THE FIRST APPEARANCE of the Masonic sword is noted in the 18th Century when we see a growth in the formation of secret societies and an allied belief in the tenets of chivalry and knighthood. Swords did play an important part in the Masonic Initiation Ceremony when the Initiate, restored to light, was surrounded by a circle of Brethren with ‘their swords drawn in their hands, the points of which are presented to his breast’.
Examples from the 19th Century are fairly consistent in design (with the same types also being carried in modern times) displaying a polished brass, cruciform hilt and rounded pommel. Blades were decorated with Masonic symbols, including pyramids, skulls and crossbones, a Christian cross and the Holy Lamb.
Another distinctive hilt design noted on Masonic swords of this period comprises a skull and crossbones pommel and crossguard. This gruesome combination was probably a symbolic reminder within the Freemasons of their human mortality.
Sword makers who produced or retailed Masonic swords included Wilkinson Sword and George Kenning, a prolific supplier of Masonic swords from the late-19th Century through to 1960.
© Harvey Withers Military Publishing, 2024