West-Kent-Discover-booklet-2021 - Flipbook - Page 9
“I have always believed
that respect is earned –
and am always moved
by how Freemasons
find so many ways
to demonstrate their
respect and friendship,
to each other and in
everyday life.”
MARTIN
CRAYFORD LODGE
Our members are proud to be Freemasons,
and they are encouraged to talk openly about
what the organisation does and what it means
to be part of it.
FEMALE FREEMASONS
There are two female-only Grand Lodges, the
Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons (HFAF)
and the Order of Women Freemasons (OWF). The HFAF
and OWF follow exactly the same ritual and wear the
same regalia as male Freemasons – and they often work
closely with community and charity projects.
Female Freemasons Annie Besant and Charlotte Despard
were prominent figures in the push for universal
suffrage in the early twentieth century. Besant was a
British theosophist and women’s rights activist who also
established the first UK lodge of the International Order
of Co-Freemasonry (Le Droit Humain) in 1902. Despard,
an Anglo-Irish suffragist, pacifist and novelist, was a
founding member of various reformist organisations
whose presence lives on today in the North London pub
named in her honour.
9