Notable Figures
The membership of Masonic Lodges – and that of well-known people in particular – has intrigued the public since the very beginnings of Freemasonry. Stories have long circulated, and there has been no shortage of conjecture, speculation and controversy. Masonic Lodges are guided by the principles of discretion and privacy: members are forbidden to disclose the identity of other Freemasons. It was precisely this that drew many prominent people to join, and their identities remain a secret to this day.
Every Freemason, however, has the right to decide for himself whether to reveal his membership. Many have done so, while in other cases the public found out because the secret was not well enough kept. In any event, we know today that the ranks of Freemasonry have included many famous men, from every part of the world, who have left an indelible mark on politics, science, the arts and other fields.
Many celebrated men joined Masonic Lodges guided by the ideals of human rights, personal development, justice, liberty and brotherhood, and made no secret of their membership of the Craft. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was a prominent Freemason who, in his day, laid the cornerstone of the Capitol wearing a special Masonic apron.
There are some four and a half million Masons in the world, in almost every country. Below is a list of some of the better-known Freemasons from around the world and from Croatia:
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837, poet), Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930, German admiral, Grand Admiral (Großadmiral)), Andrew Bell (1726–1809, co-founder of the Encyclopædia Britannica), Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790, American publisher, writer, inventor, scientist and diplomat), Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959, film director and producer, co-founder of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, which through merger became Paramount Pictures), Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977 / Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin / actor, star of the silent screen, director, screenwriter and musician), Clark Gable (1901–1960, actor), Col. Harland Sanders (1890–1980, founder of KFC), Dr James Naismith (1861–1939, inventor of basketball at the YMCA), Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852, British military commander and statesman, one of the victors of the Battle of Waterloo), Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (b. 1930, astronaut, Apollo 11), Franz Liszt (1811–1886, composer), George Washington (1732–1799, first President of the United States), Giovanni Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798, adventurer and writer), Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882, revolutionary and one of the key leaders of the unification of Italy), Gustave Eiffel (Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, 1832–1923 / engineer, designer of the Eiffel Tower), Harpo Marx (1888–1964, actor and comedian), Harry Houdini (1874–1926, illusionist), Harry Truman (1884–1972, President of the United States), Henry Ford (1863–1947, industrialist), Horatio Nelson (1758–1805, vice-admiral and strategist), Hugo Pratt (1927–1995, comic-strip artist and illustrator), J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972, first Director of the FBI), Jean-Henri Dunant (1828–1910, founder of the Red Cross), Jesse Jackson (1941–2026, civil rights campaigner), Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782, composer), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832, poet and dramatist), John Entwistle (1944–2002, musician, bass guitarist of The Who), John Wayne (1907–1979, actor), Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936, poet, Nobel laureate), King C. Gillette (King Camp Gillette, 1855–1932 / inventor and entrepreneur, developed the safety razor with a thin disposable blade), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827, composer), Mark Twain (1835–1910, writer), Michael Richards (b. 1949, actor, best known as Kramer in Seinfeld), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938 / national leader, founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821, military commander), Nat “King” Cole (1919–1965, musician, jazz pianist), Oscar Peterson (1925–2007, jazz pianist, winner of seven competitive Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), Oscar Wilde (1854–1900, writer), Peter Sellers (1925–1980, actor), Phil Collins (b. 1951, musician, drummer), René Guénon (1886–1951, writer, intellectual and esotericist), Richard Dreyfuss (b. 1947, actor), Shaquille O’Neal (b. 1972, NBA basketball player), Silvio Berlusconi (1936–2023, entrepreneur, Italian Prime Minister), Simón Bolívar (1783–1830, revolutionary), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930, writer), Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955, discoverer of penicillin), Sir Thomas J. Lipton (1848–1931, merchant and entrepreneur, founder of the Lipton brand and populariser of packaged tea), Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965, British Prime Minister), Steve Wozniak (b. 1950, co-founder of Apple), Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778 / man of letters, historian and philosopher, a central figure of the French Enlightenment), Walter “Walt” Disney (Walter Elias Disney, 1901–1966 / animator and producer, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791, composer).
Adalbert Adam Barić (1742–1813, jurist, writer and university professor), Andrija Štampar (1888–1958 / specialist physician, one of the founders of the World Health Organization), Ante Trumbić (1864–1938, jurist and politician), Antun Barac (1894–1955, literary historian and critic), Count Antun Pejačević (1749–1802, Croatian nobleman, Habsburg lieutenant field marshal), Antun Ulrich (1902–1998, architect), Bela Čikoš-Sesija (1864–1931, painter), Dionis Sunko (1879–1935, architect), Đuro Szabo (1875–1943, art historian, conservator and museologist), Fran Folnegović (1848–1903, politician and publicist), Frane Cota (1898–1951, sculptor, architect and Olympian), Šiško (Šišmundo) Gundulić (Italian: Sigismondo Gondola, c. 1634–1682), Grga Novak (1888–1978, historian and archaeologist), Count Franjo Jelačić Bužimski (1746–1810, Croatian nobleman, Habsburg lieutenant field marshal), Count Josip Kazimir Drašković (1716–1765, Croatian nobleman and Habsburg general), Gustav Krklec (1899–1977 / Croatian writer and translator, first president of the Croatian Literary Translators’ Association), Hugo Ehrlich (1879–1936, architect), Ignjat Fischer (1870–1948, architect), Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962, sculptor, architect and writer), Ivan Šubašić (1892–1955, politician, Ban of Croatia), Ivo Andrić (1892–1975, writer, poet and diplomat, Nobel laureate in 1961), Ivo Politeo (1887–1956, lawyer), Ivan Ribar (1881–1968, lawyer and politician), Count Janko Drašković (1770–1856, Croatian nobleman), Josip Badalić (1888–1985, literary historian, Slavist, bibliographer and translator), Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815–1905 / bishop, theologian, politician and patron of the arts, founder of Croatia’s central scientific and cultural institutions), Julije Benešić (1883–1957, writer, poet and translator), Ljubo Babić (1890–1974, painter and art historian), Marko Kostrenčić (1884–1976, jurist, rector and university professor), Mate Balota (Mijo Mirković, 1898–1963 / academician, writer, economist, university professor and journalist), Milivoj Dežman (1873–1940, physician, writer and editor), Miroslav Feldman (1899–1976, writer and poet), Mgr Josip Galjuf (1722–1786, bishop), Mgr Maksimilijan Vrhovac (1752–1827, bishop), Nikola Škrlec Lomnički (1729–1799, jurist and economist), Pavao Vuk-Pavlović (1894–1976, poet, translator and philosopher), Pjer Križanić (real name Petar Križanić, 1890–1962 / painter and caricaturist), Rudolf Matz (1901–1988, composer), Slavko Kvaternik (1878–1947, politician and officer), Vladan Desnica (1905–1967, writer and translator), Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998 / Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1975), Vladimir Vidrić (1875–1909, poet).