Secret societies and conspiracies in the UK

Chapter 1
Background information

Since the 19th century, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
became one of the worlds powers. The city of London became the economic and the
financial heart of the world, science and medicine took a great leap within the Industrial
Revolution like the growing life expectancy from 20 years to 50. The Proletariat appeared
and took an important role in the early mentioned Revolution. Also, an important role was
played by Queen Victoria. Her empire was rapidly expanding around the globe and life for
everyone in Britain was really starting to improve and take form.
But, for the first time in the mankind history, money started to rule mans life. The
cities were still controlled by the aristocrats and by nobles because they could vote while the
working class and poor were exposed to unbearably crowded and unhealthy conditions. The
invention of the steam-powered engine led to
the growth of factories, mainly textile mills.
At the beginning of Queen Victorias reign,
England was largely a rural and agricultural
society. With the emergence of factories in the
larger towns, many people moved from the
The steam locomotive
country to the cities in search of a better way
of life. Fifty percent of the British population
lived in London by 1851.
Child labor was common at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Children as
young as four and five years old worked in dangerous conditions in the factories, coal mines
and as chimney sweeps. Many children suffered from accidents involving factory machinery.
Wealthy Victorian Age English children were taught by tutors and governesses, and older
boys were sent to boarding schools. The children of working class and poor families,
however, attended Dame Schools and day or charity schools.
Moreover, transportation became faster, the railways length was bigger than the Earth
circumference, electricity made its debut, and there were a lot of inventors who changed the
word, bringing the medieval society to the modern one.

Londons busy street

On the other hand, organized crime

as we know it today was born in the same
period. Organized crime syndicates primary
activities were protection racketeering, the
arbitration of disputes between criminals,
and the organizing and oversight of illegal
agreements and transactions. Feared
criminals walked the streets like the
notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper.
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Since the money ruled everything, a

few realized that money means power and
as the criminal underworld was
flourishing, secret societies formed. At the
beginning, the members were chosen from
the wealthy and influent population and
then inventors and well known writers or
iconic historical figures joined the new
underworld. As a result, in the late 19th
century, members from other secret
societies from Europe came to UK in order to
take control over the British Islands.

London underworld gang

Chapter 2
Freemasonry in Britain

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing body for the
majority of freemasons within England and Wales with lodges in other, predominantly exBritish Empire and Commonwealth countries outside the United Kingdom. It claims to be the
oldest Grand Lodge in the world, by descent from the first Grand Lodge formed in London in
1717. Together with the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland they are
often referred to, by their members, as "the home Grand Lodges" or "the Home
Constitutions".
The UGLE has its roots in 1717 when three existing London lodges and a
Westminster lodge held a joint dinner at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse in St. Paul's
Churchyard, elected Anthony Sayer to the chair as Grand Master, and called themselves
the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Since then, more
and more lodges fused until the UGLE formed in 1813 on the 27th
of December. It was constituted at Freemasons' Hall,
London with the Duke of Sussex (younger son of King George
III) as Grand Master.
UGLE Coat of arms

Today, the United Grand Lodge of England or Grand

Lodge currently has over a quarter of a million members
meeting in over 8,000 Lodges, organised into a number of
subordinate Provincial Grand Lodges which are approximately
equivalent to the historic counties of England.

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Lodges meeting in London (an area generally within a 10-mile radius of Freemasons
Hall) are, with five exceptions, administered by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of
London, headed by the Metropolitan Grand Master.

Lodges meeting outside London, and within England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the
Channel Islands, are grouped into 47 Provincial Grand Lodges (UGLE), each headed by
a Provincial Grand Master.

Lodges that meet outside England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are
grouped into 33 District Grand Lodges, each headed by a District Grand Master.

Five Groups (i.e.: currently too small to make up a District), each headed by a Grand
Inspector.

Five Lodges in London and 12 Lodges abroad that are directly administered by
Freemasons' Hall.

Holy Royal Arch

Freemasons' Hall

The Holy Royal Arch is a degree of Freemasonry. The Royal Arch is present in all
main masonic systems, though in some it is worked as part of Craft ('mainstream')
Freemasonry, and in others in an appendant ('additional') order. Royal Arch Masons meet as
a Chapter; in the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch as practiced in the British Isles,
much of Europe and the Commonwealth, Chapters confer the single degree of Royal Arch
Mason.

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Similarly to Craft Freemasonry, the Royal Arch conveys moral

and ethical lessons. In the three degrees of the Craft, the candidate is
presented with a series of practical principles of service to his
fellow man. But as man is not simply a practical being, he also
has an essential spiritual aspect to his nature. The Royal Arch
further develops this latter aspect by a contemplation of man's
spiritual nature, not replacing but supporting what the candidate
has learnt from his own religion. The symbol or Grand
Emblem of Royal Arch Masonry is the Triple Tau.

Triple Tau

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