Elizabeth Aldworth

Elizabeth Aldworth (1693/1695–1773/1775), born Elizabeth St Leger, was known in her time as "The Lady Freemason" and was the first recorded woman to be initiated into Regular Freemasonry. She was the daughter of Arthur St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile, of Doneraile Court, County Cork, Ireland and Elizabeth Hayes. She was married in 1713 to Richard Aldworth, Esq., in Newmarket. During the duration of the Hon. Elizabeth Aldworth—'Whenever a benefit was given at the theatres in Dublin or Cork for the Masonic Female Orphan Asylum, she walked at the head of the Freemasons with her apron and other insignia of Freemasonry, and sat in the front row of the stage box. The house was always crowded on these occasions. Her portrait is in the lodge-room of almost every lodge of Ireland.' Initiation The date of her initiation into Freemasonry is uncertain, but the Memoir of a Lady Freemason indicates that it was between 1710–1712, before her marriage. In his paper in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum in 1895, Edward Conder states that it was sometime between 1710–1718. In a reply to the paper, Masonic scholar William James Hughan stated: "Until Bro. Conder's investigations we had all assumed that the various reports respecting the initiation of the Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger, though not always in agreement, were correct as to the occurrence being of a later date than 1730." Hughan also found the facts related to contradict the statements made by an Aldworth descendant. Those facts are found in the Memoir, extracted from the records of the First Lodge of Ireland, which state that Arundel Hill was present at the initiation and often sat in the Lodge with her. The Memoirs editor also indicates that Conder's work was the first fixing of the date, which as of 1864 was not known.