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Order of the Secret Monitor or the
Brotherhood of David and Jonathan - History and Origin
The first references to this Order are known to be of Dutch origin and
there is an interesting document written in the last quarter of the
Nineteenth Century which states that the Order of David and Jonathan
was brought to the New World about the year 1658 by Dutch settlers of
Jewish descent who settled in Newport, Rhode Island.
Looking at the history of the Netherlands, the northernmost part of
the Netherlands, Holland, was essentially Protestant in its religious
persuasion in the 1550s but an unfortunate dynastic marriage caused
first a strong Austrian and then a Spanish influence. Both Austria and
Spain were strongholds of Roman Catholicism and in those days of
extreme religious intolerance was consequently abhorent to the Dutch
Lutherians. Inevitably this led to the formation of underground secret
societies with the object of freeing the Mother-land from the fetters
of their overlords.
As we can read in the Old Testament books of Samuel, just as David was
persecuted by Saul, so were the Dutch Protestants harassed by the
Catholics. A revolutionary brotherhood was formed with modes of
recognition suited to the hours of darkness as well as in daylight,
and signs and symbols were chosen from the David and Jonathan story in
the Bible.
That was in the late 16th century; and it occurred again a hundred
years later when Louis XIV of France invaded the Low Countries again
in a Catholic crusade against the Huguenots; the same modes of
recognition were employed to cause confusion amongst the invaders.
Many Dutch Protestants emigrated to the New World to find a new life
with greater liberty than seemed possible in Holland at that time and
it is probable that the Order travelled with them. Any opposition to
the way of life of the Dutch settlers immediately drew forth a
resurgence of the David and Jonathan cult which had served the
Netherlanders so well in the past.
The Secret Monitor grew in America as a side degree conferred by any
Mason who had received it himself. It was brought to England in around
1875, by Dr. Issachar Zacharie when he returned from America following
his service as Chiropodist-General to the United States Army during
the Civil War. He settled back at 80, Brook Street, London, where he
built up a busy and successful practice as an orthopedic surgeon. In
London he became a member of the Bon Accord Mark Lodge and there he
met a number of other brethren who had become Secret Monitors during
their Masonic progress in other countries. At his invitation, they all
met at his house on 5th. May, 1887 and resolved to form a Conclave to
be called the Alfred Meadows Conclave (Alfred Meadows was a
distinguished surgeon). Under the leadership of Dr. Zacharie a Grand
Council was formed later in 1887 and the ritual was extended when a
further two degrees were added, one of which pertained to the Chair of
the Supreme Ruler.
The degrees gained in popularity, but this success was to bring about
a series of unfortunate events, for in the meantime the Grand Council
of Allied Masonic Degrees had been empowered by an American body of
similar name to confer their version of the degree. Regretfully a
period of over 37 years elapsed, during which both orders were
conferring a Secret Monitor degree, but the matter was finally
resolved in 1931 when C.W. Napier-Clavering was in the favourable
position of being Grand Supreme Ruler of the Secret Monitor and also
Grand Master of Allied Masonry. He then implemented an agreement
transferring all rights to the Grand Council of the Order of the
Secret Monitor and the degree was removed from the list of degrees of
the Allied body.
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