John Coustos, a jeweller and dealer in precious stones, was born in Berne, Switzerland, relocating to England as a child and becoming a naturalized citizen. His masonic career is noteworthy for two events. His initiation in 1730 is the first recorded instance of the presentation of a pair of white gloves to a new initiate, and his persecution by the Catholic Inquisition is the first, if not only, instance of an attack by that Holy Office on an English freemason.
In 1743 Coustos moved to Lisbon where he was a founding member and Master of a lodge. He was shortly thereafter arrested and subsequently accused of the crime of freemasonry and in 1743 was imprisoned by the Inquisition of Lisbon, surviving the ordeal he documented what occurred.
Refusing to divulge the secrets of his order, Coustos was taken to the torture chamber. Stripped of everything but his underpants, he was fixed on his back on the rack, his neck enclosed in an iron collar, and his feet attached to two rings. Two ropes the size of a man’s little finger were wound around each arm and leg and passed through holes made for the purpose in the rack.
The ropes were drawn tight by the executioners, cutting through the flesh to the bone, and causing blood to gush out from the wounds made. According to Coustos the ‘executioners bent their strength to the task four different times’ and at the fourth time their victim fainted through the loss of blood and pain.
After he was allowed to recuperate for six weeks, Coustos was again brought to the torture chamber. This time the procedure was somewhat different. He was made to stretch out his arms with the palms of his hands turned outwards. His wrists were tied, and then a machine gradually drew his hands together behind him until the backs of them touched. This was repeated twice more, and in the process his shoulders were dislocated and blood gushed from his mouth. He was taken back to his dungeon, and his bones were set by surgeons.
Two months later Coustos was back in the torture chamber. This time a thick iron chain was passed twice around his body, crossing over his stomach. The chain terminated in rings which were fastened to his wrists. He was then placed against a thick wooden partition, at each end of which was a pulley. Ropes were fastened to the rings on his wrists and run through the pulleys, the other ends being fixed to a roller. This roller being set in motion, the ropes gradually tightened, pulling the chain tighter across his stomach until it bit into his flesh and pulled his wrists out of joint and dislocated his shoulders.
The surgeons again set his bones, and after the wounds had healed Coustos was tortured the same way again. Through it all Coustos remained silent. Failing to get answers from him, the Inquisition sentenced Coustos to four years service as a galley- slave and banished him from the country.
Sent to the infirmary, he was released in October 1744 upon the demand of Mr. Compton, the British minister at Lisbon (under instructions from King George II), reaching England on the Dutch Vice-Admiral Screiver’s man-of-war, the Damietta, on 15 December of that year. A fellow jeweller and Warden of the lodge, James Moulton, was also arrested.
Three members of the same lodge, Damaio de Andrade, Manoel de Revehot and Christopher Diego, were hanged on 8 March, 1743
Coustos returned to England and published, in 1746, an account of his captivity, The Sufferings of John Coustos…, reprinted at Birmingham in 1790. Editions in German and French were published in 1756, as were two editions in Boston in 1803 and 1817.