THE MASONIC EMPORIUM: SELLING TO THE WORLD

When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 there were about 500 Masonic lodges in the British Empire, by the time she died in 1901, there were nearly 2,000. All these new lodges needed equipment and all the new members needed their ceremonial costumes so these years also saw the development of specialist retailers who adopted modern marketing techniques to reach their audience. ‘The Masonic Emporium’exhibition at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in Freemasons’ Hall in London’s Covent Garden explores the development of this market, telling the story of its suppliers and customers. It runs from Thursday 1 July to Thursday 23 December 2010 and is free of charge to all visitors.

One such supplier was George Kenning. The son of an East End oyster seller, Kenning realised the potential of the market: he not only manufactured the costume but sold a range of products from his shops across Britain. He set up a mail order business which operated across the British Empire and was keen to develop new markets in the USA. He became a media magnate and advertised in his own widely read newspaper: The Freemason  He even extended the brand by becoming closely involved in developing new Masonic orders all of which needed special costumes and props. 

Kenning was only one example of the manufacturers, publishers and photographers whose business was freemasonry. Amongst the items on display are the furniture and costumes that featured in the trade catalogues of the time as well as souvenir ceramics made by the manufacturer William Henry Goss who extended his range into the Masonic market and some of the trade cards from the many local photographers who captured images of local freemasons.

Amongst the customers were lodges in Australia and South Africa, the Grand Lodge itself right down to individual but well known members such as Winston Churchill. Every lodge and every mason could acquire their full complement of required clothing and equipment from a single catalogue.

The exhibition also explores how manufacturing for this market changed from a small scale cottage industry to larger scale production and how Masonic manufacturing took full advantage of developing technology. As Grand Lodge standardised the design of its regalia Masonic jewels changed from being individual works by craftsmen like Thomas Harper, to commemorative medals for Queen Victoria’s Royal Jubilees in 1887 and 1897, thousands of copies of which were made by different companies to an identical pattern.