Bro. Imre Kiralfy & The Olympics The 500 British athletes at the opening of the 1908 Olympic Games wore caps and blazer badges manufactured by the masonic regalia company of Bro. George Kenning. The games took place at the White City which was constructed by Bro. Imre Kiralfy. The masonic connections do not stop there. A keen sportsman and Freemason, Lord Desborough fenced at the unofficial Athens Games of 1906 and served as a member of the International Olympic Committee until 1913. Desborough was initiated in Apollo University Lodge, No. 357, Oxford, on 23 February 1875, the same day as Oscar Wilde.
ings rooms were constructed in ten months by George Wimpey, builders, at a cost of £44,000. Imre Kiralfy was initiated into the Scottish Constitution in 1868 and was a Founder member of Empress Lodge, London, in 1895. He was appointed a Grand Officer in 1899 and promoted to Past Junior Grand Deacon in 1908. He was alsoa founder Imre Kiralfy, born in Hungary in 1845, but of a number of lodges and prominent in other naturalised as a British citizen in 1901, was a Orders in Freemasonry including the Scottish well known showman, who had built the Rite (shown in 31º regalia). Great White City at Shepherds Bush where the Franco-British Exhibition was due to be Below right, he is seen with John A Stewart (a held in 1908. Negotiations were entered into NYC banker) and Bro. Earl Kintore who was with him to see if it was possible to construct head of three orders in Scotland before bethe necessary buildings and stadium at Shep- coming Grand Master in South Australia. herd’s Bush. In the event all the required buildings, a swimming tank, tracks and dress-
The White City in London, site of the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908.
Cross Keys October 2021
J.A. Stewart and Bros. Earl Kintore and Imre Kiralfy
