18th C Military Commanders

Two compelling examples are Sir Adolphus Oughton (1684-1736) and Sir Robert Rich (1685–1768 shown below), members of the Duke of Richmond’s Horn Tavern Lodge.

Adolphus Oughton, later MP for Coventry, had served with Marlborough in Europe and was commissioned captain and lieutenant colonel in the 1st Regiment of Foot. He returned to England on the accession of George I and was appointed Groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. In 1715, his political loyalty was rewarded with promotion to colonel and appointment as the first major of the Coldstream Guards. He became lieutenant colonel of the regiment two years later. His proximity to the Crown and to Sir Robert Walpole brought promotion to brigadier in 1735 and the colonelcy of the 8th Dragoon Guards from 1733-36. Oughton was also friends with Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his example may have been one of several factors in the latter’s decision to become a freemason.

Like Oughton, Robert Rich, successively MP for Dunwich (1715-22), Bere Alston (1724-27) and St Ives (1727-41), was a political supporter of Walpole and gained preferment accordingly as Groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales and to George II. Militarily, Rich was promoted colonel and given command of the 13th Hussars (1722-25), 8th Light Dragoons (1725-31) and the King’s Regiment of Carabiniers (1731-33), where he succeeded his fellow freemason and member of the Horn Tavern, Lord Delorraine.

Rich also commanded the 1st Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (1733-35), officers of which regiment were members of the Lodge meeting at the Mitre in Reading, the first Masonic Lodge formed in Berkshire. Rich was promoted brigadier general (1727), major general (1735) and lieutenant general (1739). In 1757 he became commander-inchief and Field Marshal. The office of Field Marshal, the most senior rank in the army, was created in 1736. A predecessors was Viscount Cobham, appointed 1742, a member of the Lodge at the Queen’s Head, Bath.

Rich’s formidable military and Masonic connections were continued by his son, James, who commanded the 37th Foot at Minden in 1759. James was active in both English and Scottish Freemasonry. He became Provincial Grand Master of Minorca (English Constitution) in 1752 when stationed on the island, and joined Canongate Kilwinning lodge in Edinburgh after being posted to Scotland in 1754. He was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland (1769-71) while at the time serving as commander-in-chief of British forces in Scotland.