Hornsey Lodge

A Mason was one of the two cameramen responsible for making the most successful British film ever shown in cinemas. This box-office record stood for over sixty years, until 1978, when it was surpassed by Star Wars, a Hollywood movie, so the record still stands for a British made film. Unfortunately, few know his name, despite some twenty million people viewing his work.

So why have few heard of the film maker, John “Mac” McDowell, a decorated war hero and committed Mason?

John Benjamin McDowell was born in Plumstead (then Kent, now part of south east London) in 1877. He was educated locally, but left school at fifteen years old to become an engineering apprentice at the nearby Woolwich Arsenal. He was soon, however, to move into the fledgling British film industry. By 1898, he was working as a cameraman, projectionist and electrician for “The British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate”. From the very start, he was involved in the production of films relating to the army, with the company making documentaries about the Boer War.

McDowell became a Mason in his twenties, being initiated into Rye Lodge No 2272 in 1902, which then met in High Holborn. This would be the first of several Lodges where he would serve as Master. At this point of his life, however, he appears to have been too busy to take on more Masonic commitments. His focus was on making movies.

In early 1908, after short spells employed by other film-makers, McDowell helped to form a new company, the “British and Colonial Kinematograph Company” (known as “B&C”). This produced news programmes, documentaries and short comedies – the first comic film he directed was “A Breach of Promise Case”, a seemingly strange story, as it starred two dogs! The “B&C” became a limited company in 1911; and increased funding allowed it to produce longer dramas. McDowell also had more time for Masonry and was able to be a founder member of the Woolwich Polytechnic Lodge No 3578. It is likely that he had studied at the institution and this establishment later became the University of Greenwich, which provides another link to the twist in this tale.

By 1913, McDowell was in sole charge of the company and produced what has been hailed as “the first British epic film” – a spectacular depiction of the Battle of Waterloo employing hundreds of extras and horses. Cavalry soldiers from the 12th Lancers (now part of the Royal Lancers) were loaned to the production and the regimental historian recorded “the facts that Napoleon could not ride a horse and that a sergeant in the regiment appropriated Wellington’s boots nearly prevented the film being made”!

Incredibly by today’s standards, the film was finished in just five days; and it was a great success when it went on show in cinemas. McDowell later commented that “everyone made money out of it… and went home happy”. This was also the year that he was the Master of his Mother Lodge.

B&C’s next major production, in 1914, was “Loves and Adventures in the Life of Shakespeare” with McDowell taking the role of director. The title seemingly had an impact on him, as he fell in love with Emilie Olympia Rudolphine Martinek, who was cast to portray Queen Elizabeth in the film. This adventure probably did not go down too well with his wife, Emily Ada White, whom he had married in 1900.

After the Great War broke out in August 1914, McDowell joined the Volunteer Training Corps, which was a Great War version of the Home Guard. At the very top of the organisation were two Freemasons: Lord Desborough was the chairman of the Association of Volunteer Training Corps, and the military advisor was General Sir Garrett O’Moore Creagh, who had won the Victoria Cross fighting in Afghanistan (proof that little changes in this world!).

William Henry Grenfell, 1^st Baron Desborough was initiated into Apollo University Lodge No 357 in Oxford in 1875 on the same day as Oscar Wilde. Desborough was one of the first Olympic athletes and went on to join several other Lodges, including Ellington No 1566 and Grenfell No 3077, both in Berkshire; and Palladian No 120 in Hereford. The Lord Desborough Lodge No 3200 is named after him. General Creagh was a very active Freemason in India, joining Star of Rajpootand No 2093 (now erased), Friendship No 2307 (now No 47 under the District Grand Lodge of Bombay), Kitchener No 2998 and Himalayan Brotherhood No 459 (which now meets in London). He later replaced Lord Kitchener as District Grand Master of the Punjab.

McDowell’s new love had been born into a German touring circus family in 1878, but moved to England with her parents and a daughter from an earlier marriage. She and the film-maker had a long-lasting relationship and their daughter, Adrienne Aimee Franklin McDowell, was born in February 1915 – Franklin was the maiden name of McDowell’s mother. It was less than a month before McDowell joined the Duchy of Cornwall Lodge No 3038 that Adrienne was born – maybe he was having sleepless nights and went to Lodge meetings to snatch forty winks! Quite how Lodge members viewed McDowell’s German wife is not known.

In 1915, the British government realised that it could use the film industry to develop support for the war effort and increase recruiting, particularly into the army. Initially, McDowell was not involved as two other film-makers, Geoffrey Malins and Edward Tong, were despatched to France. Tong, however, fell ill and McDowell volunteered to be his replacement, arriving in France on 23^rd June 1916; the day before the British artillery bombardment began on German positions, signalling the start of the Battle of the Somme. One officer was impressed with McDowell’s bravery whilst filming in combat, noting that, “Mr McDowell ran considerable risks. I have seen him have very narrow escapes, notably from machine gun bullets… when trying to cross no man’s land… and several times from shells… he has also been gassed”.

Filming of the fighting was completed in less than two weeks between the end of June and the beginning of July. The finished article contains many of the iconic images of World War One, which are still used in documentaries to this day. The footage was assessed for the government by Brigadier General John Charteris, an expert in propaganda, who recommended to the War Office that it should be released as soon as possible. Charteris was another committed member of the Craft and, like General Creagh, was very active in India. Both men belonged to the Kitchener Lodge No 2998 and the Brigadier also belonged to four other Lodges on the sub-continent, namely Beauchamp No 1422, Stewart No 1960, Yeatman-Biggs No 2672 and McMahon No 3262 (albeit the latter two have since transferred to London). No doubt due to his military background, he also joined Aldershot Army & Navy No 1971 in London.

The film produced by McDowell and Malins, simply entitled, “The Battle of the Somme”, was released in London on 10th August 1916. At that time, the campaign was still on-going, and, although many of the bloodiest scenes were cut by the War Office, the footage still contained images showing the horrors of the war, which with machine guns, mass artillery and poison gas, was being fought on an industrial scale. On 28^th August, the Yorkshire Evening Post printed the comment, attributed to the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who noted that, “If the exhibition of this picture all over the world does not end war, God help civilisation”. The film was a tremendous success and, during the first six weeks of its release, it was seen by twenty million people in Britain (then almost half the population). It was also shown in eighteen other countries.

McDowell went on to work on more productions for the War Office including newsreels and the major films, “The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks” and “The German Retreat and The Battle of Arras”. In April 1918, although technically still a civilian, he was put in charge of the movements of all the cameramen on the Western Front. In June 1918, both he and Malins were awarded the “Medal of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” for “courage and devotion to duty” and McDowell was eventually commissioned as a Lieutenant in July 1918. As a serving officer, his bravery resulted in him being awarded the Military Cross (then, second only to the Victoria Cross) for “courage under fire”.

McDowell continued to be a member of his three Lodges throughout the war and in 1920, he was the founder member of a French Lodge in Calais, Outre Manche (Across the Channel) No 14. His efforts in Masonry were rewarded with London Grand Rank in 1927. Unfortunately, when Malins released a book entitled “How I Filmed the War”, he completely omitted the work of his colleague. McDowell had been written out of history.

Or maybe not. The author of this article was a Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector and was the founder of the world’s first human Super Recogniser Unit. The officers on the team had an innate and fantastic ability to recall and identify faces. In addition to solving all manner of crimes, the officers were also called on to assist the media, when over twenty families had claimed that a soldier featured in “The Battle of the Somme” was their relative. The iconic image shows a British “Tommy” carrying a wounded comrade through a trench. Unfortunately, the soldier has no headdress or jacket, so there are no badges or insignia on display, making it impossible to narrow down the search to a particular regiment. One of the Super Recognisers was tasked by The Times newspaper to assess various photographs of Great War servicemen to establish which one featured in McDowell’s film. In the end a soldier from the Durham Light Infantry was selected.

The Masonic twist to this is as follows – your author, like McDowell, is a member of the Duchy of Cornwall Lodge, as is the chief researcher, Worshipful Brother Peter Reeve. So nearly one hundred years after the film was made, it was passed to another member to be identified. Furthermore, as we have seen, McDowell was a member of Woolwich Polytechnic Lodge, an institution that became the University of Greenwich. This is the very university where the Super Recogniser tests were developed by Professor Josh Davis.

Brother McDowell was unfairly erased from history, but his work is still seen today. He was a dedicated member of the Craft and a brave and resourceful cameraman who brought the horrors of war to the cinema. As the man who was jointly responsible for the most viewed British film, he is a Freemason who should be remembered with pride.

This article is part of Arena Magazine Issue 59 – Christmas 2025.
Arena Magazine is the official online magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in Arena Issue 59 here.

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