The Chevalier d'Eon, the first cross dressing Freemason

Charles d'Eon de Beaumont, descendant of a line of minor French aristocracy, was born in Tonnere in 1728. A law student, dandy, fencing master and diplomat, d'Eon also worked in the secret service of the King of France (Secret du Roi) which was more of a pro-Monarchy secret society than an intelligence service. He was soon recruited as Royal Censor and later, as secretary to Alexandre Mackenzie-Douglas, a Scottish Jacobite in French service. D' Eon also fought in the Seven Years War and was wounded in action.

The Chevalier resided in London during the 1760s, and in 1768 was initiated as a Mason in the Lodge Inmortality 376 which used to meet at the "Hope and Anchor" Tavern in London's Strand. He was raised to the third degree of Master Mason in 1769 and served the lodge in the office of Junior Warden.

The Chevalier was involved in countless intrigues, and rubbed shoulders with influential people of the period such as the philosopher Hume among many others but he also became known throughout Europe for his habit of dressing as a woman. This cost him his job as the King of France decided that he did not want cross dressers in the diplomatic service although he later changed his mind and accepted d'Eon as a woman. D'Eon started to spread the rumour that he was a woman and supposedly had to defend his honour, with his sword, dressed as a woman in a confrontation with the Chevalier de St Georges in 1787. This close up of the engraving titled ‘La Découverte ou la Femme Franc-Maçon’ depicts the Chevalier dressed as a lady and wearing a Masonic apron and jewel, alongside a dueling sword.

The Chevalier ended his days convinced that he was a woman.

Sadly, he died in 1810, mired in poverty, forced to sell the Cross of Saint Louis that the King of France had awarded him in his youth. At d'Eon's death, the mystery of the day was at last resolved. As an elderly female roommate dressed d'Eon's body for her burial, she made a discovery: d'Eon was a male.

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