William Dugood, Mason, Spy

We know from expense accounts kept by Thomas Coke, later Lord Lovel, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England (1731), that while in Italy on his Grand Tour in 1716 he purchased prints and antiquities from a William Dugood. What is less clear is whether Dugood, a Scottish jeweller, was in Rome on his own account or part of Coke’s entourage. The Stuart papers at Windsor indicate that Dugood remained in Rome where he was associated with the exiled James Stuart and his court in exile.

Francis Paton, another Scot, introduced Dugood to John Erskine, Earl of Mar, a senior figure in Rome’s Jacobite circles. Mar was influential. He had slipped into Scotland in 1715 and raised the Stuart standard at Braemar, proclaiming him king, an act that set off the Rising. When it failed the following year, Mar fled Scotland to return to exile in Europe with the Jacobites granted sanctuary in Rome under the protection of Pope Clement XI.

On Mar’s recommendation, Dugood became court jeweller and received a Stuart warrant. He also became a trusted intermediary. His access made him a target for Philip von Stosch, a Prussian in Rome who had been recruited as a spy by the British. Stosch was a valued source on Jacobite activities and his reports under the alias ‘John Walton’ circulated at a senior level in London.

Stosch persuaded Dugood to work for him and became his best source. But Dugood came under suspicion and in November 1722 was arrested and imprisoned by the Inquisition under the pretext of heresy. Believing that his own position would be compromised if Dugood confessed, Stosch persuaded one of Pope Clement’s cardinals, Alessandro Albani, to use his influence to free Dugood. Albani succeeded, and Stosch arranged for Dugood to see to London. Charles Delafaye, the government’s anti-Jacobite spymaster and senior under-secretary, approved the plan.

On Stosch’s recommendation, Dugood was encouraged to establish a business as a jeweller in the Haymarket and received commissions from senior Whig politicians including the Duke of Devonshire. He was also introduced to Freemasonry shortly after his arrival and was initiated at the Goose and Gridiron on 15 March 1725; Dugood is also listed as a member of the Lodge at the Three Tuns, Billingsgate. Masonic connections may also have played a role in his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728. His sponsors included two senior Freemasons: Rev Dr Jean Theophilus Desaguliers, a Past Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master; and Martin Folkes, another Deputy Grand Master and a Vice President (and later President) of the Royal Society. Dugood’s election was noted in the press: ‘A very ingenious man, [an] inhabitant of Rome, who was formerly the Chevalier’ s jeweller.’

Dugood decided to return to Italy in 1731. He had been contacted by Countess Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg, Regent of the Duchy of Parma, and asked to value and catalogue a collection of antiquities. Dugood’s arrival was noted by the British agent in Parma who informed Delafaye; it was also known to the Jacobites in Rome where his espionage was not forgotten. Despite Jacobite pressure, Dugood did not leave Parma until mid-1733, and, when he did, he was granted letters of recommendation from the Countess designed to secure a safe passage.

From Parma, Dugood travelled to Florence to meet with Stosch, who had been exposed as a spy a year earlier but was granted protection in Florence. Many of those involved with Stosch, including Lord Chesterfï eld, Lord Harrington and Delafaye, were Freemasons “members of the Horn Tavern Lodge. Stosch also became a Freemason and after settling in Florence he co-established Florentine Lodge with Charles Sackville, Earl of Middlesex. Dugood attended the Lodge during his time in Florence, as did Martin Folkes.

The Stuart influence in Italy was extensive and, while in Florence, Dugood was entrapped by Thomas Tyrell, a Jacobite agent,

and arrested. The British charge d’affaires, Brinley Skinner, secured his release, but rather than leave Italy, Dugood travelled south to Rome in the belief that his letters from the Countess would protect him. They did not, and Dugood was seized on entering the city. Dugood’s freedom was secured once more by Cardinal Albani, and to ensure that he would not be rearrested, Skinner arranged berths for Dugood and his family on the Dolphin, a naval vessel leaving for England via Portugal. Dugood’s flight was approved by London on the understanding that he would be debriefed: ‘There might be gathered some useful knowledge from him relating to the Jacobites and their affairs abroad, and particularly of persons in England, and Scotland most attached to the Pretender.’

However, Dugood disembarked at Lisbon, using his letters of recommendation to obtain entry to the Portuguese court. The Countess’ sister, Maria Anna, was queen of Portugal and, with her support, Dugood secured a position as court jeweller.

Dugood had been resident in Lisbon for more than a decade when John Coustos, another British agent, arrived in the city from Paris. Dugood was possibly the ‘chosen friend’ in whose house we ‘dine together and practice the secrets of Freemasonry’. Curiously, while Coustos presented Freemasonry as a benign, charitable institution, he also gave credibility to the suspicion that he was an espionage agent. Regardless, Coustos mentioned Dugood overtly in his testimony to the Inquisition following his arrest: ‘Mr Dugood, an Englishman [sic], who was born a Roman Catholic and was a Freemason. This gentleman had travelled with and was greatly beloved by Don Pedro Antonio, the king’s favourite, and who, having settled a lodge at Lisbon 15 years before, could acquaint them, in case he thought proper, with the nature and secrets of masonry.’

Portugal had implemented the Papal Ban of 1738, so Dugood and Coustos held lodge meetings in private residences. When Coustos was arrested in March 1743, he defended Masonry as an ancient Scottish institution, in which the kings of Scotland had been Grand Masters, and affirmed that the fraternity was strongly royalist. He argued that Louis XV would not have asked him to initiate the Duc de Villeroy, the royal favorite, if he believed that the meetings were contrary ‘to the State, to Religion, and to the Church.’

Why Coustos would mention Dugood is unclear. It may have been to deflect attention away from Coustos himself when under interrogation, or to show that Freemasonry was de facto accepted in Portugal. Or it may have been retribution.

It is not known whether Dugood’s disembarking in Portugal was contrary to Whitehall’ s wishes or at their behest. Either way, Dugood was not arrested nor did he face sanction. His connections at Court remained intact and he continued to live and work in Lisbon.

Dugood amassed a large collection of artifacts and owned thousands of casts taken from Greek and Roman antiquities: ‘as perfect as . . . the medals themselves.’ Held in three purpose-built chests, the collection was sold to William Constable in 1760 and it is today at Burton Constable Hall in Yorkshire. Unlike his collection, Dugood did not return to Britain but remained in Portugal; he died in Lisbon in 1767.