MAITLAND, JOHN [SSNE 407]
- Surname
- MAITLAND, LAUDERDALE
- First name
- JOHN
- Title/rank
- 2nd EARL OF LAUDERDALE
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- LAUDERDALE, EAST LOTHIAN
Text source
The majority of the career of John Maitland, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, can be found in his entry in the DNB. He became a political refugee in the 1650s and later secretary of State in the 1660s during the Stuart Restoration period. Among other things, he sent Sir Robert Moray to Scotland as his agent in 1667, during which time Moray used his Freemason's Mark as an indicator to Lauderdale of encrypted messages. David Stevenson has written some interesting work on this use of Masonic symbols.DNB; D. Stevenson, Masonry, symbolism and ethics in the life of Sir Robert Moray, FRS in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, no.114 (1984), p.412.