Two ships sunk, 109 years lived, seventy years in the Craft
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
He said the secret was a daily tot of Navy rum — never before noon. Brother Harry Waddingham died recently at 109, the oldest known Freemason in Sussex and likely in England and Wales, a man whose life reads less like a biography than like a compressed history of the twentieth century.
Born in Fulham in 1916, Harry joined the Royal Navy at fourteen. His destroyer went down at Dunkirk. A second vessel was lost at Scapa Flow during the evacuation of Crete. He also served on North Atlantic convoys. He came home a lieutenant; he later retired from the RAF as a Squadron Leader.
Freemasonry found him through the school where he taught physical education. Initiated in December 1954 into Lodge No. 5163 in London, he remained active in the Craft for over seven decades — founding a Lodge in Surrey, serving as Worshipful Master of the Royal Sovereign Light Lodge at the age of one hundred, visiting Lodges across East Sussex and often playing the organ. He held degrees in the Royal Arch, Royal Ark Mariners, Royal and Select Masters, and Allied Masonic Degrees.
Last year he received his certificate for seventy years of service.
To the rum he added three other secrets: no eating after six in the evening, the support of his church, and the brotherhood of the Mark. He had earned the right to believe in all of them.
The Fraternity extends its condolences to the family and friends of Brother Harry Waddingham.
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