The Healing, Teaching and Chivalric Order of St Raphael

Obituary

Keith Ansell 1930 – 2006
Keith Ansell was born in London in 1930. His father was an ambulance driver for the St John Anbulance Brigade. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1947, as officer aircrew. Trained as a navigator on transport aircraft, he took part in the Berlin Airlift of 1948. Subsequent service tours included North Africa, the Far East and Canada, where he flew on board reconnaissance Lancasters with the Royal Canadian Air Force as they mapped the polar regions of Canada in the late 1950s. During the 1960s and early 70s he was an advanced navigation instructor for the RAF, and shortly before leaving the RAF in 1972 he was appointed the first full-time RAF Public Relations Officer. In the mid 1970s, Keith joined the Civil Service as a Ministry of Defence Public Relations Officer, which included a tour of duty in the Falkland Islands in 1985.

He was initiated into Freemasonry in London in 1971. For the next 35 years Masonic and Chivalric Orders became the focus of his interests. He was a Past Master of three Craft Lodges and a Past District Grand Prefect for East Anglia in the Allied Masonic Degrees. At the time of his passing he was Grand Preceptor for the Province of East Anglia in the Order of St Thomas of Acon, and Provincial Grand Master (East Anglia) of the Masonic Order of Athelstan. He was Grand Supreme Ruler of Canada in the Order of the Secret Monitor from 2001 – 2003.

Keith’s interest were wide and varied, encompassing history, chivalry, the occult and world travel. He wrote and presented many papers relating to the history and traditions of the Knights Templar, holding Grand Rank in the Masonic Order, as well as in many others. He was instrumental in propagating new Masonic and Chivalric Orders not only in the UK, but also as far afield as North America and Australasia.

Keith passed away on 12th August 2006, following a short confinement in hospital. He was mentally and physically active right up to admission and even from his hospital bed was in regular contact with colleagues concerning Masonic matters. His funeral was held in the Centenary Baptist Church, March, Cambridgeshire and he is interred in the Eastwood Cemetery. On 24th September 2006 a Thanksgiving Service was held in his memory at Great Shelford Parish Church, near Cambridge, at which over 100 of his friends heard his son, Dr Christopher Ansell, give a warm eulogy on Keith’s remarkable life.