Type: Article
Fagan, Patrick. ‘Infiltration of Dublin Freemason Lodges by United Irishmen and other Republican Groups’, Eighteenth-century Ireland/Iris an dá chultúr, Vol. 13 (1998), pp 65-85.
This article gives an account of the infiltration of Freemason lodges in Dublin by the United Irishmen in the 1790’s. Fagan explores the history of the United Irishmen and the organization of Freemason lodges, and discusses the factors that contributed to the ‘hijacking of lodges as fronts for the activities of radical and republican groups’. The article surveys a number of Dublin Freemason lodges, detailing their membership and establishment, concluding that one half of Dublin lodges were infiltrated during the 1790’s by the United Irishmen or other republican groups.