National Society Magna Charta
Dames and Barons
Electronic Newsletter, March, 2017
802
Years Since 1215 - 8 Years to 2025
TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY MAGNA CHARTA DAMES AND
BARONS, POTENTIAL MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO SHARE OUR INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES
OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR
DATE: March 29, 2017
If this is the first Electronic Newsletter that you have received from our
Society, please read the paragraph OUR E-MAIL LIST below.
The link to the Website is: www.magnacharta.org. Please go to What's New for
the version of this E-News which has the links included.
Highlights:
Future Visions in the Digital and More Transparent World
Annual Dinner in Washington DC - Friday, April 14, 2017 - Visit with Members
From All Over US - Subscribers and Patrons Welcome-
Locate the Invitation on our Website
Next Trip - Possible Educational Tour to Runnymede, June 2017 - Fairhaven
Lectures
Report of Our Excellent Year - 2016 - Information About the Extraordinary
2015 Tour
Addition To Website
"How to Complete Your Lineage Application"
Additions to the Members Site - Magnacharta1.org
Reach Out to Divisions, Chapters & Colonies - Form Relationships with Other
Members
Call our office at 215-836-5022 with questions.
______________________
Editorial Comment: When we sent a mailed Newsletter to over 20,000 members
and potential members the cost was significant as we tried to include
considerable content. Then the cost of postage increased and I was reminded
that small print was hard to read. The electronic news has provided an
alternative and we would like to expand circulation to our members and
potential members without email. We are in the process of sending a mailed
newsletter. In addition to providing information we are striving to provide
updated address lists for our Divisions, Chapters and Colonies, present and
to be formed.
Future Visions in the Digital and More Transparent World
My
home is my home and no one can take it away (without due process) and
Leaders are Subject to the Law (conceeded by King John) and I am I am
eligible to be tried by a jury (of my peers) and I can attend the Church of
my Choice (the Church shall be Free) and above all the message of Magna
Charta extends beyond the actuaql document of 1215 which was annulled by the
Pope and is written into history when King Henry III offered Magna Charta of
his own free will. So many people enjoy the benefits of the Vision of the
Barons in many ways and we continue to explore its incredible impact on our
World.
The Barons who were the ancestors of our members risked their lives for
ideas. We are inspired to explore those ideas and the ancestral connection
makes it personal. And we are embarking on a project to humanize our
ancestors, also descendants of the Barons, as they left a legacy to the
generations which followed. Starting with the Barons, we are undertaking to
explore more information about the actual people who continued the Legacy.
DNA can be measured, however, the spirit or detrrmination to achieve is not
as easily measured. We ask our members and those interested to explore the
intervening generations and to share thqat information on our Website. Our
members can enter information on the members Website.
We
are experiencing the impact of Wikileaks and the creativity of hackers to
access private information. As this information reveals the strengths and
weakness of people who are living in the digital age, we may increasingly
rely on intention as many decisions are made on the basis of misinformation.
Within that context, the study of our ancesttors should emphaswize the good
they have accomplished rather than their mistakes.
Annual Dinner in Washington DC - Friday, April 14,
2017 - Subscribers and Patrons Welcome � Subscription Form is on our
Website.
Chancellor Neilson will provide an update on the 800th Celebration
activities and will offer perspective on the role of our Society in
continuing awareness of Magna Charta for the next eight (8) years to 2025
and the legacy which can be embraced by the future.
Mailed invitations to our April 14, 2017 dinner have been sent to those who
have expressed interest in attending, those who have recently attended,
recent contributors and leaders. It is not too late to request an invitation
and call us to let us know you are coming. Mailed invitations, like mailed
newsletters, involve significant cost and we appreciate that our members
with internet access share information. Electronic Newsletters especially
can provide considerable and lasting information which supports our
educational mission.
I
encourage you to attend the dinner and to consider how the Magna Charta
Legacy can be celebrated in your community. Contributions, especially Patron
Contributions, are welcome and encouraged.
Last Year's Washington DC Lecture is on our Website - Saturday, April 9,
2016
The Rule of Law in the
Digital Age: Magna Carta & Protecting Freedoms in a Connected World�
Our speaker was Dr. Emm
Barnes Johnstone, a public historian who in 2015 led the Magna Carta project
at Royal Holloway University of London in Runnymede, just two miles from the
meadow where the Charter was sealed. Dr. Johnstone�s role oversaw a festival
at the University on the anniversary weekend, the creation of an app that
guided visitors through the historical and natural sights in and about
Runnymede field, and a suite of legacy projects including the establishment
of a doctoral center for Magna Carta and its legacy at the college.
As
a public historian, Dr. Johnstone specializes in sharing and developing
insights into our past with diverse audiences through objects and images.
Her fields of interest include medical history, in particular the history of
care for the chronically ill, and the history of the rule of law from 1215
to the present day. She is also the co-author of two books; The Art of
Medicine, University of Chicago Press 2011, and The Changing Faces of
Childhood Cancer, Palgrave MacMillan, 2014. She also led the development of
a massive open online course about the Magna Carta that launched in 2015 and
enrolled over 70,000 students.
Currently Dr. Johnstone is the Executive Officer at Queen Mary University of
London. Previously she was Senior Executive Manager and Science Outreach
Officer at Royal Holloway, University of London. She received her BA Honors
and PhD. in Natural Sciences from University of Cambridge. Her PhD. was in
Victorian Theories of Mind. She also studied at the University of
Pittsburgh.
Her husband, Professor Adrian
Johnstone, also joined us for the dinner. Professor Johnstone is in the
Department of Computer Science at Royal Holloway University of London,
Centre for Software Language Engineering. He led the bid for �1m from the
Leverhulme Doctoral Training Studentships scheme to create the Magna Carta
Doctoral Centre, supporting interdisciplinary PhD. research on the theme of
Freedom and the Rights of the Individual in the Digital Age.
Last Year's Fairhaven Lecture is on our Website - Saturday, June, 2016
Terrorism and Tolerance, presented by David Anderson, Q.C. The lecture was
given shortly after the tragic murders in Orlando and within the context of
our current threats of terror. He provided a historical perspective,
identifying other acts of terror over the years.
From 2011 to February 2017,
David served on a part-time basis as the Government�s Independent Reviewer
of Terrorism Legislation. His conclusions were influential in
Parliament and cited repeatedly by the higher courts. The reports A
Question of Trust (2015) and Bulk Powers Review (2016) have been described
as blueprints for the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. He remains interested,
and expert, in the law relating to terrorism, surveillance and extremism.
Tour Information - Planned For 2016 - Deferred to
2017 - If Sufficient Interest - Our Educational Tour to Runnymede, June 2017
- Fairhaven Lectures -
Following enthusiason from some of our members who had participated in the
extraordinary 2015 Tour as well as some who had been unable to attend, we
asked the Tour Operator to plan a Tour for 2016, which would have included
participation in a special picnic to commemorate the 63rd Year of the Reign
of HM the Queen as well as the First Fairhaven Lecture. Unfortunately the
Tour conflicted with the DAR Anniversary Congress and not enough people
signed up. I did go and represented our Society at the Queen's Event and at
the Fairhaven Lecture.
The Second Fairhaven Lecture and Dinner is scheduled for Thursday, June 8,
2017 at Royal Holloway, University of London.
The Speaker is Her Honour Judge Khatun Sapnara and the Subject is "Black and
Minority ethnic families and the family justice system" considering the
challenges faced by British courts in dealing with cases involving honour
based violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and
radicalisation;
Additonal programs and activities may be planned leading up to June 15,
2017 and we welcome interest from those who may wish to participate.
Depending on the response, we can approach a Tour Operator to plan an
interesting and memorable experience learning about the origins of Magna
Chartaq as well as the contemporaty visions.
We
welcome all who are interested in the Magna Charta - you do not have to be a
member of our Society to participate in the Tour.
Initiatives For 2017 and Beyond
To
assist potential members we have added a Form from Brookfield Publishing
Company "How to Complete Your Lineage Application - A guide to filling out
our Old World Hereditasry Societies application. The Link is on the Home
Page.
We have updated the Lost Member Listings in October 2016 and sent lists
of members to Division Regents
More About 2015 and The Origin of Fairhaven Lecture Series
2015 was a year filled with accomplishments, most notably our June 2015 tour
to Runnymede, England to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of
the Magna Charta. After the ceremonies your Chancellor had the amazing
opportunity to be greeted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a great honor
for our society and the 107 society members that participated on the tour.
He was able to tell her about our trip, our society, and how we had brought
200 members to the 750th in 1965 and are aiming for 200 in 2025. Prior to
this, our society also contributed to the planning and development of the
800th festivities, including sitting as a member on the 800th Anniversary
Committee and a trustee of the Magna Charta Trust.
Our Society has a tradition with Runnymede. Lady Fairhaven and her sons
donated the field of Runnymede to the British people. Lady Fairhaven was a
member of our Society. In the 1920s there were no apparent monuments at
Runnymede and to remedy this the owner of Runnymede House erected a monument
which stands today, the first monument at Runnymede honoring the Magna
Charta. The ABA erected a monument in 1965 and a memorial to John F, Kennedy
was erected about the same time. The Runnymede Borough Council dedicated a
Statue of the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on June 14, 2015. We held a
modest wreath laying ceremony on June 15, 2015 at the first Runnymede
Monument.
.During our trip, we were able to videotape educational speeches and
photograph unique celebrations and sites that were inspired by and created
for the 800th. We will be indexing and assembling this source material so
that we may provide access to it on our website. This addition to our online
archive also will include our 800th Anniversary Newsletter, another
important societal accomplishment, which was distributed via mail to approx.
9,000 primary members in the spring 2015.
We
are excited about the continuation of a lecture series at Royal Holloway
University. For the past 10 years, Royal Holloway University hosted Magna
Charta lecture series, which cumulated last year for the 800th Anniversary
and featured foremost experts on Magna Charta history and significance. A
suggestion by our society to continue the lecture series prompted Royal
Holloway University to prepare a grant request for the proposal to the Magna
Charta Trust, which was then matched by the Runnymede Magna Charta Legacy.
The lecture series, now dubbed the Fairhaven Lecture Series, will now
continue for another decade. To show our support for the continuation of
this series, our Society ambitiously plans to made a yearly tour to England
for this educational opportunity. The tour will commence this June and be
limited to 45 people. Please contact us if you have questions or are
interested in reserving a seat.
The Baronial Army was large (for that time) and joined together for basic
rights and individual objectives. The basic rights have survived and we wish
to encourage all to embrace those basic rights while respecting the
privilege of interpretation. I applaud the efforts of the "All Party Working
Group" and enjoyed attending their launch event hosted by the speaker of the
House of Commons within his Chambers (video on our Website). The unity
among the Members of Parliament supporting the Magna Charta and the 800th
Anniversary can be an example for politicians in all nations as well as many
groups and individuals who might differ on interpretation.
The Password Protected Website � Link from
magnacharta.org to www.magnacharta1.org
Our regular websites are
unrestricted which is consistent with our educational mission.Our members�
restricted website provides information specifically for our members and
provides the opportunity for our members to share information. Many of our
members and potential members (who have provided their email address) should
have received a username and password. If not, then please send us an email
requesting registration. If you have received the username and password and
the password does not work then you should observe a screen which allows you
to reset the password using the username (which has been assigned to you) or
your email address. We continue to work on the site to provide additional
information and welcome reasonable suggestions.
You
may also register online for this site if you are not a member of our
Society and we anticipate that the information available for the lineage
community generally will be expanding.There are two main features now within
the "members" site:There is a page (accessible to members of our Society)
for each Division, Colony or Chapter with contact information, names of
officers and upcoming meeting dates (for many). If there are any changes you
can go to the page using the �blog� feature and provide additional
information which we can then add to the page.
There is a drop down list of
immigrant ancestors (accessible to anyone who registers for the site) (about
200) (we anticipate this number will grow to exceed 1,000) with a direct
link to the ancestor page on the Brookfield site, each page listing Baron
Ancestors (most qualifying immigrants descend from multiple Barons). An
addition to the dropdown list for each is a page which has �[name of
ancestor] � Share Information�. These pages (which are accessible to members
of our Society) have a �blog� feature to add information about the ancestor.
This information can include discussions and can also include information
which can then be added to the ancestor page on the Brookfield site which is
public. The immigrant ancestors will be added to include both those
qualified for our Society as well as other immigrants who were prominent in
the colonial period. We anticipate that this site will be a significant
genealogical resource providing educational information concerning the
descendants of the Magna Charta Barons.
Reaching Out
I
wish all of our Divisions Colonies and Chapters well with your programs and
meetings.
We
have also sent an email to Regents explaining our initiative to inform the
Regents of members in their geographic area to contact and encourage
participation in local programs.
Our Divisions, Colonies, and Chapters have a special role in our Society,
enabling our members throughout the United States to participate in
educational programs with friendship and fellowship. We continue to look to
our Divisions, Colonies, and Chapters to encourage membership development
and to provide educational content for our web presence. If you share our
passion for the purposes of our Society and wish to start a Division,
Colony, or Chapter, please let us know.
Greetings and Thank You
On
behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I bring greetings with
this Newsletter. We continue to develop awareness of Magna Charta and its
message. We ask each of you to participate with us in continuing the long
tradition of friendship and fellowship which has continued over many years.
We continue to be pleased with the response from our members to update
addresses and provide new addresses for those who have been lost. Many
members who were eligible to do so have appointed successors.
Magna Charta Partners
We are emphasizing Magna
Charta Partners for those who share interest in our purposes but are not
members. We plan for an Advisory Council. You may be a MC Partner by
application, either by explaining your service in support of our purposes or
by including an annual contribution, currently $125.00. There is detailed
information on our website. While we have grown to over 17,000 members, I am
still surprised at the number of people who are proposed for membership but
have not completed the lineage forms as well as the number of people, who
have responded to our �lost members� pages but have not taken the next step
to become members. We would like you to participate as Magna Charta Partners
in support of our Society and our purposes. Please look at what's new.
News From Brookfield Publishing
Additional information continues to be added to the Brookfield Publishing
Web Site. Please use the links on the entry page to go to the "beta" site
and for additionalo Links.
A
Lineage Form has been added which can be completed by computer and then
printed out and mailed with supporting documentation. Original signatures
are needed for the application and the supporting documentation needs to be
included.
Indexing continues of archival information and we look forward to exciting
and interesting initiatives.
Potential Members
If
you are not a member of our Society and are eligible, I hope that you will
join. If you are not eligible but share our interest in history and
genealogy, we encourage you to remain on our Email list. We also welcome
your participation in our ongoing genealogical research projects and our
Tours. We welcome and encourage new members and remind those submitting
lineage information to include copies of referenced material.
As
mentioned in prior E-Newsletters, membership continues to be of vital
importance to our Society. If you wish to speed up or facilitate the
membership process, please include with the Proposal Form a well-documented
lineage (including copies of the documentation) to either a known ancestor
or to one of the qualifying Barons. If you have sent lineage information
without the copies, you may also speed up the process by sending copies of
the documentation. Lineage Forms are provided on the Website.
Contributions
We
rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build
our endowment in connection with the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of
Magna Charta. We hope you will consider contributions, including
contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
OUR E-MAIL LIST
We
continue to significantly increase our e-mail list. To those of you who are
new to our list we welcome you to receive our Electronic Newsletter and hope
that you will find our Society and our mission to be interesting. Since the
primary mission of our Society is to develop awareness of Magna Charta, we
wish to expand the circulation of our Electronic Newsletter by increasing
our e-mail address list. We particularly wish to include those who are
members of lineage societies and/or those who share our interest in the
principles of Constitutional Liberty. I would like to thank those who have
shared their email lists since our last Electronic Newsletter.
We
encourage you to check our Website regularly for new developments and
information. The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org
Our E-mail list is made up of those who have sent us e-mail, of members and
friends of the Society who have responded to our Newsletter request for
E-mail addresses, and others who we believe might be interested in our
Society or mission. If you would prefer not to receive future Electronic
Newsletters, please let us know. If you have friends who you believe might
be interested in our Society, please forward this e-mail. If you have
received this as a forwarded e-mail, please visit our Website at for more
information about our Society. You may also contact our Society Office at
215-836-5022.
Do
not hesitate to contact me with questions or suggestions.
Chancellor@magnacharta.org
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