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The '''District Grand Lodge of Bengal''' is a Masonic Lodge in [[India]] under the [[United Grand Lodge of England]], based out of Freemasons Hall, [[Park Street, Kolkata]] (19 Mother Teressa Sarani <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ugle.org.uk/about/districts-groups/14-asia/105-bengal|title=DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF BENGAL}}</ref>).

The District Grand Lodge of Bengal has exercised authority over freemasonry under the UGLE in India since 1729, when Captain Ralph Farrwinter,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2bQ5KrN3cUC&q=Ralph+Farr+winter&pg=PA38|title=Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 - p38|isbn=9781469606651|last1=Harland-Jacobs|first1=Jessica L.|date=September 2012|publisher=UNC Press Books }}</ref> an officer of the [[East India Company]], was appointed Provincial Grand Master for East India in Bengal, and warranted the first Indian lodge ''East India Arms'', No. 72, based in [[Fort William, India|Fort William]], Calcutta (Firminger 6).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://journals.openedition.org/erea/5853|title=From Britain to India: Freemasonry as a Connective Force of Empire|year=2017 |doi=10.4000/erea.5853 |last1=Deschamps |first1=Simon |journal=E-Rea |volume=14 |issue=2 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31812&articlexml=A-glimpse-into-Masonic-secrets-on-stage-04032017004013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410072032/http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31812&articlexml=A-glimpse-into-Masonic-secrets-on-stage-04032017004013|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2018|title=A glimpse into Masonic secrets on stage}}</ref>
[[File:Seal of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal.png|thumb|Seal of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal]]
Members of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal were some of the biggest figures of the British Raj.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}

== Emir of Afghanistan ==
It was the scene of the [[William Burkitt (judge)#Emir of Afghanistan|induction]] of [[Habibullah Khan|Emir Habibullah Khan IV of Afghanistan]] by [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] and [[William Burkitt (judge)|Sir William Burkitt]] on 1 Feb 1907. An account of this highly unusual event was written at the time by [[Henry McMahon|Sir Henry McMahon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://home.golden.net/~djjcameron/16.1.pdf|title=The Newsletter of the Committee on Masonic Education Vol. 16 No. 1 - "THE AMIR 'TAKES THREE"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kernowkid.com/uploads/2/9/1/2/29126801/the_emir_of_afghanistan_-_a_mason.pdf|title=The Emir of Afghanistan (1872-1919) Freemason A Royal Occasion A Royal Masonic Occasion (An Account of the entry of H M Habibullah Khan Amir of Afghanistan into Freemasonry) By Sir Henry McMahon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://freemasonrymatters.co.uk/latest-news-freemasonry/famous-freemasons-horatio-herbert-kitchener/|title=Horatio Herbert Kitchener|date=20 March 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/kitchener_h/kitchener_h.html|title=Horatio Herbert Kitchener}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2008/10/amir-habibullah.html|title=Amir Habibullah Khan: Afghan Reformer and Freemason}}</ref>

[[File:Induction Emir Habibullah Khan Freemason.png|thumb|Induction of Emir Habibullah Khan of Afghanistan into Masonry on 1 Feb 1907]]

== District Grandmasters ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of District Grandmasters
!Year
!District Grandmaster
|-
|1862
|H. D. Sandeman<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgcLAQAAIAAJ&q=%22H+D+Sandeman%22+India&pg=PP35|title=The India Office and Burma Office List|year=1843}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tz89AQAAMAAJ&q=%22H+D+Sandeman%22+India&pg=PA404|title=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies - section on East-India College|year=1844}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=m0gOAAAAQAAJ|title=Selections from Calcutta gazettes of the years 1784 (-1823) showing the political and social conditions of the English in India|year=1868 |publisher=Office of Superintendent Government Printing }}</ref>
|-
|1873
|[[John Pitt Kennedy|J. Pitt Kennedy]] (acting)
|-
|1875
|J. Blessington Roberts<ref>[[s:Dictionary of Indian Biography/Roberts, John Blessington]]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://masonicperiodicals.org/periodicals/fcn/issues/fcn_22041882/page/1/articles/ar00102/|title=The Freemason's Chronicle - Vol XV, No 382 - 22 Apr 1882}}</ref>
|-
|1877
|J. Pitt Kennedy
|-
|1879
|[[Henry Thoby Prinsep]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://masonicperiodicals.org/static/media/periodicals/119-FVL-1890-08-30-001-SINGLE.pdf|title=The Freemason Vol XXV No. 1121, 30 August 1890}}</ref>
|-
|1897
|Brigadier General A. G. Yeatman-Biggs<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.godolphins.org.uk/Biggs_Stockton_Wilts/Maj_Gen_Yeatman_Biggs.html|title=Major General Arthur Godolphin Yeatman Biggs|last=Yeatman-Biggs|first=Arthur Godolphin Yeatman}}</ref>
|-
|1898
|[[Henry Thoby Prinsep]]
|-
|1904
|[[William Burkitt (judge)|Sir W. R. Burkitt (judge)]]
|-
|1908
|[[John Stanley (judge)|Sir John Stanley]]
|-
|1911
|Sir Lawrence Jenkins<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34176|title=Sir Lawrence Hugh Jenkins|last=Jenkins|first=Lawrence Hugh|editor-first1=Roger T |editor-last1=Stearn |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/34176 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>
|-
|1913
|[[Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael|Baron Carmichael]]
|-
|1917
|[[Earl of Ronaldshay]]
|-
|1923
|Sir W. J. Reid<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&q=Sir+W+J+Reid+India&pg=PA692|title=The India List and India Office List - W. J. Reid, Deputy Commissioner, Assam|last1=India Office|first1=Great Britain|year=1819}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/1494031|title=Resignation by the Hon'ble Mr. W. J. Reid of his office of additional member of the Indian Legislative Council and appointment of Mr. A. W. Batham in his place.}}</ref>
|-
|1926
|Henry Rivers Nevill<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/viaf-176425231/|title=WorldCat Identities - Henry Rivers Nevill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ&q=Henry+Rivers+Nevill+India&pg=RA1-PA17|title=The India List and India Office List - p17|last1=India Office|first1=Great Britain|year=1819}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=michaelavery58&id=I84|title=Henry Rivers Nevill, CIE, OBE, BA, late Indian C.S. (b. 24may1876) was educ at Charterhouse and Oriel College, Oxford, and worked in India 1899-1932 (India Office List, 1933, findmypast).}}</ref>
|-
|1930
|Sir Eric Studd<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/films/item/studd-collection-film-1/|title=Studd Collection – Film 1. Description: B&W. 11:36min. Calcutta (Kolkata), India. December 1927 – January 1928. Film made by Sir Eric Studd. Grand Lodge Deputation to India. Inspecting the construction of a new building at Freemasons Hall. Outdoor scenes of the Masonic Headquarters. Viceroy's Cup. Arrival of Viceroy, Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal. Extended sequence of Masonic processions to church service, St. Jones, Calcutta. Group portrait of Lord Cornwallis (Grand Deputy Master), Sir John Ferguson (Past Grand Treasurer), Sir J.E. Kynaston Studd (Past Grand Deacon), Col. S. Pleydell-Bouverie (Dy. G. Director of Ceremonies) and Bishop Foss-Westcott. Scenes of Masonic procession. Short scene of Sir Eric Studd (Dy. District Grand Master). NB: Special thanks to Martin Cherry, Librarian at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London, for providing invaluable background information.}}</ref>
|-
|1938
|Charles Carey Morgan
|-
|1940
|Archibald Barr-Pollock<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35076/page/915/data.pdf|title=THE LONDON GAZETTE, 14 FEBRUARY, 1941}}</ref>
|-
|1954
|Frank Carlile Kidd<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43595/page/2474/data.pdf|title=The London Gazette|last=Kidd|first=Frank Carlile|date=1965-03-09}}</ref>
|-
|1960
|K. B. Large
|-
|1966
|Donald Fordwood<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43667/supplement/5492/data.pdf|title=SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE}}</ref>
|-
|1972
|A. M. Adams
|-
|1982
|Vahan Poladian<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artbrut.ch/en_GB/author/poladian-vahan|title=Vahan Poladian}}</ref>
|-
|1988
|Archibald Israel Edwards
|-
|1994
|L. O. H. de Silva
|-
|1998
|Iqbal Ahmed
|-
|2012
|K. S. David
|}

== Lodges ==
[[File:List of District Masters of Bengal.png|thumb|List of District Masters of Bengal, Park Street Lodge, Calcutta]]
{| class="wikitable"
!'''Lodge No.'''
!'''Lodge Name'''
!'''Location'''
|-
|67
|Star in the East
|Calcutta
|-
|438
|Lodge of Harmony
|Kanpur
|-
|486
|The St. John's Lodge
|Calcutta
|-
|1490
|Pioneer
|Asansol
|-
|1865
|True Freemasonry
|Calcutta
|-
|2037
|Princep
|Calcutta
|-
|2871
|Federation
|Calcutta
|-
|3054
|Calcutta
|Calcutta
|-
|3351
|United Dooars
|Calcutta
|-
|3618
|Templar
|Calcutta
|-
|3865
|Tisco
|Jamshedpur
|-
|4229
|St. Andrew
|Kulti
|-
|4594
|Mymensingh
|Calcutta
|-
|4814
|Darius
|Calcutta
|-
|5817
|Bengal Masters
|Calcutta
|-
|6746
|Martiniere
|Calcutta
|-
|6931
|Light in Andamans
|Port Blair
|-
|8194
|Kathmandu of Nepal
|Kathmandu, Nepal
|}

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Freemasonry in India]]
[[Category:Grand Lodges]]
[[Category:United Grand Lodge of England]]
[[Category:1729 establishments in India]]

{{Freemasonry-stub}}
{{India-culture-stub}}

District Grand Lodge of Bengal - Revision history

Info at 17:20, 20 May 2025