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Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger (1693-1772)
The 1st Lady Freemason
In or about the year 1710, long before the foundation of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1729-30, a Lodge was being held at Doneraile Court, Co. Cork - where Miss St. Leger, then a young girl, being by accident or design, a witness, from an adjoining apartment, of some portion of the mysterious ceremonies, took alarm, and made an attempt to withdraw, which attracted the attention of the Tyler, and the brethren were warned of the presence of an intruder.
The Lodge, presided over by her father, Lord Doneraile, and her brother, his successor, and Mr. Aldworth, afterwards her husband being also, it is said, present,determined to carry out the only possible course under the circumstances, and initiate the lady, who afterwards attained eminence in the Craft, and was a well-known figure in Masonic Ceremonies, and processions on public ocassions.
Note - On the male line failing by the death of her two brothers and nephew, Mrs. Aldworth's second son, St. Leger Aldworth inherited, and, assuming his mothers' surname of St. Leger, was created Lord Doneraile in 1776. From him the present Viscount Doneraile is descended, from her eldest son, Boyle Aldworth, the present Major John Aldworth, of Newmarket, Co. Cork, is descended.
THIS ACCOUNT IS PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
Published by John McMaster, 17 Panton Street, London, SW1 (after January 1895)
The following account, derived from a memoir of her life, published in Cork in 1811, describes the dramatic development which ensued . . .
"Part of the wall dividing the Lodge Room from the library was being removed for the purpose of making an arch and thus connecting the two room; some of the bricks in the dividing wall had been removed and only loosely replaced. While the alterations were in progress, Viscount Doneraile and others met in the Lodge Room for Masonic purposes and to confer degrees. On this particular afternoon, Miss st. Leger had been reading at the library window and, the light of the winter afternoon having failed, fell asleep. The sound of voices in the next room restored her to consciousness and from her position behind the loosely placed bricks of the dividing wall she easily realised that something unusual was taking place in the next room. The light shining through the unfilled spaces in the temporary wall attracted her attention and, prompted by a not un-natural curiosity, Miss St. Leger appears to have removed one or more of the loose bricks, and thus was easily enabled to watch the proceedings of the Lodge.
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