was the editor of the Devon and Cornwall Masonic Calendar between 1865 and 1868; founder and editor of the Cornwall Masonic Directory between 1870 and 1887, and in addition to innumerable communications to the Masonic journals in both hemispheres, the author of the following works (all now out of print):

Constitutions of the Freemasons (1869)
History of Freemasonry in York, (Kingston Masonic Annual, 1871), and Unpublished Records of the Craft, in one volume, as Masonic Sketches, (1871)
Old Charges of the British Freemasons, (1872).
Memorials of the Masonic Union of December, (1813)(1874)
Numerical and Medallic Masonic Register, (1878)
Origin of the English Rite of Freemasonry, (1884)
and numerous pamphlets.

He was a frequent lecturer on Masonic History and Biblical Archaeology.

"FREEMASONRY IN THE 1600s AND EARLY 1700sby  Bro. William J. Hughan