Incredible - The Masonic Del Boy, the man that stole a Knighthood.

The Masonic Del Boy

Masonic Del Boy - Although often accused of behaving badly Francis Columbine Daniel was certainly not a bad man; he actively supported many charities, and designed an award winning life-jacket. He was born in 1765 in King’s Lynn, and at 14 was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary at Wapping in London’s docklands; where in 1788 he opened his own medical practice. That same year he was Initiated in a lodge under the Antients Grand lodge, and he went on to join several other lodges including some under the rival Moderns Grand Lodge.

In 1791 Daniel joined the Moderns’ Royal Naval Lodge. They must have been in difficulty, as on the day he joined Daniel proposed eleven other joining members and was voted in as its Master. He chose his principal officers from amongst the new members; one of whom was his father, who was made Treasurer. 

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - Daniel occupied the Chair of the Royal Naval Lodge for 17 years in total, either as its elected Master or his deputy. Reputedly he Initiated nearly 1000 Brethren, on one night alone in February 1795 we know that there were five Initiations with Passings, and ten Raisings; although not every Initiate would have joined the Lodge, it was not compulsory for them to do so until 1926. 

Daniel was soon actively seeking Grand Lodge office; in 1799 it is alleged that he tried to become the Antients’ Grand Sword Bearer by having unqualified Brethren vote for him. In 1802 the Moderns Grand Lodge did make him a Grand Steward, despite their concern that the Royal Naval Lodge might be seeking autonomy; the lodge had begun to call itself the Royal Naval Lodge of Independence, and although a Moderns lodge they were using an Antients lodge certificate design.

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - In 1801 the Antients Grand Lodge expelled Daniel for this spurious use of their certificate design. Daniel responded by complaining to the Moderns about five Brethren who he said were ‘encouraging irregular meetings’ by being members of both Grand Lodges, as he had been before the Antients expelled him. One of those he named was found to be innocent; another had acted in ignorance, he sued Daniel and won £400 in damages, which Daniel paid from Lodge funds.

The other three Brethren named by Daniel were Thomas Harper, the Antients Deputy Grand Master, and the two Antients Grand Wardens. Did Daniel select them out of mischief, was he jealous of their high rank, or was it his intention to provoke discussions about uniting the rival Grand Lodges? Thomas Harper did indeed ask for time to look at ways of resolving the differences between the two Grand Lodges; Daniel then dropped his complaint, and did himself write a 116 page address extolling the benefits of a union.

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - Meanwhile the Moderns Grand Lodge had new concerns about the Royal Naval Lodge; and in 1808 an investigation would reveal financial irregularities with both the registration of new members and the payment of fees, remember those 1000 Initiates! Undaunted by this in 1810 Daniel, with other Royal Naval Lodge Brethren, took over another struggling Moderns lodge, the Lodge of Felicity, and he was immediately elected Master.

This lodge also began to flourish, it had 510 Initiations in just 3 years. Whilst Daniel was Master the lodge surprisingly pledged itself to help pay off the Royal Naval Lodge’s debt to Grand Lodge, but despite that pledge the Moderns Grand Lodge kept Daniel suspended until the debt was cleared. He was not reinstated until 1815, shortly after which he resigned from the Lodge of Felicity; Daniel would be very active in Grand Lodge, and he served on the newly United Grand Lodge’s Board of General Purposes.

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - Daniel was a well-known figure in East London. A keen horseman he travelled in a carriage drawn by two cream coloured Arabian horses, and he also had a champion trotting horse named ‘Phenomena’. Daniel was honoured for his many philanthropic activities, both Masonic and non-Masonic. In 1808 he started a Moderns’ charity or the sons of Freemasons, this was similar to an earlier Antients’ charity that Daniel had also supported; the two charities later combined to form the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys. 

In 1808 Daniel retired from his medical practice in Wapping; it was this long association with London’s docklands that led him to devise an inflatable life preserver. In 1806 he publicly demonstrated it on the River Thames by having volunteers float by wearing them, some firing pistols and playing musical instruments!

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - So that it could be freely copied Daniel did not patent his invention, and he was awarded a Royal Humane Society Gold Medal. In 1812 he gave another demonstration, this time on the Serpentine before the Royal Dukes. This possibly led to the invitation to a Royal levee in 1820, where he and a Mr Aldis surreptitiously obtained knighthoods; by accident or design they had just joined the queue of those waiting to be knighted.

Once granted it could not be taken away, but the next year George IV would issue an order that as two knighthoods had been ‘surreptitiously obtained’ in future all appointments would be advised in writing, and appointees would have to show that letter to an equerry before being knighted.

The Masonic Del Boy Continued - The now Sir Francis Daniel was last elected Master of the Royal Naval Lodge in 1822; but he did not take the Chair, possibly because of unpaid dues. In 1825 his name appears on a list of members to be erased; although he may in fact have died, as in the mid-1820s his daughter would seek assistance from several Lodges mentioning her ‘late’ father. Sir Francis Daniel was a remarkable man, with many interests; I like to think of him as a Masonic Del Boy, always wheeling and dealing but with his heart in the right place.

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