William Burkitt

Who was William Burkitt?

Sir William Robert Burkitt was a judge in British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He retired from active judiciary service in 1904 and rose to District Grandmaster of Bengal, presiding over the ancient craft of Freemasonry for over half of India's population in the Bengal Presidency.

From the Irish branch of the historic Burkitt family of judges, theologians and doctors, Sir William was educated at Trinity College Dublin, graduated to the Bengal Civil Service in 1869 and served various judiciary roles in the North Western Provinces, in locations such as Oudh, Allahabad, Delhi and Calcutta. As a High Court Judge he was appointed Puisne Judge and was made a Knight Bachelor in June 1904, attaining the role of Chief Justice of the United Provinces.

His most well-known achievement was, together with Lord Kitchener, to induct the Emir of Afghanistan Habibullah Khan at Freemasons Hall at Lodge Concordia in Park Street, Kolkata in 1907. This was performed in an unusual style, the Emir taking all three ordinary degrees of masonry at once - a rare event rumoured to signify membership of the Roshaniya.