FREEMASONS COME OUT OF HIDING IN PUBLIC RECRUITMENT DRIVE
For centuries, their secretive rituals and mysterious handshakes have prompted whispers that, behind the scenes, they are the ones pulling the strings of power.
But it seems that even the society accused of running the world sometimes needs a little help with recruitment, for the Freemasons have started advertising on Facebook.
Lodges across the country are now paying to entice new members as numbers dwindle at the 300-year-old brotherhood.
Traditionally, the “world’s largest secret society” does not actively recruit members.
While each lodge has its own rules, in general, a new member must be a man of good character who believes in a “Supreme Being” and is willing to take an oath of loyalty to the brotherhood and its principles. On many occasions, recruits are recommended by existing masons.
But nowadays, according to an advert for Buckinghamshire Freemasons: “The door is open … Don’t wait to be asked.”
They are one of eight lodges across England that have taken out adverts on Facebook calling for people to “join the Brotherhood” since the beginning of December last year.
In West Sussex, they have created a version of the Lord Kitchener wartime poster with the words “Fiscian Lodge needs you”.
“Are you looking for a new social circle?” the accompanying message asks. “Steeped in tradition, but focused on the modern community? Fiscian Lodge of Freemasons would love to meet you.”
Other online adverts have appealed to the men they target to “be part of something positive” and boast that it is “easy to join”.
Some of the videos include symbols of the craft, including a member walking down the “mosaic pavement”, a black and white chequered floor which represents the duality of good and evil and the path of moral choice.
Many of their rituals and symbols date back to the Middle Ages, when stonemasons started the fraternity, and the first Grand Lodge was formed in the early 18th century.
As it opened up to members outside the profession, the number of lodges grew, and in the 20th century, the aftermath of both world wars saw an explosion in numbers.
Famous Freemasons have included Sir Winston Churchill, members of the Royal family, among them King George VI and Prince Philip, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde.
But membership numbers have dropped to about 170,000 in England and Wales, down from 225,000 two decades ago, according to data published by the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).
Any potential recruits will probably wish to consider what they want their employers to know, as a new policy by the Metropolitan Police forces officers to declare their membership. UGLE is currently suing the force in an attempt to get an injunction blocking the move.
In an article on “forging a thriving future” published in 2023, UGLE, the governing body for Freemasons in England and Wales, wrote that the “losses are not coming from where you would think”.
“Although we are, on average, an older organisation, death in this situation is not the enemy,” the piece explained. “We lose far too many members to resignation, cessation and exclusions, including those who quietly drift away. It almost completely negates all the excellent work we have done in bringing new initiates into the Craft and our membership challenge is to close this gap.”
They said they needed to “increase initiations by 46 per cent or reduce resignations accordingly” in order for the society to thrive.
At UGLE, 17 per cent of recruits left within three years and in some lodges that number rose to 30 per cent, they said.
The reasons for the drop in membership have been debated. Some say it is symptomatic of the decline in voluntary organisations overall.
Others claim that it is the refusal to let women join the lodges, although they are now allowed to join one of two women-only Freemason organisations.
John Dickie, a historian at University College London and author of The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World, told American radio station NPR that it could be linked to the fact that the “secrecy has lost something of its magic”.
“Maybe, we’ve become a little bit fatigued by the whole exposé draw, and in an age when it can take two minutes or less on Google to find out what the Freemasons’ secrets really are, I’m not sure that they can really hold that much mystique for members anymore,” he said.
“It’s a trick that they’ve played with great success since 1717 or even before. One wonders what success it will have in the coming decades.”
Adrian Marsh, grand secretary of the UGLE, told The Telegraph: “Freemasonry has embraced multiple forms of communications and technology to reach new audiences.”
Their first-ever national digital marketing campaign was launched on Facebook in 2021, and repeated a year later, with more than 1,000 new members signing up as a result.
The new approach includes paid social media campaigns, engaging with the media and even launching a podcast as they are “dedicated to improving public perception of Freemasonry and addressing misconceptions”.
Part of that new “openness and transparency” has been demonstrated by engagement with the media over plans to sue the Metropolitan Police for the decision to force officers to declare they are members of the organisation, Mr Marsh said.
“All these areas, and many others, are being utilised to demonstrate Freemasonry’s relevance in the digital world,” he added.
“A key element to all of the work being conducted is to present Freemasonry as enjoyable, traditional, fun and uniquely placed to offer something that very few other membership organisations can: a fully inclusive, non-political, secular environment, where individuals are treated equally, regardless of their race, religion, sexuality, or social background.”
2026-01-10T07:00:47Z