The Brethren of Plough Lodge No 8673 pay tribute to W Bro Michael “Mick” White, who sadly passed away on 28th January 2022.

Described as a “word-perfect” ritualist, Mick achieved a great deal in his Masonic career. Initiated into Plough Lodge in 1995, he served as Worshipful Master in 2000-01. He was exalted into Sanitarian Chapter No 3458 in 2001, serving as MEZ in 2006 and achieving SLGCR in 2016. Latterly, he served with distinction as DC for Sanitarian, particularly during the London demonstration of the Ceremony of the Veils (hosted by Sanitarian) in 2012.

He was an active member of both Metropolitan Grand Stewards Lodge and Chapter and an active participant in the Metropolitan Grand Lodge Demonstration and Emergency Ritual teams in both Royal Arch and the Craft. He participated with great pride in a demonstration exaltation ceremony in the Grand Temple in connection with the Bi-Centennial celebration in 2013 and has tirelessly escorted many London rulers in Royal Arch. In 2019, he was made an SVO responsible for 11 Chapters and in 2021, he was promoted to PGStB. Outside of Craft and Chapter, he was also a member of Lullingstone Knights’ Templar.

An active Talking Heads team member and a RA coordinator, Mick had been active in promoting MetGL strategic funding initiatives, including the successful cyber knife appeal, as well as taking an active role in the Leading Lights for both Chapter and Craft.

Mick was also a well-respected local businessman, turning his father’s furniture business into a leading facilities provider to the social housing marketplace, winning several industry awards, including awards for corporate social responsibility in helping the local community.

He supported many charities through both his Masonry and his business, including the Richard House Children’s Hospice, the British Heart Foundation (cycling London to Brighton), the ”Ambition Aspire Achieve” Food Bank, as well as sponsoring a local boy’s football team, Dagenham United, and promoting road safety initiatives to local primary schools in Newham.

His wife, Karen, described him as “a great man [who] accomplished many great things in his life . . . He had so much love for his family. He loved nothing more than being around the people he loved.”

As the secretary of Plough Lodge, W Bro Simon Walsh, recalls: “Michael genuinely cared for and helped those in need with his most generous spirit of giving, of himself, his time and his business. Mick lived his life on the three great, though emblematical lights in Freemasonry, thus rising to eminence by merit; he was highly respected and has now sadly departed from us most regretted. Mick will be dearly missed but never ever forgotten.”

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 49 August 2022 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 49 here.