June, the month Essex had two Provincial Grand Masters in one day

News stories bringing the history of Essex Freemasons alive to a modern audience

On 15th June 1974, former Hollywood actor Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, after a run of 12 years and nine months bowed out of his lead role as Provincial Grand Master. He told the Province he had “achieved the object he had in view” and resigned. On the same day HRH The Duke of Kent, Grand Master, appointed our fifteenth Provincial Grand Master, Frederick Leistikow MA.

The former Grenadier Guards officer and grandson of our eighth Provincial Grand Master had a brief career in Hollywood where he was linked with several high-profile romances, notably with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and others. He featured as Captain Squires in The Dawn Patrol with Errol Flynn and David Niven in 1938. In World War II, he joined the Merchant Navy Admiralty Small Vessels Pool and opened up Warwick Castle to evacuees from the heavy enemy bombing in Coventry.

He was one of 87 founders and the first President of the Eagle Ski Club in Gstaad, Switzerland. The kindred spirit found in both Freemasonry and skiing gave him his two greatest pleasures: after a well-rehearsed Masonic ceremony or a good day on the pistes, he enjoyed the festive boards and après-ski where everyone there was considered equal.

The Earl had appointed Frederick Leistikow as his Deputy in June 1971. A Chartered Patent Agent from Loughton, Frederick Leistikow was born in 1904 and died in 1993. He joined Freemasonry in December 1934 when he was initiated into Old Felstedian Lodge No. 3662. He was promoted to Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 1954 and in Grand Lodge his first appointment was as Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies when he was 59.

Highly regarded as a good Provincial Grand Master, he had already served as Grand Superintendent of Essex for one year and his new appointment restored the duality of both roles for the first time since the Royal Arch was constituted in Essex in 1883.

Frederick Leistikow chose Colonel A. R. Kiggins TD JP DL as his Deputy Provincial Grand Master. In 1973, Colonel ‘Bert’ Kiggins had become the first Deputy Grand Superintendent of Essex since Sir Benjamin Craven served Thomas Dunckerley from 1791 to 1795. As members of the same military lodge, Bert Kiggins also introduced the now Provincial Historian to Essex Freemasonry.

Did you know?

The 7th Earl of Warwick:

1. Presided as President over the Festivals of all three main charities: the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls, the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys.
2. Formed the Bear and Ragged Staff Lodge in 1973 as the Provincial Grand Master’s own Lodge, rather like the Royal Alpha Lodge which is the Grand Master’s personal Lodge and which the Earl was a member of.

Discover more at: A History of Brotherhood and Legacy, 22 mins.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFOfuGkJ7s

Foundation Stone, The Official Essex Masonic Podcast

Photos

Top: Nicknamed ‘The Duke of Hollywood’, 7th Earl of Warwick with Joan Crawford. Courtesy Joan Crawford Images 1936

Middle: Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, our 14th Provincial Grand Master 1961 -1974, an accomplished ritualist

Bottom: Frederick Leistikow MA, highly regarded as a good Provincial Grand Master 1974 - 1985