A search through the archives of the Royal Society has provided us with new information regarding the claim that Sir Christopher Wren was initiated into Freemasonry in London on May 18th 1691. This claim was advanced in a handwritten note added to the manuscript of John Aubrey's Naturall Historie of Wiltshire, 1685 now in the Bodleian library at Oxford.
"MDM, this day ( may 1691 the 18th. Being Monday after Rogation Sunday) is a great convention at St. Pauls' church of the fraternity of the Accepted[ 'free' being struck out] masons where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted a brother: and Sir Henry Goodric of ye tower, & divers ['several' being struck out] others - and there have been kings, that have been of this -Sodalitie."
Of those who have studied the text, Clarke in ARS Quatour Coronatorum , 1965, concluded that Wren was "almost certainly a freemason. John Hamill, in 1986, in his book "THE CRAFT," is more cautious, concluding that however possible it might be, "it is not proven". As we will show, the text can now be accorded a greater degree of veracity. To understand this it is necessary to look at the history of John Aubrey's manuscript.
Fraternally, Philip Carter / Facebook / Great is Truth and mighty above all things (I Esdras 4:41)