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Robert Wentworth Little 1840 - April 11, 1878 Robert Little was editor of a weekly periodical The Freemason from issue 1, published on March 13, 1869 until 1873; second clerk and cashier in the UGLE Grand Secretary’s office; and founder of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia on June 1, 1867. Ellic Howe writes: "In 1866, the year after he 'revived' the Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, Little (with Kenneth Mackenzie) founded the Rosicrucian Society of England, now the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, more familiarly known as the Soc. Ros. or by its initials S.R.I.A. Unlike the 'Red Cross Order', as it was often called, it did not represent an 'additional degree'. Then, as now, it was a Masonic study group." Robert Little was also a founder of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Misraim in England. The Rite of Misraim’s inaugural meeting was held at the Freemasons' Tavern on December 28, 1870 with Robert Little, the Earl of Limerick and Sigismund Rosenthal in the three principal chairs. There were between eighty and a hundred brethren present. Although William Westcott described Robert Little as "an eminent Freemason with much literary talent, and of great personal popularity." he never held Grand Lodge office, and his writings appear mainly limited to the creation of degrees and ritual. Initiated: May 1861 Demitted: 1862/12/15 Royal Union Lodge No. 536/382, Uxbridge Affiliated: 1862/12/15 Royal Albert Lodge No. 1209/907 Founding member: July 1863 Master: 1863/11/12 Rose of Denmark Lodge No. 975, London "Fringe Masonry," Ellic Howe. AQC. Also see Little’s obituary in The Rosicrucian and Masonic Record, April 1878; History of the S.R.I.A.: A History of Rosicrucian Thought and of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia,T.M. Greensill. Privately printed for the High Council, S.R.I.A.. Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, 1987. [Hallamshire College Library. The Hallamshire College Library catalogue. Sheffield : Masonic Hall, 1999.] The portrait above, reproduced in the History, was copied from his obituary published in The Rosicrucian and Masonic Record, April 1878.

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