- By Trev Teasdel
A Pyramid on Roseberry Topping – Pagodas –
Obelisks, Captain Cook and Freemasonry
It sounds like something out of the Da Vinci Code with its mysterious early proposals of pyramids and obelisks but these occurrences happened long before that book was written. That these events happened on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors and not the exotic locations of the Dan Brown novel, make it all the more unbelievable!
I never set out to explore this mystery, it was purely an offshoot of other work, but one thing led to another and I became intrigued. I can’t claim, however, to have got all the answers and proofs, but there’s enough to state a case and provide a reason for further research I believe. It is not the intention of the this article to engage with current conspiracy theories, but rather follows on from local history research connected to Stokesley born Printer Publisher Poet Author People's historian and Freemason - George Markham Tweddell.
(ALSO SEE FEEDBACK FROM CAPTAIN COOK'S SOCIETY AND A COMPARISON WITH STOODLEY PIKE IN TODMORDEN IN THE ARTICLE BELOW)
James Cook and the Wapping Dundee Arms Lodge
More recently I found an article on the Captain Cook Society website which, although not relevant (so I thought) was interesting. Geoff King tried to find a connection between Commodore William Christopher and James Cook. An apparent association was revealed in a Church in Stockton on Tees -
http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu41159.htm Given the mystery of how they had become friends, I suspected there might be a Masonic friendship link but totally without any evidence. I never mentioned it to anyone but a while later I came across some further develops on the site which were most interesting and this time of some relevancy to this thesis. The bullet points below summerise some of the main points of the article.
On this page http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu41166.htm Derek Morris and Ken Cozens of the Captain Cook Society reveal (most interestingly) that - that
Perhaps it’s still not proven that Cook was a Freemason himself but the strong connections are obvious and the involvement of the Stockton Masonic lodge should be borne in mind for what follows. All of that might be sufficient justification for the lodge to campaign for a local memorial to Cook such as an obelisk.In a recent e mail exchange with Malcolm Chase, Professor of Social History at Leeds University who had been feeding back to us in our research in George Markham Tweddell (GMT), suggested that "that if James Cook was a Mason, I'd be surprised if it hasn't been verified by now" and "Freemasonry had strong support among officers in the armed forces, so in a sense it might be surprising if it could be proved Cook was not a member. And perhaps uniquely among the founding fathers of the imperial project, James Cook still retains a reputation as a scientist and intellectual, which would recommend him to a strong local patriot like GMT, even if there were not a masonic link."
This was exciting! The idle fancy that there might be a connection between exotic events in Paris and the outback of the North Yorkshire Moors didn’t seem so far fetched now! We are also clearly back to pyramids and obelisks. There was something there!!
John Brewster Proposes a Monument
The book tells us that the Rev John Brewster, in a published letter in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1787 under the
name of ‘Cleveland’ first proposed a monument to James Cook to erect near Marton in Cleveland (his birth place).
Radicalism in Stokesley in the 1820's
Alice Barrigan in an article Radicalism in Stokesley in the 1820’s on the Jakesbarn site http://jakesbarn.co.uk/content/view/58/36/ gives us a good insight into the political climate of the times.but much of it, I'm reliably informed, derives from earlier works by Daphe Franks Printing and Publishing in Stokesley 1985 and Malcolme Chase's 'Atheists and Republicans in early nineteenth-century Cleveland', Bulletin of the Cleveland and Teesside Local History Society 47, pp. 29-36, 1984
The article describes the first of two Paper Wars in Stokesley (the second occurring in the 1840’s around George Markham Tweddell’s radical paper which you can read about on this site http://www.tweddellhistory.co.uk/
We learn that on Monday 2 June 1822 employer Thomas Mease gave a speech at a Wesleyan Methodist Missionary meeting attacking Robert Armstrong - a radical bookseller. This began the first Stokesley Paper War.
Mease later published his speech and commented "I was exceedingly amused, Sir, by the way in which the birth-day of Paine was lately kept in this Town," He claimed that the principal objects embraced by their vain were probably the subversion of Christianity and Monarchy, and the substitution of a Republican government, together with what they strangely reckon a scientific morality.
Robert Armstrong, a bookseller in Stokesley who stocked radical (and at the time illegal copies of authors such as Thomas Paine, Carlile, Rousseau,) responded with his own newspaper - 'The Missionary; or Stokesley & Cleveland Illuminator' while Thomas Mease responded with The Extinguisher.
“The war of words between Mease and Armstrong in Stokesley was a small part of the great conflict then raging between the forces of conservatism in religion and politics and an increasingly vocal radical movement calling for political reform and open religious debate.”
Ill-feeling between the factions of free-thought and religious orthodoxy may have been brewing for some time in Stokesley. Armstrong was a leader of the local Zetetic Society (a society of Freethinkers) and was responding to Carlile's plea from prison for volunteers to carry on disseminating his works to the public. In 1822 and 1823 Armstrong was openly selling 'The Age of Reason' in Stokesley. Carlile was sentenced in November 1819 to a term of three years' imprisonment with a very heavy fine for publishing Thomas Paine's 'The Age of Reason', which had been banned in 1797 for its attack on organised Christianity and its advocacy of a deistic religion based on reason and logic. Robert Armstrong was an anti-clerical deist, democrat and republican, who followed with interest democrat and republican, who followed with interest the latest developments in scientific and political thought.
During the Napoleonic Wars, in Stokesley, Barrigan tells us, ‘many weavers brought to the town the independent and enquiring minds for which they were well-known.’ Some of the characters, such as John Appleton and Henry Heavisides, associated also with Stockton were in Stokesley at this time. Appleton reported – “A few of the lovers of Civil and Religious Freedom, met in this Town, on the Evening of the 29th of January, to celebrate the Anniversary of the Birthday of Mr Paine.” Heavisides was apprenticed to William Pratt – the printers in Stokesley and later in Stockton (as Tweddell notes) was ‘a warm supporter of Reform’. In Heavisides Annals of Stockton it is clear he was also a Freemason. It’s not clear if Heavisides was involved with these events in Stokesley but there are clear social networks between the towns.
Conclusions
From an idle curiosity we have established that there were significant ‘coincidences’ in the date 1827 and its relation to the establishment of obelisks and a ‘coincidence’ of proposals for (or establishment) of Egyptian artifacts such as Obelisks and pyramids both in France, America and the North Yorkshire Moors. Circumstantial evidence at least that Cook was either a Freemason or at least closely associated with them and that John Brewster was too. Clear evidence of a background of political, religious and ideological challenges both locally, nationally and internationally:
More research is obviously needed in many areas but it’s clear from all this that there was more to the establishment of the Captain Cook obelisk on Easby Moor that meets the eye and that there is a fascinating story here. Once again I can’t claim to have all the answers in this essay or that everything is right. Much more research needs to be done, but hopefully this essay will have made a contribution and highlighted what seems to be an interesting story.
Updates to this article in post below - including feedback from the Captain Cook's Society and a comparison with Stoodley Pike above Todmorden.
Captain Cook's Monument - Easby Moor
An obelisk dedicated to Captain Cook sits atop of Easby Moor on the North Yorkshire Moors. This monument, which can be seen for miles around, is a local tourist attraction. The village of Gt. Ayton (Cook’s childhood home) and Airey Holm Farm lie below. Few suspect that there’s anything more to know about it!
Many times I’ve walked up Easby Moor but often felt the monument doesn’t really engage with Cook somehow. Obelisks are fairly common of course and there are two dedicated to Cook in the area. Perhaps if it had a statue of Cook at the top like the one in London or Whitby, I might have felt it made more sense but no – the only thing that relates to Cook is a plaque. Everybody knows it’s dedicated to Cook but there is nothing much up there that is relevant to him (or is there?). That’s not to say, of course, that the monument or the views aren’t impressive in themselves!
The French Enlightenment and Egyptology
While researching the poetry of George Markham Tweddell (the 19th poet, printer, publisher, Chartist and people’s historian from nearby Stokesley) http://www.tweddellpoetry.co.uk/ in 2008, I discovered his poems contained Masonic emblems or symbolism. (Tweddell was a prominent member of the Loyal Cleveland Lodge). During the research I consulted a range of websites and books and one of the books was called Talisman (Sacred Cities, Secret faith) by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval. Chapter 1 – Behind the Veils - was a fascinating read in itself. – the authors describe events in Paris during and after the French Revolution, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the dismantling of the prison and its replacement with distinctly Egyptian structures dedicated to Isis. There is not room to go into detail here (you will have to read the book) but as a result of the involvement of the French Masonic Lodges (eg The Lodge of Nine Sisters) – and the prominent ideas of the Enlightenment – those of Rousseau, Voltaire and Thomas Paine, the landscape of Paris took on an increasingly Egyptian look and Catholicism was replaced by the Cult of Reason or The Supreme Being. Benjamin Franklin (being a Freemason) was involved in this too while living in France and there was also a connection with America. Obelisks and pyramids formed a significant part of this.
1827 – A Good Year for Obelisks!
Fast-forward to the significant date of 1827 – the monarchy had been re-instated but this time around the Kings were also Freemasons and to quote –
Many times I’ve walked up Easby Moor but often felt the monument doesn’t really engage with Cook somehow. Obelisks are fairly common of course and there are two dedicated to Cook in the area. Perhaps if it had a statue of Cook at the top like the one in London or Whitby, I might have felt it made more sense but no – the only thing that relates to Cook is a plaque. Everybody knows it’s dedicated to Cook but there is nothing much up there that is relevant to him (or is there?). That’s not to say, of course, that the monument or the views aren’t impressive in themselves!
The French Enlightenment and Egyptology
While researching the poetry of George Markham Tweddell (the 19th poet, printer, publisher, Chartist and people’s historian from nearby Stokesley) http://www.tweddellpoetry.co.uk/ in 2008, I discovered his poems contained Masonic emblems or symbolism. (Tweddell was a prominent member of the Loyal Cleveland Lodge). During the research I consulted a range of websites and books and one of the books was called Talisman (Sacred Cities, Secret faith) by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval. Chapter 1 – Behind the Veils - was a fascinating read in itself. – the authors describe events in Paris during and after the French Revolution, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the dismantling of the prison and its replacement with distinctly Egyptian structures dedicated to Isis. There is not room to go into detail here (you will have to read the book) but as a result of the involvement of the French Masonic Lodges (eg The Lodge of Nine Sisters) – and the prominent ideas of the Enlightenment – those of Rousseau, Voltaire and Thomas Paine, the landscape of Paris took on an increasingly Egyptian look and Catholicism was replaced by the Cult of Reason or The Supreme Being. Benjamin Franklin (being a Freemason) was involved in this too while living in France and there was also a connection with America. Obelisks and pyramids formed a significant part of this.
1827 – A Good Year for Obelisks!
“Louis XVIII ruled for 10 years. He was a Freemason. On his death in 1824 he was succeeded by his brother, The Count D’ Artois – also a Freemason. Both monarchs showed a marked preference for ancient Egyptian symbolism in their public works..”
“In 1827, Jean-François-Champollion (the Father of modern Egyptology who made a breakthrough in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs) was commissioned by Charles X to arrange for the importation to Paris of a 35,000 year old Obelisk – one of a pair that stood at Alexandria in Egypt. The obelisk was destined for the Place de la Concorde, which had personal significance to Charles X. It had originally been named after his father Louis XV and an equestrian statue had once graced it. Here also the guillotine had been erected…”
The authors speculate "that the installation of the obelisk was to commemorate the idea of the reborn and restored monarchy, with the ancient solar symbol of the divine kings of Egypt rising in the heart of the Parisian skyline like a Phoenix"
All very interesting – but how does this relate to Captain Cook’s monument on Easby Moor?
Meanwhile back in Gt.Ayton!
I put the book down and looked out of my bedroom window in Gt. Ayton. I have a panoramic view of Roseberry Topping and Easby Moor. I glanced over at the Captain Cook obelisk and thought – ‘No! – There couldn’t be a connection with the events that were going on in France and America during the Enlightenment surely’. The only French Connection I knew about was that Easby Moor may have been a look out post during the Napoleonic war.
Nonetheless, I recalled that Tweddell had a series of 3 sonnets (to be found in his collected poems - http://www.tweddellpoetry.co.uk/) to Cook and was also a Freemason. Often I had found answers to my queries, embedded in Tweddell’s own work. (Note - I wasn’t taking this Masonic connection seriously at this stage – it was just idle curiosity!). So it was with some surprise that I found Tweddell’s first poem about Cook engaging with both Obelisks and Pyramids! True it doesn’t go much further, but how odd that both pyramids and obelisks were mentioned in relation to Cook!
[Three Sonnets to] Captain James Cook
Whilst obelisks are raised to men of wealth,
And pyramids are tow’ring to the sky
To tell mankind where bygone tyrants lie
Men who in life, flush’d with the joy of health,
And render’d vain by crouching helots’ praise, 5
Imagined they, by slave-piled stones, could raise
A Babel high to reach the Heaven of Fame—
And lo! E’en hoary Time’s forgot their name!
Whilst monuments are raised to men who slew
Their fellow-mortals on the field of strife, 10
England! Shall it be said thou never knew
Thy debt of gratitude to one whose life
Devoted was to arts that dignify
Not COOK alone, but all humanity?
George Markham Tweddell
1827 – A Good Year for Obelisks Revisited!
At this stage I had no idea when the Cook obelisk was erected or if Tweddell was actually involved in its initiation so I did a search on the internet and got a second surprise when I found out that the monument was built by Robert Campion (a Whitby banker) and erected in 1827 – the same year as the French one! Apparently the money came from subscriptions raised in Whitby. As Tweddell was only 3 in 1827, it’s clear he wasn’t involved with it’s planning but may have been privy to its origins through his familiarisation with the historical work of John Graves and or Masonic connections and embedded a clue in the poem. With two ‘coincidences’ under my belt, I was intrigued. Could there be more or was that it?
Why an Obelisk?
I wondered about obelisks – in what way are they relevant as a memorial? How does it relate to Cook? I discovered there are two types of obelisk - tall solid ones such as the Egyptian one transported to France and hollow ones. The obelisk on Easby moor is clearly a hollow one as illustrated by this press cutting below showing it after it was hit by lightening in 1906 – it was built without a lightening conductor! It also appears to have a ‘benben stone’ on top (a pyramid-shaped stone or the capstone of a pyramid or the tip of an obelisk) – although missing in the picture here). The pyramidion shape apparently distinguishes obelisks from other monumental columns.
"Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces."
I’m not sure that there is any significance in the style of the obelisk but another website suggested that obelisks –
"...symbolized the sun god Amon Re, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure." and "The pyramid and obelisk would have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively."
And…
"Because of the Enlightenment-era association of Egypt with mortuary arts, (and generally with great antiquity), obelisks became associated with timelessness and memorialization."
Ian Pearce of The Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project suggested that
“The site for the monument was probably chosen because Easby Moor is the highest ground for miles around and consists of very stable sandstone, suitable for the foundations of an obelisk. In contrast Roseberry Topping wouldn't have provided a very good base, and is lower. The site is also visible from miles around.”
Some of this begins to make sense – Easby moor is a wide open space where sunrise and sunset are clearly visible and the ideas of memorialisation and timelessness are relevant. The monument acts like a sundial and as Ian says, it is visible for miles around. Whether a deity lives within its hollow structure is another matter! A great myth could be constructed around this – especially as the monument was dramatically split open by lightening (but we’ll leave that notion for the Creative Writing class!).
Talisman
There is a further suggestion that obelisks act as talismans. In History Under the Hammer by Joyce Dixon, published by the North Yorkshire Moors Park in 1996 (about the selling of the Gt. Ayton Cook Cottage to the Australians) Joyce Dixon gives an evocative description of the effect of the monument as they travel through the nearby countryside.
“It was quite late on a winter’s afternoon and the sun was a great sphere of the most vivid shade of orange / red low down in the sky…The colours were intense, different shades of heliotrope, gold, scarlet and lurid pink in an immense sweep of colour all round us. The countryside was getting darker and on the top of Easby, the Monument stood seemingly impossibly large and drawing our attention in a way we had not experienced before –or since.
We drove in silence with our eyes and whole attention fixed on the Monument, stark and black against the vivid skies for mile after mile and we were aware of the huge distances from which it would be visible. It would have been impossible to have given him a more magnificent memorial than this with a feeling of almost reverence at the thought of the man who had inspired the erection of such a simple edifice in his honour.”
Was Captain Cook a Freemason?
The above shows that there are plenty of possible reasons for choosing an obelisk to locally memorialise Captain James Cook but is this all there is to it? Still not taking it too seriously I decided to check if Cook himself might have been a Freemason. That might give a more concrete justification for an obelisk rather than a statue perhaps but I really wasn’t expecting to find any results.
Once again my search was full of surprises!
Apparently it is often claimed Cook was a Freemason – On this site
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/cook_j/cook_j.html
The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon – A Short History of Freemasonry in Yukon – there are several entries -
"As a matter of interest it is believed that in 1778, Captain James Cook became the first Freemason to set foot in what is now the province of British Columbia."
And on the Biography – Cook page (url above) it says -
“Although no proof of his membership is available, he is often referred to as a freemason. Claims that he was initiated into Lodge of Industry No 186 do not take into account that this lodge was warranted on 15 January 1788, nine years after Cook died.”
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10,000_famous_freemasons/Volume_1_A_to_D.htm
The biographical entry on Cook ends with this sentence –
“Although no proof of his membership is available, he is constantly referred to as a member of the Craft.”
Interestingly, the idea that James Cook may have been a Freemason has already been explored in the book Captain James Cook – Freemason? Roy H. Clemens published by Masonic Public Library, Honolulu in 1980, and is also a source on the above biographical entry on Cook from the 10,000 famous Freemasons. In ten pages he sets out the evidence for and against and comes out firmly against Cook having been a member.
Joseph Banks
Whether or not Cook was a Freemason, he certainly seems to be associated and respected by them for his work. In 1766 Joseph Banks was elected to the Royal Society, and in the same year he accompanied Commodore Constantine John Phipps (mentioned in Tweddell’s Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham) (available for free download on this site) into Newfoundland and Labrador with a view of studying their natural history.
Another site (in contrast to the claim above) asserts that Joseph Banks (the celebrated Botanist) was the first Freemason to set foot in ‘New South Wales’-
"1770 - The British ship HMS "Endeavour", commanded by James Cook, RN, made the first European exploration of the east coast of Australia. Cook named the land "New South Wales" and took possession in the name of King George III of Great Britain. Joseph Banks, a passenger aboard the ship, is thought to have been the first Freemason to set foot in the continent as at some date prior to 1768 he had become a member of the Old Horn Lodge No. 4."
Transit of Venus Expedition
Indeed Cook's first expedition for the Royal Society was partly to track the passage of Venus over the Pacific, a
“In 1827, Jean-François-Champollion (the Father of modern Egyptology who made a breakthrough in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs) was commissioned by Charles X to arrange for the importation to Paris of a 35,000 year old Obelisk – one of a pair that stood at Alexandria in Egypt. The obelisk was destined for the Place de la Concorde, which had personal significance to Charles X. It had originally been named after his father Louis XV and an equestrian statue had once graced it. Here also the guillotine had been erected…”
The authors speculate "that the installation of the obelisk was to commemorate the idea of the reborn and restored monarchy, with the ancient solar symbol of the divine kings of Egypt rising in the heart of the Parisian skyline like a Phoenix"
All very interesting – but how does this relate to Captain Cook’s monument on Easby Moor?
Meanwhile back in Gt.Ayton!
I put the book down and looked out of my bedroom window in Gt. Ayton. I have a panoramic view of Roseberry Topping and Easby Moor. I glanced over at the Captain Cook obelisk and thought – ‘No! – There couldn’t be a connection with the events that were going on in France and America during the Enlightenment surely’. The only French Connection I knew about was that Easby Moor may have been a look out post during the Napoleonic war.
Nonetheless, I recalled that Tweddell had a series of 3 sonnets (to be found in his collected poems - http://www.tweddellpoetry.co.uk/) to Cook and was also a Freemason. Often I had found answers to my queries, embedded in Tweddell’s own work. (Note - I wasn’t taking this Masonic connection seriously at this stage – it was just idle curiosity!). So it was with some surprise that I found Tweddell’s first poem about Cook engaging with both Obelisks and Pyramids! True it doesn’t go much further, but how odd that both pyramids and obelisks were mentioned in relation to Cook!
[Three Sonnets to] Captain James Cook
Whilst obelisks are raised to men of wealth,
And pyramids are tow’ring to the sky
To tell mankind where bygone tyrants lie
Men who in life, flush’d with the joy of health,
And render’d vain by crouching helots’ praise, 5
Imagined they, by slave-piled stones, could raise
A Babel high to reach the Heaven of Fame—
And lo! E’en hoary Time’s forgot their name!
Whilst monuments are raised to men who slew
Their fellow-mortals on the field of strife, 10
England! Shall it be said thou never knew
Thy debt of gratitude to one whose life
Devoted was to arts that dignify
Not COOK alone, but all humanity?
George Markham Tweddell
1827 – A Good Year for Obelisks Revisited!
At this stage I had no idea when the Cook obelisk was erected or if Tweddell was actually involved in its initiation so I did a search on the internet and got a second surprise when I found out that the monument was built by Robert Campion (a Whitby banker) and erected in 1827 – the same year as the French one! Apparently the money came from subscriptions raised in Whitby. As Tweddell was only 3 in 1827, it’s clear he wasn’t involved with it’s planning but may have been privy to its origins through his familiarisation with the historical work of John Graves and or Masonic connections and embedded a clue in the poem. With two ‘coincidences’ under my belt, I was intrigued. Could there be more or was that it?
Why an Obelisk?
I wondered about obelisks – in what way are they relevant as a memorial? How does it relate to Cook? I discovered there are two types of obelisk - tall solid ones such as the Egyptian one transported to France and hollow ones. The obelisk on Easby moor is clearly a hollow one as illustrated by this press cutting below showing it after it was hit by lightening in 1906 – it was built without a lightening conductor! It also appears to have a ‘benben stone’ on top (a pyramid-shaped stone or the capstone of a pyramid or the tip of an obelisk) – although missing in the picture here). The pyramidion shape apparently distinguishes obelisks from other monumental columns.
"Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces."
I’m not sure that there is any significance in the style of the obelisk but another website suggested that obelisks –
"...symbolized the sun god Amon Re, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure." and "The pyramid and obelisk would have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively."
And…
"Because of the Enlightenment-era association of Egypt with mortuary arts, (and generally with great antiquity), obelisks became associated with timelessness and memorialization."
Ian Pearce of The Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project suggested that
“The site for the monument was probably chosen because Easby Moor is the highest ground for miles around and consists of very stable sandstone, suitable for the foundations of an obelisk. In contrast Roseberry Topping wouldn't have provided a very good base, and is lower. The site is also visible from miles around.”
Some of this begins to make sense – Easby moor is a wide open space where sunrise and sunset are clearly visible and the ideas of memorialisation and timelessness are relevant. The monument acts like a sundial and as Ian says, it is visible for miles around. Whether a deity lives within its hollow structure is another matter! A great myth could be constructed around this – especially as the monument was dramatically split open by lightening (but we’ll leave that notion for the Creative Writing class!).
Talisman
There is a further suggestion that obelisks act as talismans. In History Under the Hammer by Joyce Dixon, published by the North Yorkshire Moors Park in 1996 (about the selling of the Gt. Ayton Cook Cottage to the Australians) Joyce Dixon gives an evocative description of the effect of the monument as they travel through the nearby countryside.
“It was quite late on a winter’s afternoon and the sun was a great sphere of the most vivid shade of orange / red low down in the sky…The colours were intense, different shades of heliotrope, gold, scarlet and lurid pink in an immense sweep of colour all round us. The countryside was getting darker and on the top of Easby, the Monument stood seemingly impossibly large and drawing our attention in a way we had not experienced before –or since.
We drove in silence with our eyes and whole attention fixed on the Monument, stark and black against the vivid skies for mile after mile and we were aware of the huge distances from which it would be visible. It would have been impossible to have given him a more magnificent memorial than this with a feeling of almost reverence at the thought of the man who had inspired the erection of such a simple edifice in his honour.”
Was Captain Cook a Freemason?
Once again my search was full of surprises!
Apparently it is often claimed Cook was a Freemason – On this site
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/cook_j/cook_j.html
The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon – A Short History of Freemasonry in Yukon – there are several entries -
"As a matter of interest it is believed that in 1778, Captain James Cook became the first Freemason to set foot in what is now the province of British Columbia."
And on the Biography – Cook page (url above) it says -
“Although no proof of his membership is available, he is often referred to as a freemason. Claims that he was initiated into Lodge of Industry No 186 do not take into account that this lodge was warranted on 15 January 1788, nine years after Cook died.”
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10,000_famous_freemasons/Volume_1_A_to_D.htm
The biographical entry on Cook ends with this sentence –
“Although no proof of his membership is available, he is constantly referred to as a member of the Craft.”
Interestingly, the idea that James Cook may have been a Freemason has already been explored in the book Captain James Cook – Freemason? Roy H. Clemens published by Masonic Public Library, Honolulu in 1980, and is also a source on the above biographical entry on Cook from the 10,000 famous Freemasons. In ten pages he sets out the evidence for and against and comes out firmly against Cook having been a member.
Joseph Banks
Another site (in contrast to the claim above) asserts that Joseph Banks (the celebrated Botanist) was the first Freemason to set foot in ‘New South Wales’-
"1770 - The British ship HMS "Endeavour", commanded by James Cook, RN, made the first European exploration of the east coast of Australia. Cook named the land "New South Wales" and took possession in the name of King George III of Great Britain. Joseph Banks, a passenger aboard the ship, is thought to have been the first Freemason to set foot in the continent as at some date prior to 1768 he had become a member of the Old Horn Lodge No. 4."
Transit of Venus Expedition
Indeed Cook's first expedition for the Royal Society was partly to track the passage of Venus over the Pacific, a
distinctly astronomical mission. He had on board Astronomers and it seems that some of his team, including Banks, were Freemasons and had Lodge meetings on board. That this project was of enormous interest to both scientists and Freemasons might be seen from this site that is researching the Astronomical aspects of Freemasonry http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/alchemy_freemasonry.html
Today in New Zealand the Transit of Venus Expedition is partly sponsored by the New Zealand Freemasons http://www.transitofvenus.co.nz/
The site tells us –
“The Transit of Venus: Voyages in Time and Space project is designed to excite New Zealand students about the great 18th century scientific adventure, which literally gave us the measure of the Universe - the expedition led by Captain James Cook was imaginative, daring, risky and hugely productive scientifically! Transits of Venus are rare. In 1768 Cook was hired by the Royal Society of London to go to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 in order to calculate the distance between the earth and the sun - there was great excitement about the expedition for such an opportunity wouldn't come again for another 120 years.”
THE DOOR OF DESTINY
Further links between Cook, monuments and Freemasonry have been discussed in Australia where there is a 20th C Cairn monument to Cook in the entrance to one of the bays he landed in - (The Door of Destiny). It has been alleged that there was some Masonic involvement in its initiation judging by the site below. The Compass symbol at the foot of the Cairn is thought to be both a Masonic symbol and to symbolise navigation.
http://www.letsconnect.com.au/captain-cook-monument-the-doorway-of-destiny-r51.htm
The site above says “Sir Raphael Cilento, who was actually the father of Diane Cilento and head of the National Trust, designed the monument. I cannot comment on his being a Freemason, or the symbology on the compass in the root of the monument mentioned in the recent article. However, I do know that he did not choose the spot where the ‘Doorway of Destiny; was built. It was I who chose this magical spot on Round Hill Head next to the most beautiful windswept tree.”
Today in New Zealand the Transit of Venus Expedition is partly sponsored by the New Zealand Freemasons http://www.transitofvenus.co.nz/
The site tells us –
“The Transit of Venus: Voyages in Time and Space project is designed to excite New Zealand students about the great 18th century scientific adventure, which literally gave us the measure of the Universe - the expedition led by Captain James Cook was imaginative, daring, risky and hugely productive scientifically! Transits of Venus are rare. In 1768 Cook was hired by the Royal Society of London to go to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 in order to calculate the distance between the earth and the sun - there was great excitement about the expedition for such an opportunity wouldn't come again for another 120 years.”
THE DOOR OF DESTINY
http://www.letsconnect.com.au/captain-cook-monument-the-doorway-of-destiny-r51.htm
The site above says “Sir Raphael Cilento, who was actually the father of Diane Cilento and head of the National Trust, designed the monument. I cannot comment on his being a Freemason, or the symbology on the compass in the root of the monument mentioned in the recent article. However, I do know that he did not choose the spot where the ‘Doorway of Destiny; was built. It was I who chose this magical spot on Round Hill Head next to the most beautiful windswept tree.”
James Cook and the Wapping Dundee Arms Lodge
More recently I found an article on the Captain Cook Society website which, although not relevant (so I thought) was interesting. Geoff King tried to find a connection between Commodore William Christopher and James Cook. An apparent association was revealed in a Church in Stockton on Tees -
http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu41159.htm Given the mystery of how they had become friends, I suspected there might be a Masonic friendship link but totally without any evidence. I never mentioned it to anyone but a while later I came across some further develops on the site which were most interesting and this time of some relevancy to this thesis. The bullet points below summerise some of the main points of the article.
On this page http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu41166.htm Derek Morris and Ken Cozens of the Captain Cook Society reveal (most interestingly) that - that
- the link between Cook and Christopher was Francis Holman (1723-1784) a well-known marine painter who lived in Wapping and painted ships associated with Cook and Christopher.
- He was also a link with Trinity House, William Hammond of Hull, and possibly with other members of Cook's crews and his acquaintances and friends.
- Most interestingly – “Holman was a senior freemason in the Wapping-based Dundee Arms Lodge, whilst we have found that William Christopher was a member of a Masonic lodge in Stockton on Tees.”
- This suggests that there were some social connections, or that recommendations about Holman's paintings circulated through the lodges.
- They tell us “One possibility arises from the fact that Holman was a leading member of the Dundee Arms Freemasonry Lodge in Red Lyon Street in Wapping”
- Holman's painting of Resolution and Adventure was in the possession of the Hammond family from 1772. Hammond was one of the leading ship owners in Hull, and in the Trinity House of Hull is his portrait painted by Lemuel Francis Abbott, in 1792. It is claimed on the portrait that "Hammond sponsored Cook's 1772 Expedition to New Zealand".
- That Hammond was close to Cook is well known, and he was probably the man who commissioned the ships' portrait from Francis Holman.
- Because of his shipping interests and wealth we would expect that Hammond was in contact with Wapping-based shipping interests, such as that of Camden, Calvert and King, who in turn had strong connections with the Dundee Arms Freemasonry Lodge and Holman.
- We are now more than ever convinced that the one constant link between the merchants in Hull, Whitby, Mile End Old Town and Wapping, is the Trinity House connection!
- They would have been using other social networks such as freemasonry, but the strongest link, which encompasses so much, is Trinity House.
- our work has shown the importance of the Trinity Houses in London and Hull, and the unexpectedly strong links through the Freemasonry Lodges in Wapping, Hull and Stockton on Tees.
Perhaps it’s still not proven that Cook was a Freemason himself but the strong connections are obvious and the involvement of the Stockton Masonic lodge should be borne in mind for what follows. All of that might be sufficient justification for the lodge to campaign for a local memorial to Cook such as an obelisk.In a recent e mail exchange with Malcolm Chase, Professor of Social History at Leeds University who had been feeding back to us in our research in George Markham Tweddell (GMT), suggested that "that if James Cook was a Mason, I'd be surprised if it hasn't been verified by now" and "Freemasonry had strong support among officers in the armed forces, so in a sense it might be surprising if it could be proved Cook was not a member. And perhaps uniquely among the founding fathers of the imperial project, James Cook still retains a reputation as a scientist and intellectual, which would recommend him to a strong local patriot like GMT, even if there were not a masonic link."
(Note - more on Wapping connections in the follow on article below this)
The Plot Thickens! Obelisks, Pagodas and Pyramids and Roseberry Topping
All of the above (except the piece on Holman and Cook) came together over two days in 2008 and was discussed with
The Plot Thickens! Obelisks, Pagodas and Pyramids and Roseberry Topping
All of the above (except the piece on Holman and Cook) came together over two days in 2008 and was discussed with
various people via e mail, including the Gt Ayton Archeology Project and Paul Tweddell (a descendant of George Markham Tweddell). Next day I ventured down to Gt Ayton library where they have a number of books on Cook. I could find nothing more than I already knew – ie that the monument was built by Robert Campion in 1827. I was hoping to learn more about Robert Campion from Whitby and Lord of the Manor of Easby but nothing came to light. Could Campion have been a Mason? (See a recent comment at the foot of this essay)
Then I pick up the recent publication by the Great Ayton Archeological Project – the gorgeously illustrated Roseberry Topping book. Knowing some of the members, I felt sure that there would be something more substantial here although the book was focused on this area’s other iconic hill – Roseberry Topping. What I found in this book changed the ball game considerably! Although the chapter concerned (p96) focused on the Mystery of the Summerhouse, (a strange pagoda like building on Roseberry Topping misnamed but better known as the Shooting Hut), it was exactly the kind of background material that might give this thesis more validity but oddly enough it didn’t make a Masonic connection.
What I learned from this marvelous book Roseberry Topping published in 2006 by the Great Ayton Archeological Project was –
- The campaign to get a local monument to Cook had been going from 1787 (8 years after Cook’s demise). Cook died in 1779.
- There was secrecy about it as if emanating from a secret society. The mysterious character of ‘Cleveland’ who first proposed the idea was recently shown by Cliff Thornton of the Captain Cook society to be John Brewster – author of the History of Stockton on Tees and a member of the Stockton Literary Club.
- That the proposed location changed over the years from Marton (where Cook was born to Eston Nab to Roseberry Topping, finally ending up on Easby Moor.
- Most interestingly for our original thesis – the proposals involved (at various stages) not only an obelisk but a pagoda and a pyramid on the summit of Roseberry Topping!
This was exciting! The idle fancy that there might be a connection between exotic events in Paris and the outback of the North Yorkshire Moors didn’t seem so far fetched now! We are also clearly back to pyramids and obelisks. There was something there!!
John Brewster Proposes a Monument
The book tells us that the Rev John Brewster, in a published letter in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1787 under the
name of ‘Cleveland’ first proposed a monument to James Cook to erect near Marton in Cleveland (his birth place).
Nothing came of the idea. In 1791 Brewster raised the idea again (still under the name of ‘Cleveland’). This time the memorial was to be on Roseberry Topping from which it would be viewable for 30 to 40 miles around. Among the suggestions was ‘a building with large apertures in its sides, rather like a Chinese Pagoda’ but eventually settled on a pyramid! In 1808 Cleveland historian the Reverend John Graves commented that there had been a plan to erect a monument to Cook in the form of a pyramid or obelisk on the summit of Roseberry Topping. Nine years later in the second volume of History of Whitby, George Young noted in a biographical piece on Cook that ‘agitation’ had been made more that once to erect a monument to Cook on Roseberry Topping and Major Bartholomew Rudd, the proprietor had cheerfully consented to the proposal. (Ironically Major Rudd built a mansion over the humble Marton birth place of Cook at what is now Stewarts Park!).
The book goes on to tell us that John Brewster, now writing to the Gentleman’s Magazine under his own initials referred to an earlier proposal to build a monument on Eston Nab.
I raise the following points on the idea of a pyramid on Roseberry Topping –
Pyramid on the Summit of Roseberry Topping!
(My Photo-shopped picture below might not be quite how they envisioned it!)
I find the idea of erecting a pyramid on the summit of Roseberry Topping quite bizarre (although interesting!). The
Topping is kind of that shape anyway – more conical like – but aesthetically doesn’t need any artificial enhancement. In fact that might have spoilt it. As it happens the later landslide might have destroyed it anyway! However the question is - would people be induced to think of Cook if they viewed a pyramid on the Topping? I personally would be more mindful of Egyptology than Cook! That being so, who might want to evoke the idea of Egyptology?
As far as I know, Cook had no involvement with Egypt, so unless there was a Masonic link – surely a pyramid has no relevance to Cook except as some exotic tribute. There surely must have been a more fitting style of monument that would reflect Cook’s travels, for example the Easter Island Moai!
A friend offered a possible explanation of how a pyramid might be relevant to cook (although this view is a personal
composite from his wide reading but it raises the point that some kind of Egyptian / Masonic symbology might explain it). (Also inherent in this view is the idea that all religions are interconnected with the mention of Vishnu!) –
"The pyramid might also represent the free masons compass. Four sides for East, West etc etc. If it also represents an upside down V for Vishnu and a boat ferrying dead pharaohs to the netherworld, then it would be hollowed out like a boat. And what was Cook, but a sailor and navigator."
The book goes on to tell us that John Brewster, now writing to the Gentleman’s Magazine under his own initials referred to an earlier proposal to build a monument on Eston Nab.
I raise the following points on the idea of a pyramid on Roseberry Topping –
Pyramid on the Summit of Roseberry Topping!
(My Photo-shopped picture below might not be quite how they envisioned it!)
Topping is kind of that shape anyway – more conical like – but aesthetically doesn’t need any artificial enhancement. In fact that might have spoilt it. As it happens the later landslide might have destroyed it anyway! However the question is - would people be induced to think of Cook if they viewed a pyramid on the Topping? I personally would be more mindful of Egyptology than Cook! That being so, who might want to evoke the idea of Egyptology?
As far as I know, Cook had no involvement with Egypt, so unless there was a Masonic link – surely a pyramid has no relevance to Cook except as some exotic tribute. There surely must have been a more fitting style of monument that would reflect Cook’s travels, for example the Easter Island Moai!
composite from his wide reading but it raises the point that some kind of Egyptian / Masonic symbology might explain it). (Also inherent in this view is the idea that all religions are interconnected with the mention of Vishnu!) –
"The pyramid might also represent the free masons compass. Four sides for East, West etc etc. If it also represents an upside down V for Vishnu and a boat ferrying dead pharaohs to the netherworld, then it would be hollowed out like a boat. And what was Cook, but a sailor and navigator."
Pagoda
The idea of a Pagoda is surprising too. The whole chapter in the Roseberry Topping book is dedicated to the mystery
The idea of a Pagoda is surprising too. The whole chapter in the Roseberry Topping book is dedicated to the mystery
of the Shooting Hut which has an oriental looking roof – somewhat Pagoda like but not the classical curled edge style found in China. It’s not clear that the pagoda Brewster talked of was ever built and the location seemed to be earmarked for Eston Nab rather than Roseberry Topping but the ‘summerhouse / shooting hut’ on Roseberry Topping does have a strange oriental looking roof. However there is no information to suggest this was in anyway dedicated to Cook and so is probably unrelated. However, seeing as a Pagoda was among the proposals, there does seem to be a surprising link with Pagodas and Masonry (I think!). Pagodas are part of the Buddhist tradition, there’s mention of the Buddha as a Supreme Being -
“they appear to have derived their form from a tumulus, because ancient religions are partly based on the veneration of the tombs of ancestors. The pyramids of Egypt and the Ming and other Imperial Tombs of China.. The Buddha, as a Supreme Being among all creatures, is entitled to many umbrellas placed one above the other.”
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/theravada/nibbanacom/tawsein1.htm
However the mystery of the Summer House / Shooting Hut / Pagoda may or may not be related (that’s a whole issue in itself) but is interesting.
More fruitful to this discussion at the moment is John Brewster -
The Reverend John Brewster – Freemason?
“they appear to have derived their form from a tumulus, because ancient religions are partly based on the veneration of the tombs of ancestors. The pyramids of Egypt and the Ming and other Imperial Tombs of China.. The Buddha, as a Supreme Being among all creatures, is entitled to many umbrellas placed one above the other.”
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/theravada/nibbanacom/tawsein1.htm
However the mystery of the Summer House / Shooting Hut / Pagoda may or may not be related (that’s a whole issue in itself) but is interesting.
More fruitful to this discussion at the moment is John Brewster -
The Reverend John Brewster – Freemason?
- John Brewster’s use of the nom de plume - ‘Cleveland’ presents a sense of something emanating from a secret society. Nom de plumes were common among radicals and reformers however, if we think of Cobbet’s Peter Porcupine and Tweddell’s later use of ‘Clevelandus’ ‘Peter Proletarius’,
- · If you Google John Brewster’s name, up comes the Stockton’s Freemasons Lodgeof Philanthrophy. There is a reference to his Parochial History and Antiquities of Stockton-on-Tees of which the second edition has a goodly section of Freemasonry. This does not prove Brewster was a Freemason of course, but it’s interesting.
- · The Reverend John Graves reinforced Brewster’s proposition of an obelisk or pyramid on the summit of Roseberry Topping in his book The History of Cleveland in the North Riding of the County of York (footnotes P 462 -464) after giving a great tribute to the scientific work of Cook. (Tweddell tell us in his Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham) that the Reverend Brewster married John Graves and his wife before either had become historians and so there was a strong connection between them.). (John Graves book is available for free download on Google books)
- · In the second edition of Brewster’s Parochial History and Antiquities of Stockton-on -Tees (available as downloadable as a Free download (pdf) on Google Books), has a surprising section on Freemasonry. In this second addition Brewster has added notices of societies including ‘a society that although is mysterious, is eminently benevolent – The most Ancient and Honourable Society (No 19) of free and accepted Freemasons – the Lodge now called The Lodge of Philanthropy, constituted in London 1725 at the Swan and Rummer in Finch Lane.
- · The ‘notice’ (p254 bottom of page and onwards) presented by the Lodge of Philanthropy discusses the suppression of secret societies of a political nature bill in 1796 and an inquiry raised by members of the Durham Lodge. The result was that the Freemasons were exempted from the act. This statement was confirmed – the article goes on to say – by His Royal Highness – The Duke of Sussex – to an address of the Lennox Lodge of Freemasons Oct 26th 1827 at Richmond in Yorkshire. It says that his Royal Highness, as a member of the Craft, had intervened to save the Craft from extinction. King George had become a patron. (A further link between royalty and the Craft – this time in England).
- · It’s interesting that that date 1827 comes up again with a significant event a month or so before the erection of the Cook monument on Easby moor and involving the Richmond Lodge and the Stockton lodge of philanthropy in some way. The recent research by the Captain Cook Society regarding Holman reinforces the idea of some involvement here. Brewster, if not a Freemason, certainly had close links with the Stockton Lodge.
There were no local lodges in either Gt Ayton (until 1996) and Stokesley until 1847. The nearest would have been Stockton or Richmond.
Note - Geoff King of the Captain Cook Society has confirmed that The Reverend Brewster was indeed a Freemason but with reservations - see the follow on article below)
Radicalism in Stokesley in the 1820's
Alice Barrigan in an article Radicalism in Stokesley in the 1820’s on the Jakesbarn site http://jakesbarn.co.uk/content/view/58/36/ gives us a good insight into the political climate of the times.but much of it, I'm reliably informed, derives from earlier works by Daphe Franks Printing and Publishing in Stokesley 1985 and Malcolme Chase's 'Atheists and Republicans in early nineteenth-century Cleveland', Bulletin of the Cleveland and Teesside Local History Society 47, pp. 29-36, 1984
The article describes the first of two Paper Wars in Stokesley (the second occurring in the 1840’s around George Markham Tweddell’s radical paper which you can read about on this site http://www.tweddellhistory.co.uk/
We learn that on Monday 2 June 1822 employer Thomas Mease gave a speech at a Wesleyan Methodist Missionary meeting attacking Robert Armstrong - a radical bookseller. This began the first Stokesley Paper War.
Mease later published his speech and commented "I was exceedingly amused, Sir, by the way in which the birth-day of Paine was lately kept in this Town," He claimed that the principal objects embraced by their vain were probably the subversion of Christianity and Monarchy, and the substitution of a Republican government, together with what they strangely reckon a scientific morality.
Robert Armstrong, a bookseller in Stokesley who stocked radical (and at the time illegal copies of authors such as Thomas Paine, Carlile, Rousseau,) responded with his own newspaper - 'The Missionary; or Stokesley & Cleveland Illuminator' while Thomas Mease responded with The Extinguisher.
“The war of words between Mease and Armstrong in Stokesley was a small part of the great conflict then raging between the forces of conservatism in religion and politics and an increasingly vocal radical movement calling for political reform and open religious debate.”
Ill-feeling between the factions of free-thought and religious orthodoxy may have been brewing for some time in Stokesley. Armstrong was a leader of the local Zetetic Society (a society of Freethinkers) and was responding to Carlile's plea from prison for volunteers to carry on disseminating his works to the public. In 1822 and 1823 Armstrong was openly selling 'The Age of Reason' in Stokesley. Carlile was sentenced in November 1819 to a term of three years' imprisonment with a very heavy fine for publishing Thomas Paine's 'The Age of Reason', which had been banned in 1797 for its attack on organised Christianity and its advocacy of a deistic religion based on reason and logic. Robert Armstrong was an anti-clerical deist, democrat and republican, who followed with interest democrat and republican, who followed with interest the latest developments in scientific and political thought.
During the Napoleonic Wars, in Stokesley, Barrigan tells us, ‘many weavers brought to the town the independent and enquiring minds for which they were well-known.’ Some of the characters, such as John Appleton and Henry Heavisides, associated also with Stockton were in Stokesley at this time. Appleton reported – “A few of the lovers of Civil and Religious Freedom, met in this Town, on the Evening of the 29th of January, to celebrate the Anniversary of the Birthday of Mr Paine.” Heavisides was apprenticed to William Pratt – the printers in Stokesley and later in Stockton (as Tweddell notes) was ‘a warm supporter of Reform’. In Heavisides Annals of Stockton it is clear he was also a Freemason. It’s not clear if Heavisides was involved with these events in Stokesley but there are clear social networks between the towns.
Conclusions
From an idle curiosity we have established that there were significant ‘coincidences’ in the date 1827 and its relation to the establishment of obelisks and a ‘coincidence’ of proposals for (or establishment) of Egyptian artifacts such as Obelisks and pyramids both in France, America and the North Yorkshire Moors. Circumstantial evidence at least that Cook was either a Freemason or at least closely associated with them and that John Brewster was too. Clear evidence of a background of political, religious and ideological challenges both locally, nationally and internationally:
More research is obviously needed in many areas but it’s clear from all this that there was more to the establishment of the Captain Cook obelisk on Easby Moor that meets the eye and that there is a fascinating story here. Once again I can’t claim to have all the answers in this essay or that everything is right. Much more research needs to be done, but hopefully this essay will have made a contribution and highlighted what seems to be an interesting story.
Updates to this article in post below - including feedback from the Captain Cook's Society and a comparison with Stoodley Pike above Todmorden.
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