Charles Horton

Charles Horton started his career as a ‘professional freemason’ in the mid-1980s; the first
professionally qualified archivist employed by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. That role soon expanded
given the nature of the heritage material that formed the core collections of the Grand Lodge Library
and Museum. Housed in Freemasons’ Hall, Dublin, a building with wondrous High Victorian revivalist
interiors, the collections were opened to the public in 1988 with his exhibition on Freemasonry in
Dublin 1688-1988.

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin with post-graduate degrees from University College Dublin and
University College London, Charles built on his experience gained at Freemasons’ Hall to become one
of the leading curators in Ireland with specialist knowledge on the History of the Book, and Anglo-
American book collectors.

Having spent over twenty years as Curator of Western Collections and Head of Collections at the
Chester Beatty Library, Charles returned to the Irish fraternal world with his study on the History of
the Friendly Brothers of Saint Patrick (2001 rep 2011) and Fine Brass and Richly Gilded: Van Nost’s
lost statue of General Lord Blakeney (2018).

His previous publications on Albrecht Durer, illuminated manuscripts, biblical and Manichaean
papyri can be accessed on academia.com.

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