Thursday 23rd June 2011
Professor Susan Mitchell Sommers: ‘Thomas Dunckerley: A True Son of Adam’
Dunckerley (c. 1720-1795) was so influential in his day that he scarcely needs an introduction, or so one might have thought. Henry Sadler’s 1891 biographical study has long stood as the final word on Dunckerley’s life and accomplishments. Sadler’s work is a fine example of how new historical methods were brought to bear on Masonic history which, until that point, had relied on hearsay and pious mythology. Drawing largely on Dunckerley’s correspondence and contemporary newspaper accounts, Sadler affirms Dunckerley’s claim to be the illegitimate son of George II. Dunckerley has thus come down to us, according to Sadler’s conclusions, as a Masonic wunderkind—an illegitimate and unrecognised son of George II whose exceptional personal qualities manifested themselves early in life, commanding the respect and friendship of his social superiors, and whose eventual royal recognition and unsurpassed Masonic authority were the just rewards of a life focussed, laser-like, on virtue and service.
The Dunckerley that is endorsed by Sadler’s study is, however, largely a creature of Dunckerley’s own invention. Dr Sommers’ current research reveals a much more interesting and ambiguous character –one whose personal quest for respectability and preferment also drove his aggressive pursuit of Masonic order, ritual uniformity, and the creation of a unified system of higher degrees. This paper will share current research on Dunckerley’s personal life and ambitions, offering a much more nuanced and intriguing portrait of the man than has heretofore been presented.
Professor Susan Mitchell Sommers is Professor of History at St Vincent’s College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She earned a BA and MA at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and an MA and PhD from Washington University in St Louis. Dr Sommers is the author of Parliamentary Politics of a County and its Town: General Elections in Suffolk and Ipswich in the Eighteenth Century (Greenwood Press, 2002) as well as several articles and book reviews. Her current book projects include: The Radical Brotherhood: The Society of the Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights, Job’s Children: A London Demimonde, 1770-1820, and a biography of Thomas Dunckerley
