Robert Freke Gould

Robert Freke Gould (10 November 1836 – 26 March 1915) was a soldier, barrister and prominent Freemason and Masonic historian. He wrote a History of Freemasonry (6 vols.) (London: Thomas C. Jack, 1883–1887), which remains a standard reference work on the subject.

Early life and career Gould was the son of the Rev. Robert Freke Gould, Rector of Stoke Pero in Somerset and a brother of the Countess of Strafford. The younger brother of Thomas Wentworth Gould, Robert Freke Gould was born in Ilfracombe in Devon He served in Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, India and China. He commanded a company during the Second Opium War of 1860 and served on the Staff of General Staveley during the Taiping Rebellion of 1862. Gould was made Master of the Moira Lodge in 1874 and was appointed Senior Grand Deacon of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1880. He was a Member of the Board of General Purposes (1876–83) and of the Colonial Board (1876–79). Gould was the lodge's second Master.

Later years In December 1913 Gould was made a Past Grand Warden in honour of the Centenary of the Union of the Grand Lodges of England. On his death he was buried in the nearby Brookwood Cemetery. He left a widow, Louisa Maria Gould who on her death in 1929 aged 79 was buried with him.

Partial bibliography

The Four Old Lodges: Founders of Modern Freemasonry and Their Descendants, Spencer's Masonic Depot, London (1879) The Atholl Lodge, Spencer's Masonic Depot, London (1879 The Military Lodges: The Apron and the Sword, or Freemasonry Under Arms, Gale & Polden (1899) History of Freemasonry: Its Antiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs, Etc, Jack (London), (1883–7) Volume I Volume II Volume III on archive.org Concise History of Freemasonry Gale & Polden (1903)