BEATON, MRS

One of those fortunate female‚ who are said to have obtained possession of the Freemasons' secrets. The following account of her is given in A General History of the County of Norfolk, published in 1829 (see volume ii, page 1304):

“Died in St. John's, Maddermarket, Norwich, July, 1802, aged 85, Mrs. Beaton, a native of Wales. She was commonly called the Freemason, from the circumstance of her having contrived to conceal herself one evening, in the wainscoting of a Lodge-room where she learned the secret-at the knowledge of which thousands of her sex have in vain attempted to arrive. She was, in many respects, a very singular character, of which one proof adduced is that the secret of the Freemasons died with her.”

There is no official confirmation of this story.