John Yarker was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Freemason, author, and occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

ist. He was born in Swindale, Shap

Shap

Shap is a linear village and civil parish located amongst fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway...

, Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

 in the north of England. He moved with his parents to Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 and on to Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in 1849. he was descended from Reinhold Yarker de Laybourne who flourished in the mid seventeenth century.

History

He was made a freemason at the age of 21 in the Lodge of Integrity, No. 189, Manchester, on the 25 October 1854, becoming a Master Mason at the beginning of 1855. Seven years later, in 1862, he demitted (resigned) from Freemasonry.

In 1872 Yarker established the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Ancient and Primitive Rite

Ancient and Primitive Rite

The Ancient and Primitive Rite, also called the Order of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Mizraim, is a Masonic Rite first popularized by John Yarker and generally considered clandestine by Masonic organizations within the UGLE framework....

 of Masonry for England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 under the authority of a Patent issued by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Grand Master of that organization, Harry Seymour. According to Gnostic

Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...

 Bishop Stephan A. Hoeller

Stephan A. Hoeller

Stephan A. Hoeller, is a writer, scholar and religious leader. Born in Budapest, Hungary he received a Ph.D. in philosophy with a minor in the philosophy of religion from the University of Innsbruck in Austria.-Career:...

, Yarker also got involved with the Ordo Templi Orientis

Ordo Templi Orientis

Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...

 and is attributed as the link between this organization and regular Freemasonry. According to Hoeller, Yarker was bestowed with the authority to confer degrees of the Scottish Rite

Scottish Rite

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry , commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry...

 as well as the Rite of Memphis-Misraim

Rite of Memphis-Misraim

The Rite of Memphis-Misraim is a fringe Freemasonic rite which was formed by the merging of the two rites of Memphis and Misraïm under the influence of General Garibaldi in 1881.-The Rite of Misraïm:...

.

Writings

• The Kneph - (1881–1900) (Official publication of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm
  Rite of Memphis-Misraim
  The Rite of Memphis-Misraim is a fringe Freemasonic rite which was formed by the merging of the two rites of Memphis and Misraïm under the influence of General Garibaldi in 1881.-The Rite of Misraïm:...
  
  )
• The Arcane Schools - 1909
• Masonic Charges and Lectures
• Scientific and Religious Mysteries of Antiquity
• Freemasonry in Modern Times
• Origin and Antiquity of Freemasonry
• Lectures of a Chapter, Senate and Council: According to the Forms of the Antient and Primitive Rite
• The Magian Mysteries
• Masonry and the Crusades
• Modern Rosicrucianism