W.Bro. A.E.Fridlander (1840 – 1928)

Alfred Emmanuel Fridlander came from a prominent Jewish family. His grandfather had been a Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University and his father, a successful Birmingham businessman, was a pillar of the local Jewish community there.

He himself served as Hon.Secretary of the Coventry Jewish Congegation for many years and was its President on several occasions. After attaining a leading position in the watchmaking industry, he later developed other commercial interests, becoming a director of the Triumph Cycle Company, which he helped to found, and Deputy Chairman of the Leigh Mills Company.

He achieved a similar Grand Rank in the Royal Arch, having been in 1871 a founder and the first Second Principal of St. Michaels Chapter No.1630 (formerly known as Trinity ); the founding First Principal in 1894 of the new Trinity Chapter No.254; and in 1914 the founding First Principal of Abbey Chapter No.432. He was also appointed Third Provincial Grand Principal (Warwickshire) in 1879.

His public works included serving as a Liberal Councillor on Coventry City Council from 1863 to 1868 and as a Justice of the Peace for 28 years. He was an early supporter of the Coventry Fire Brigade, a founder of the Coventry Thespian Club and a longserving member of the Technical Education Committee. 

At his funeral at Witton Cemetery in Birmingham in 1928 the Brethren present dropped sprigs of acacia on his coffin while a warm personal tribute was delivered by Colonel W.F.Wyley, the then Provincial Grand Master. The Chief Rabbi of Birmingham, Dr. A.Cohen, in his address of commendation affirmed that it was upon the solid foundations of brotherly love, relief and truth that he raised the column of his career, inspired not merely by the faith of Judaism, but inspired also by the teachings of Freemasonry.