2025 Lecture – Freemasonry and Colonial Power in British India, 1720-1921

Dr. Simon Deschamps
Centre for Anglophone Studies, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, France

Simon Deschamps is a Senior Lecturer in British Studies at the Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès and a member of the research group Cultures Anglo-Saxonnes (EA 801). His research focuses on Freemasonry and Enlightenment sociability, as well as the British Empire, and more specifically the history of colonial India. He has worked extensively on colonial networking, cultural imperialism, and globalization. Some of his most recent publications include the articles entitled “Cosmopolitisme maçonnique et pouvoir colonial dans l’Inde britannique” (2015), “Merchant and Masonic Networks in Eighteenth Century Colonial India” (2021), and “Challenging the Empire: Indian Nationalism and Early Anti-colonial Activism in Britain” (2025). He has also written a book entitled Sociabilité maçonnique et pouvoir colonial dans l’Inde britannique, 1730-1921, which was published by the Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux in May 2019

Lecture Summary

This lecture examines the development of Freemasonry in British India as an ambivalent institution shaped by tensions between universalist ideals and colonial society.

Introduced through networks linked to the East India Company, Freemasonry expanded across key urban centers such as Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Its flexible structure enabled it to adapt to imperial conditions, fostering cohesion among British elites while reinforcing authority through ritual, ceremony, and public display. And yet, Freemasonry was also one of the few colonial institutions partially open to Indians. Initially limited to political allies and elites, Indian participation increased over time, raising questions about race, religion, and inclusion. The emergence of “native” and “integrated” lodges reflected efforts to reconcile egalitarian principles with exclusionary realities. Increased Indian engagement brought about a process of vernacularization, as local members incorporated indigenous languages, symbols, and religious texts into masonic practice. In doing so, they reshaped the institution and used it to assert status and articulate early nationalist ideas.

Freemasonry thus functioned both as a tool of empire and as a space where colonial hierarchies were negotiated and contested.