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lORATIO VISCOUNT
Ancient Banner
The "York Lodge," No.
ISee Page
ETHER with
Biographies of Distinguished .yHitaiy and A^aral Brethren, and showing the In/iuence of Masonry in War/are.
(late 31st foot, barrister-at-la\v),
P.M. Nos. 92
AND 2,076, London; 153, Gibraltar; 570, Shanghai; AND 743, 1st Batt. East Surrev Regiment, &c.
Author of
The History of Freemasonry" and other Works.
Amen Corner, Paternoster Row,
Gale & Poldkx,
Wellington Works.
Likf, or find fault
//om- pleasure-'^ avi
i,r JiiiiJ. '//.<
hut the chctncc ofvxtr.
—TrOILUS & CUKSSIDA.
short account of Sea and Field Lodges has been given in a previous work {Histor// of FreeitKisn/n-//. Chapter XXX.) and in the present one. the curious and interesting subject of "^lasonry under Ai-ms" has been dealt with on an enlarged scale.
In the preparation of this volume I have received valuable from W. H. Rylands. who has kindly perused the proof sheets, and to whose judicious counsel I owe much Lieutonant-General Sir Charles Warren Vice-Admiral A. H. Markham G. W. Speth W. J. Hughan John Lane W. J. Chetwode Crawley E. Conder Rev. C. H. Maiden L. de Malczovich and Kupfei-schmidt, all of whom are members of my own Lodge (^Quutaur Corunati, No. '2.070).
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Particular acknowledgments are also due to Admiral of the Fleet the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel D. Murray Lyon, Grand Secretary, Scotland H. E. Flavelle. Deputy Grand Secretary, II. Sadler. Sub-Libraiian. Grand Lodge of England Ireland G. W. Bain William Officer T. D. C. AVilis F. C. Crossle J. Mitchell and Major R. H. :Murdoch.
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For German
Carl Wiebe. of
largely indebted to Grand Master Mathias Hildebrandt and Dr. W.
In the Xew World the friends who have chiefly assisted me are E. T. Schultz. the Historian of Maryland Past Grand Masters
H. Graham (Quebec) Sereno D. Xickerson (Massachusetts) T. S. Parvin (Iowa) and last, though by no means least, Genera! John Corson Smith (Illinois).
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The Author.
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Legend of the Craft. 1 Chai-les Martel. Athelstan, 2 St. Edwin, the Four Crowned ]M:^rtyr^;. 5 Soldiers, the Patron 4
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Saints of the Buildina: Trades. 7 Military Architecture. 10 Decay of the Arts and of Oi>erative Masonry. 12 Speculative or Symbolic ^lasonry. Lord Canada (Knight Admiral), General Alexander Hamilton, Sir Robert ^Nloray. Elias Ashmole. 14 Earls of Errol. Dunfermline, Cassilis. and Admiral Robert Fairfax, "Admitted and Eglinton, "21 Sworn." 24 Jacobite Refugees, 25.
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Grand Lodge. Xoble Grand Masters, 20 Military Members of the Horn Lodge, 1724. 28 other Grand Lodges, 31 Ancients and Moderns. 35 Military Lodges Irish, 30, Scottish, 40. English. 41, assist in forming Anierican Grand Lodges. 42.47 Military Grand Masters, 43 Members of the Royal Family who were jMasons.48 Distinguished - Grand Officers," Generals Lords Moira and Hutchinson. Admirals Sir Peter Parker and Sir J. Borlase "Warren, 49 number of Militarj- Lodges established. 5l».
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Influence of ^lasomy in Warfare. 55 Military Anecdotes. 74-90,
Naval Anecdotes. 57-73
Rodney. Nelson, Sir Charles Napier. 91 other British Admirals Avho were Freemasons. 1'4: Living Flag-Oflficers, Sir Henry Keppel, Sir F. W. Richards, A. H. Markham, Sir Harry II. Rawson. Lord Charles Beresford. 100 Military Brethren who have commanded Armies in the Field. Heniy Seymour Conway. Sir Eyre Coote. the Duke of York, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Lord Lake, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Cathcart, Sir John Stuart. Sir John Moore, Sir David Baird, Lord Lynedoch, Viscount Combermere, Sir Robert Sale. Sir Charles J. Napier. Sir Archdale Wilson, Sir James Hope Grant, Sir Thomas Hislop. Sir Benjamin Durban. Lord
Chelmsford, George DAguilar, Viscount Wolseley. Lord Roberts, Sir Charles Wai-ren, Sir AVilliam Lockhart, Lord Paul other Generals, 108 Kitchener of Khartoum, 101 Jones. Douglas Jerrold, John Shipp. 112 Sir James Brooke. Auxiliary Forces, John Wilkes, Sir Richard Burton. 115 Edward Gibbon. Sir Walter Scott, llG.
•Travelling" Lodges, how distributed. 118; their customs, 120 Existing Military Lodges, 122 Seven Years' War Minden, 12'J Louisburg, 183 Quebec, 134; Sea Lodges, 135'; American War— General Washington Anecdotes of the 46th and 17th Foot, 139; French WarAnecdotes of the 42nd Foot, Vicissitudes of Lodges. 145 Sir Charles J. Napier, and General James Lindsay, 147 Black Masonry, Military become Stationary' Lodges, 152 Dispensation Lodges. 156 Decay 153 the Royal Arch. 155 of Military Masonry. 157; Officers' Lodges. 158; Lodges Closed by Authority, 160 Volunteer. Garrison, and "'Class'' Lodges, 162 Lodges Formed by Prisoners of War, 164.
India Lodges at the Military Stations, and with the Army Brigades, 165 on the Coast of Coromandel. 166 Sir David " Baird a prisoner of Hyder Ali, 167 Union of " Ancients and "Moderns" at Madras, 168; vicissitudes of the Coast Lodges, 169 Officers" Lodges. 170 biographical sketch of the Earl of Mou-a. Grand Master in India. 172; "The Mason's Widow."' 18U: farewell oration of the Grand Master, 184; Sir RolloGilltspie. memoir of. 187 decline of Masonry in Bengal, 189 Obstacles to its success. 190 a Lodge in the 17th Dragoons, for many years the onl}^ one in the Presidency Bombay, 191 a branch Lodge formed for Commissioned of N.C.O. Officers " Orion in the West." Bombay Artillery only admitted as serving brethren. 192 Masonic Anecdote. 193 Alexander and James Burnes. Literarv Portraits of, Mutiny of 1857— 194 Revival of Masonry in Bengal, 196) the Masons of Calcutta enroll their names as Volunteers,
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an Marshals and Military Grand Masters of, 199 Infantry Lodge, the parent of the Grand Orient of France. 200 Regimental Lodges. 201 Napoleon and Joseph Buonaparte Marshals of the Empire who were Freemasons, 202 Germany Field or Camp Lodges Frederick the Great
Grand Master. 203 Austrian and Prussian Military Lodges, Royal Freemasons, Military Brethren. Grand Masters and victorious Commanders. 206 Holland and Sweden,
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Military and Travelling Lodges, formerly existing in. 207 Russia, James Keith, Provincial Grand Master of Field Lodges Alexander I.. Sir Robert Wilson. 208 General Platoff. the Grand Duke Constantine, 20'J Polish National Freemasonry. 210 Hungarian Patriots. 211 Military Masonry in Spain and Portugal. 211; Italyf 212 Mexico, Corsica. South America. Algeria. 213; Cuba. 214.
General Washington.
21 f); American Field Lodges of the Revolution. 216 Valley Forge General Lafayette, 217 Convention of Army Lodges. 218 Generals who were Freemasons, 219 Naval Brethren, 220 Mexican and Civil Wars, 221 Military Commanders and Masonic Veterans, 222 Santiago de Cuba General Schafter and Admiral
Schley, 223.
Abd-el-Kader. 218. Abercrombie, Sir R., i\ lu2, 20s. Accepted Masons. Ill is. Additional Deprrees, 180. l.")<. i:A, r.»2. 200. Admirals. British. 14. 24. 48. 411. :i2. 91. Alava, Gen. M. R.. 212. Albany. Dnke of 111. Alcester. Lord. l<"t. Alexander I.. Czar of Russia, 208. Alexander. H.. 14. America. South. 218. America, United States of. 215.
Ancient and Accepted Rite. 201. Ancients and Moderns, 85, 41, 47, 120, 188, 142, 155, 16i>, IGS, 169, 171. Anderson, J.. 28. Anderson, Gen. R., 222. Anecdotes. Military. 55, 74-89, 9ti. 114, IK), 127, 188. 139, 14n, 141. 144,
AnecJotes, Naval, 57-78. Anson, Gen. G.. 104, 107. Antin. Due de. 199. Arnold, Gen. B., 220.
145. 147, 149, 151. 1.58. Ifi7, 180. 187, 198, 194. 196, 209, 217. 96. 98, 100, 111, 118.
Elias. ls-21.
Athelstan. King-. 2-5. Atholl. Dukes of, 45. 47.
Atholl Masons, 46, 166, 168, Augereau, Marshal, 202. Austen. Gen. S. F.. 221. Auton, .J., 147. 159.
Baird. Sir D., 103, 188. 166, 168, 208. Balcarres. Earls of, 32, 46.
Banks, Sir J., 111. Banks. Gen. N. P., 222. Beauharnais. Eugene de, Belgium. 211. Benton, Gen. T. H., 222. Beresford, Lord C. lol.
202, 212.
Berkeley. Earl of, 87. Bernadotte, Marshal, 202, 207. Beurnonville. Marshal, 202. Bieberstein, C. von. 205. Biron. Due de, 91. 201. Blucher. Field Marshal. 205, 207. Bolivar. Gen. S., 218. Bowles. Gen. W. A.. 114. Boyd. Lord, 89.
Boys Adm. H.. 101. Branch Lodg-es. 156,
192, 20.5.
Brandt. Joseph. 84, 86 Brooke. Sir J.. 115.
Brunswick. Dukes of. Brune. Marshal, 202.
51. 130, 199,
Burnes. Sir A.. 105, 198. Burnes. Dr. J.. 193. Burton. J. Hill, 110. Burton. Sir R 116. Butler. Gen. B. F.. 222.
Butler. E..
Buonaparte, Emperor Napoleon, Buonaparte, Joseph. 202.
Cabrera, Gen. R., 212.
76. 79. 202.
Cameron. John. 22. 38. Canada. Lord. Adm., 14.
Campbell, Si- D.,
Carey, H., 164. Carmicbael. Lord, 2^). Carpenter. Lord. 36.
Earl of. 22 Cas^N ell. Gen. R.. 219.
Cathcart. Earl, 45, 102.
Cecil, Lord E.. 164. Charlemagne. 8. Chelmsford. Lord, 107. Christian. Sir H. C. 95 Civilians, admission of.
159. 160. 192,
Clarence, Dukes of, 93, 97, 111, 177. Class Lodges. 162.
Clermont. Comte de, 199. Cobham, Viscount, 30. Cockburn, Sir G., 97.
Collegia, the. s. Colonib. Adm. P. H.. 101.
Columbine. Gen.
Colville. Lord, 132, 133. 137. Colville. Hon. Sir C. 105. 'Colvin, A. J,. 160
Combermere, Viscount. 103, 107. Combination, in Lord Vauxs Regiment.
Comenfort. I. 213. Congreve, Col. G 131. Connaught, Duke of 106, 111. Constantine. Grand Duke, 209, Conway, Field Marshal, H. S.. Cook, Capt. James. 111.
, .
210. 101.
Coote. Sir Eyre. 101. 107. Cornwallis. Gen. E.. 64. 131, 132.
Costello, E.. 147, Costilla. H.. 213.
Cotton, Sir W.. 106.
Crawfurd. Earl Cromartv. Earl
of. X^.
Crockett'. Col. D.. 221. Crusaders, the. 'J. M. Cuba. 214.
Curtis, Sir Lucius, 9."). Curtis, Sir Rogrer. y-i.
D'Agiiilar. Gen. G..
Dalhousie. Earl
DAntrada, G-en. G 212. David I. of Scotland. !).
Decatur. Capt. S.. 22u Deloraine. Earl of. 2X. Derwentwater. Earl of. 2."), 199. Desagulier.x, Rev. J. T.. 2fi, 28, 36, 37, 109. Desagruliers. Gen. T.. 109. Des Marches. Mai-quis. 29. D'Estrees. Marshal. 199. Diaz, Gen. P.. 213. Dies-Kau. Baron. 29. Dispensations. 47. 123. 12o, l.jG. 160, 171. 189. Donnersmark. Gen. II. Vou. 20<j. Dov€ton, Sir J., 106. Doyle, Sir J.. .52. 173. Doyle. Col. C. J.. 183. \>i6.
190, 20.5. 221, 223.
Drnmmond. Lord
Dumourez. Gen. C. F.. 91. Dunbarton. Earl of. 36.
Dunckerlev. T.. 4s. 109. 13.5. Dundas. Sir J. W. D.. 97. Dundas. Gen. C. \V. D.. 97.
J)unfermline. Earl of. 21. Du Quesne. Marquis. 30.
Durban. Sir
B.. Iu7.
13, 14, 16. 21, 33, 38.
Edinburtrh. Lodge of.
Edward Edward
Edwin. Fifth Bietwalder.
Efflinton. Earls of, 22. 44.
Elliot. Capt. J.. 26.
Errol, Earls of, 21. 40. Escobedo, Gen. M.. 213.
Fairfax. Adm. R.. 24. Fairfax. Sir W. G.. 97. Fellowes. Sir T.. 98. Fernig. Comte de. 202. Festmg, Sir F. W.. 116. FitzClarence, Lord A.. 111. FitzClarence Lord F.. 106. 111. Fordyce. Col. W.. 164.
Four Crowned Martyrs,
France, 199. Trance, Marshals
Fraser, Sir S
of, 91, 199. 201, 202, 209. 108, 135, 137.
Frederick the Great, 203. Frederick W., Second German Emperor, 205. Freemasons, alleged origfin of the, 11.
Gahagan, Dr.
Garcia, Gen.. 214.
Garfield, Gen. J. A., 222.
Garibaldi, Gen. G.. 213.
Garrisoa Towns. Lodges
172, 186. Germany, 203.
in, 162.
16, 29, 30, 32, 36, 43, 45, 50, 101, 148,
Generals, di><tiDguished British,
Gibbon, Edward,
Gillespie, Sir R.. 183, 186. Gist, Gen. M., 216, 219.
Gonzales, Gen. M., 213.
Gordon, Duke of, 46. Gordon, Lord A., 44. Graecus, Naymus, 1.
Graham, Sir W., 101. Grand Lodgeof England, Regular, 26 Schismatic, 35 United, Grand Lodges of York, Ireland. Munster. and Scotland, 31. Grant, Dr. W. J., 198.
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109, 183. de, 201. Grattan, H., 161. Greaton, Gen. J., 216.
Grant, Sir J. Hope, Grant, Sir W. Kier,
Grecus, Marcus, 2. Gridley, Gen. R., 134, 138, 142. Guilds. The Saxon, 8. Guinnett, Lieut., 108.
Hamilton, Gen. A., 16. Hancock, Gen. W. S., 222. Hastings, Marquis of. Sec Moira, Earl Havelock, Col. W., 106. Hay, Sir J. C. D.. 97. Hayes, Commodore J., 183, 186. Heart. Jonathan, 144. Henniker, Sir B.. 131. Hewitt. Sir W., 99.
Hislop, Sir T., 106.
Hobart, Adm. A., 97. Holland. 207. Home, Earl of, 31, 64. Horn Lodge, Military members of. Home, Gen. M., 52, 103, 166, 167. Houston, Gen. S., 221. Hulse, Sir S 52. Hund, Baron von, 39, 153.
Hutchinson, Lord. ."lO, 1U2, Huntingford. Col. E., 131.
India. Bengal, l(w, 171, Indian Mutiny. 19S. Indian Navy, 118. 1S6.
Inglefield. Sir E. A.. 98. In-lis. Sir J.. 104. Italy. 212.
Madra^s, ICC
Jackson. Gen. Andrew, 220. Jackson. Cxen. J., 219, Jerrold. Douglas. 118. Johnson. Sir J.. 142. Johnson. Sir W.. 29. 142. Jones. Adm. Paul, 112.
Juarez, Benito. 218.
Kalb. Baron. 219. Keith. Earl Marischal G., 2.>, 28, 208, Keith. Field Marshal J., 2.5, 208, 211. Kellerman, Marshal. 202,
Sir J.. 109.
Kent. Duke of. 49. .52, .53. Keppel. Hon. Sir H.. 99, 100. Kilmarnock. Earl of. 89, 1.53. Kilwinning, Lodge of. 22, 33, 35, 39. Kina-. Adm. R. D.. 101. Kingsley. Gen. W., 108, 182. Kingston. Duke of. 87. Kitchener. Lord, 107, 108. Klapka. Gen. G.. 211. Knight Templar, degree of, 39, 180,
Lafayette, Marquis de, 201, 217. Lake". Viscount. 102, 107. La Lippe. Coiint. 29.
40, 41. 44, 1.58, 15(1.
1.53, 154.
Latour d'Auyergne,
Col., 203.
Lauriston. Marshal. 202. 21(5. Lee. Gen. Lefebvre. Marshal. 202. Legend of the Craft. 1.
Leith. Sir A.. IKJ. Lewis. Gen. M.. 219.
Lichfield. Earl of. 80. Lindsay. Gen. J.. .58. 151. Lockhart, Sir W., 107. Lockyer. Cap N.. 118. Logan. Gen. J. A., 222 Lopez. Gen.. 214. Lorraine. Duke of. 3(5, 203. Loudoun, Earl of. 82, 89. 183.
Liaxembourg. Due de. Lynedoch, Lord, 108.
Macdonald, Marshal.
Macleod, Lord, 33. 166. Mag-nan. Marshal. 203. Mainwaring', Col. H.. 18,
Malcolm. Sir J., 1U.>. Malcolm. Sir P., 98 Marcognet, Gen. L.. 202
Markham, Adm. A.
Martel. Charles, 2-.5, Martin, Sir T. B., 9.5.
Manuscript Constitutions, 1-7. Masonry, influence in Warfare. 5o. Mason Word, The. 22. Masons' Company. London. The. 13, Masons' Marks, 10.
Masons' Widow, The. 180. Massena. Marshal, 201. 202. Mo Clellan. Gen. G. B.. 222. Mc Clernand. Gen. J. A., 222. Mc Kinley. Major W., 222.
Mc Mahoni
Sir T.,
Officers, 17, 42, 166. 197, 198, 206, 217. Mellinet. Gen.. 203.
Melville, Sir
Mexico. 213. Miles, Gen. N. A., 223. Military Architecture. 10. Military Grand Masters, British and Irish, French, 199, 203 108. 131, 176, 182, 197
26, 2s. 31, 38. 43, 45, .50, 53, German, 203. 204, 206
American. 42. 144, 215, 219-22. Scottish, 39 early Military Lodges —The first Ambulatory, 36 without Charters. 40, 41: English, 41: number of Iris"h, 36, 41 New York. 1781. in Canada. 1759— at Boston, 1768, 42 1755, 41 47: number of, 1790, 51: in 1813, and subsequently, 53; their general tendency, and laws with respect to. 118: distribution
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allegiance. Cavalry. Infantry, Artillery. Engineers, Marines.
Militia, Gp.rrison and Veteran Battalions, etc.. 119: names and revived present and recently existing, 122 numbers, 120 warrants and missing records. 124 in time of peace, 125 with armies in the field — Minden, Louisburg, and Quebec, 129 ft ."eq. American War. Masonic Chests of the 46th and 17th Foot, French War— 1793-181 5— captured and returned, 139, 141 Masonic incidents, 144 Travelling Lodges become stationary, 143, 151: Black Masonry, 1.53: additional degrees. 154, 192; Dispensations, 156, 171, 190 decay of Military Masonry, 157
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Officers' Lodges. 15s, 192; admission of private soldiers and civilians, 1.59: Lodges closed by authority. 160: forme'3 in Volunteer '"orps. garrison towns, and by prisoners of war,
Army Civil Lodges with Military membershi]), 162 Madras. 166: Bombay. 191: Bengal. 16,5, 171. 19(; 200: Germany. 203 Holland and Sweden. 207 Russia France, 20S Belgium, 211 America. 216. 220, 221. Milne. Sir D.. 98.
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Mina, Gen. X., 213. Moderns. [See Ancients and Moderns.)
Moira, Earl
of. 82. 44. 46. 49,
.>!. .-.2.
Monson, Canon J. M.. 21S. Montagu, Duke of. 26. Mont^oTierv. Gen. U.. 138. Moore. Sir John. lOH. 208. Moore. Col. MacLeod, 110. Moorhouse. Col. J., 168. Moray. Sir R 16. 20.
Morplos. J. M.. 213.
Morland. SirH.
Murat, Marshal,
Najrle, Sir
Mortier. Marshal, 202.
202. 212.
Napier, Lord. 44. 131. Napier. Sir Charles. 60. 94. Napier. Sir Charles J., 104, 107, 148. Naval Grand Masters. 48. 133.
Nelson. Viscount. 92. Newcastle. Duke of. 37. Nicholson. Commodore J.. 220. Noel, Adm. G. H. U.. lol.
Officers" Lodo-es. .52. Ommaney. Sir J.
1.58. 1.59, 16.5,
170, 171, 189, 192.
Operative Masonry,
97. its decay. 12.
Orleans. Due de. 2l)0. Osten-Sacken. Gen. F. W.. 2o7. Oudinot, 3Iarshal. 202. Ous-hton. Sir A., 29, 43.
Oughton. Sir
Paez. Gen. J. A.. 213.
Paoli. Gen. P.. 91. 213.
Parker. Adm. Hvde. 96. Parker. Sir Peter. 49, 51, 93. Parslow. Gen., 64. Parsons. Gen. S. H.. 141, 2. Patterson. Gen. J.. 216. Patterson. Gen R. E.. 222. Payne. George. 26. Pehnefather. Sir J. L.. llu. Perignon. Marshal. 2u2. Perth, Duke of. 32. Pestel. Col. Paul. 209. Picket. Gen. G. E.. 222. Pike. Gen. Albert, 222.
Gen. M.
of the Cossacks, 209.
Pole. Sir C. M.. 94.
Polish National Masonry. 210. Poniatowski, Prince, 202, 209. Portmore. Earl of. 36.
Portugal. 212. Prisoners of War. Lodges formed by, 130, 163, 200, 203, 204 Relieved by Grand Lodges. (!3, KM. Private Soldiers. 11.5, 119, 147, 1.57-9: Petitioners for a Warrant, 17n. Pulaski, Count C. 219. Putman, Gen. Israel. S6, 219. Putman, Gen. Rufus, 144, 219.
Quatiior Coronati. The. 5-8.
Quitman. Gen.
Ramsav, David, 14. Ramsay, A. M.. 34.
Rawlings. Gen. J. A., S9. 222. Rawson. Sir H. H.. 101. Ratcliffe. James. 25. Regiments. British, referred to
.52. 109. 110. 113. 119, 120. 141, 143, 1.52, 1.59, 165, 169. 170. 1S4, 191, 192. Artillery Comi>any, London. 53, 162. Dragoon Guards. "2nd. 107. 12S; 4th. 121. 122 oth, 122. 123 144 6th, 146, 1S7 7th, 121, 128. Dragoons. 2nd. 40. 44, 131 3rd, 161 ; 4th, 121, 161 6tli. 119 7th. 122 9th. 105, 120. 131 11th. 46, 161 14th, 106 12th, 121 17th, 48, 191. Engineers, 52, 119, 161, Fencible Fvegiments, 119. Foot Guards. 119,1.52. Foot. 1st. 36. 41. 42, .52, 120. 122, 124, 125. 128, 133. 156, 160, 170; 2nd, 12S: 4tli, 81, 160. 196; .5tli, 172. 176; 6th', 41, 121, 134, 197; 7th. 121, 122: 9th. 145; 11th, .52. 144; 12th. 40, 122. 126, 128, 129. 134: 13th, 161 14th, 42, 126, 160, 164. 171. 189: 15th. 133. 172: 17th. 120. 121. 133. 141, 143, 184; 18th, 52, 121. 126, 2(ith, 108. 122. 123, 129, 131, 15.5. 160: 21st. 161 19th, 169, 171 40. 41. 121. 122. 127 22nd. 47. llo. 115. 126, 133 ; 23rd. 120, 124^ 129: 24th. 133: 25th. 121. 126. 129: 26th, 121. 122, 123, 128, 191 27th, 41, 173: 28th, 41, 119, 131, 133; 29th, 42. 122, 123, 131; 3(»th, 121, 122: 31st, 44, 54, 110. 120. 122. 124 32nd. .52, 104. 1.5S: 33rd. 41, 4.s, 109, 16S 34th, 122: 35th. 133: 36th. 121 37th, 43, 47, 121, 129: 38th, 47. 144, 155. 161 39th. 122, 123. 128. 160; 40th, 133: 42nd, 38, 119. 121. 147; 43rd, 134; 44th, 110, 122 45th, 133 46th, 33. 52. 122, 139 47th. 108, 133 .52nd, 48th. 133 .50th. 52, 148 51st, 52, 119, 122, 129, 158, 169 119, 121 .53rd, 105 54th. 121. 134: 5.5th. 39 .56th, 128 57th, 47, 121 58th, 128. 133 .59th, 42 60th, 33, 134, 143 63rd, 172,
; ; : ; ;
Artillery. 47.
64th, 42. 121 65th. 42, 115 67th, 1.52 68th, .52 69th, 176, 181 188 71st, 166 73rd. 171 77th. 45, 74th. 164 76th. 115, 128 50; 78th, 1(18. 134, 135, 137: 79th, 121 81st. 107; 82nd, 103, 191 83rd, 121 8.5th, 161 87th, .52, 115 89th, 122, 169 92nd,
; ; ; ; : ; : ; ; ; ; ;
94th, 170
Rifle Brigade, 107,
51, 112. 116, 119. 122, 1.52, 171, 184. Militia. 119. 133, 151. 1.52. 154, 156, 157, 161.
Regius MS..
5. 7.
Riboli. Dr. T., 213, Rich, Sir R., 29.
Richarri. Ca5ur de Lion. 9. Richards, Sir F. W.. 101. Richelieu. Due de. 19!).
Richmond. Duke
of. 2S, 37.
Rafael del, 212. Roberts, Lord, 10."), 107, 108. Rodney, Lord. 91. Rosicrucians. The, 1."), 17, 19.
Ross. Sir J
Rowlev. Gen. W. R.. 222. Royal Arch. 154. l.-)5. 192. Royal Freemasons— Algerian, 213; British,
: :
10«, 111.
180: French. 199. 200, 202 German. 36. 51. 130, 199, 203. 205. Italian. 212 Russian, 208. 209 Swedish, 207.
Russia, 208.
Rutowski, Comte,
Sackville, Lord Georgfe, 43, 130.
Alban. 2. 5. Albans. Duke of. 30. St. Clair, William, of Roslin. 31. St. Clair. Adm. W. H. C. 101. Saldanha. Duke of. 212.
St. St.
Sale. Sir R..
Sandhurst. Lord.
105. lOti. 107. 204.
SaA'er. Anthony. 26. Sciiafter, Gen.'W. R.. 223.
Scharnhorst. Gen. G. Von, 207. Schism, the Great Masonic. 35,
Schley. Adm.. 223. Scott." Sir Walter. 117. Sea Lodges. 4S. 112, 135. 137. Sebastiani. Marshal, 202, Segur, Comte de. 202. Serrurier. Marshal. 202. Sevmour. Sir M.. 98.
41, 47. 120, 155. 179.
Sir A.. 100.
Smith. Cap. G.. 81, 113. Smith. Gen. J. C, 88, 90. 222. Smith, Sir W. Sidney, 98. Soult. Marshal. 202."
Spain. 211. Speculative (or Symbolic) Masonry, 13, 18. Stanfield, Clarkson. 113. Stationary Lodges, formerly Military, 140, 143, 144, Staveley, Sir C, 110. Stewart. Sir H., 99.
Strafford, Earl of. 109. Strict Observance, The. 39. 130, 206. Stuart, Sir John, 102.
Sullivan. Gen. J., 219. Sussex, Duke of, 49, 52, 136, 180.
Taylor, Gen. Z., 221. Tecuinseh, 86.
Thackwell. Sir J 109. Three Regular Steps, The, 154, Tippoo Sahib, 167. Tupper. Gen. B., 144, 216. Turr, Gen. S., 211. Tweeddale, Marquis of, 106.
Vander-Meuleii. Adm. F. S., Vauahan. Cap. Herbert, 56.
Ventura, Gen., 213. Volunteer Corps, Lodges
Wales, Princes of. 49, Walker, Adm. J., 100. Walsdorf, Count, 29. Wantage, Lord, 151.
in, 161.
111. 163, 176, 177.
Warren. Sir C, 107. Warren. Sir J. B., .52. Warren! Gen. J., 42. I3S, 215. 217. Washington. Gen. G.. 139, 215, 217, Wayne, Gen. A., 219. 220.
Wharton, Duke of. 27, Whipple. Commodore.
Wilkes, John. 116.
of, 102, 104. 30. 37, 211.
220. 205.
German Emperor.
Williams. Gen. O., 216. Williamson, Sir A., 51. Willis, W., 193. Wilson. Sir A.. 104. Wilson. Sir R.. 55. 208. Winder. Gen. W. H., 221.
Winthrop, Adm.
Win ton. Earl
of, 25.
Wolfe. Gen. J.. 132. Wolseley. Viscount, 56, 108. Wouster, Gen. D.. 217. Worth, Gen. \V. J., 221.
Yeatman-Biggs. Gen. A. C, 110. York. Edward. Duke of. 48. York, Fred.. Duke of, 102, 173, 208.
Col. J., 32, 33,
Zinnendorf Dr. J. VV. Von, 206. Zumalacarregui, Gen. T., 212.
37, line 21, to read, 47,
author of L'E-yir/t dcs Lots.
lines "27. 2H, Lodge No. 52 (and not to the 22nd) Foot.
was attached to ihe 37th
89. line 20, to rend.
John A. Rawlings.
108. line 23, nftiv
who were Masons,"' to read, and at the recommendation of the Deputy Grand Master, the money was sent to Major-General Kingsley, etc.
113, line 19, /or
when, read where.
132, line 7, the indication is to p. 108, not p. 2G.
Pages 101 108 The name of Lieufenant-General Sir James Outram, " The Bayard of India," should be added to the roll of " British Freemasons who have commanded armies
in the field."
— —
201, 205
French Military Lodges in America At a meeting of Solomon's Lodge, No. I., Poughkeepsie (New York), held January 13th, 1783, " Brother Tachen, Master of St. .John's of Jerusalem Lodge, in the French Army, attended as a visitor." A similar entry occurs in the minutes of a
subsequent meeting on January 15th.
iLiTARY Lodges
Hhtory, in every
aje, is only 2^02mlar
It ivas scarcely
among a few thour/htful known or understood in the early
of the loorld, hut the place of History was everywhere supplied hy Myths and Legends.
— Db
Free-Masons had always a book
AccoRDiXG to a learned divine of the last century, who is justly esteemed as the Father of Masonic History, "the
Manuscript called the Charges and regulations, but also the History of Architecture from the Beginning of Time." Of these Manuscript Constitutions many ancient copies are still in existence, and as a written tradition, the Legend of the Craft, or Story of the Guild, is coeval with the early
of Constitutions, containing not only the
part of the fifteenth century. The Legend recites that Masonry (or Geometry) had its origin before " Noah's Flood," after which it came into great prominence at the building of the Tower of Babel. Nimrod, the mighty hunter and warrior King, was himself a Mason, and at the foundation of the city of Nineveh sent sixty craftsmen to assist in its construction. The next military commander who took the Masons under his protection was David, to whom succeeded the "Wise King," who finished the Temple which his father had begun. At the building of King Solomon's Temple there was a " curious man " called Naymus Graecus, whose days were
indeed long in the land, as the adventurous Greek, having completed his studies at Jerusalem, afterwards abandoned the Orient and passed into France, where he taught the Science of Masonry to Charles Martel.
The name
of this patriarch,
supposed by some
authorities to be a corruption of " Marcus Greens," whose writings in the ninth (or thirteenth) century disclose the
secret of manufacturing gunpowder, appears under every variety of spelling in the written traditions or Manuscript
Constitutions of the Freemasons, and is always allied with But the instructor of the Hammer that of Charles Martel. Bearer in Masonic lore must ever remain a very mj'thical personage, and it will be ditftcult to extend our belief beyond the supposition that some one skilled in the Greek or Jewish learning may have taught the art of fortification, in a rudimentary form, to the conqueror in the extraordinary series of obstinate conflicts which are collectively denominated the battle of Tours. The first English Mason is said to have been St. Alban, after whose death came great wars, so that the good Rule of Masonry was destroyed until the time of King Athelstan, who brought the land into rest and peace, and built many great works. The mightiest warrior who ever sat upon the throne of Saxon England, like the Saviour of Christendom, Charles Martel, and other military patrons of the Craft of earlier But his son Edwin loved them date, loved Masons well. better still, and procured for them from the King, his father, a charter or commission to hold every year an Assembly, and to correct w^ithin themselves Defaults and Trespasses Edwin himself held an that were done in the Craft. Assembly at York, and from that day to this the manners of Masons have been kept and observed.
So far the History of Masonry, as recorded in the old Manuscript Constitutions of many centuries ago, and without looking too far back into the mists of antiquity, certain reasons may be assigned why the names of those valiant soldiers, the stout-hearted Charles Martel, and our own " Glorious Athelstan," have been accorded such prominence in the traditions of the Freemasons.
About the year 1260, Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris during the reign of St. Louis, coditied in his Livre des Aletiers, the customs of a hundred Craft Guilds in that Capital. Among the rides for the Uuilding trades there was
the following
Martel, as the wardens (pretcdonies) have heard say, from father to son." We thus see that, as early as the thirteenth centurj', a tradition was current in France that Charles Martel had It is, conferred special favours upon the stonemasons. therefore, not a little singular that the English Manuscript Constitutions should also pointedly allude to the conquerer
of Charles
The mortarers are masons since the time
free of
duty, and
Tours as a great patron and protector of Masonry.
community of tradition, which pervaded the minds of the mediaeval Masons in Gaul and Britain, is a remarkable fact,
and it confirms the opinion of those writers by whom it is affirmed that, at the request of certain Anglo-Saxon Kings, stonemasons were sent to England by Charles Martel.
With regard to the British tradition, the circumstance of Athelstan having been the first King of all England, may perhaps be considered as the most natural fountain-head from which a legendary belief in the grant of a Royal Charter to the Masons can be supposed to have arisen. It moreover, a well-established fact that the name of is, Athelstan, by virtue of his laws and charters, became a favourite one as a legendary guild patron. No period of x\nglo-Saxon history was more glorious or is less known than the reign of Athelstan, but that the great King had no son, at least in the Royal line, is satisfactorily attested by the general agreement on this point of the early
We should, however, do well to recollect, that the chief heroes of romance are not in general ideal beings, but moral heroes, formed of various real persons whose deeds have been combined, and attributed to one single individual.
many of the Frankish romancers, the exploits of the Charleses of the race, from the time of the Hammer Bearer, were ascribed to Charlemagne, who was naturally supposed to be the most famous of the name. B 2
Thus, by
They also sometimes mistook one Charles for another, Charles Martel, in this way, often being confused with Charles the Bald, and thereby made to figure as the grandson, instead of the grandfather of the great Emperor of the
Whenever stories or romances passed out of the localities where they originated, but still continued to be handed down by song and recitation, there must have been transformation of the same kind. The minstrel or gieeman of the Anglo-Saxons sometimes forgot a few lines, or a long passage sometimes he lost a line or word, and was obliged to make one to supply its place, or to borrow one which his memory might supply, and at other times he changed particular passages to suit
the occasion or to please his
own fancy. The "Old Constitutions" are very strikingly in accord with regard to Edwin being the patron, and York the
ti'aditional centre of early British
Edwin of Masonic tradition was the fii'st Christian King of Northumberland cannot be positively
affirmed, but the balance of probability inclines strongly in
that direction.
Edwin, King and Mai'tyr, for the zeal and tragic fate the great Bretwalder have inshrined his name in the Calendar, was an undoubted patron of Operative Masonry, and the cathedral of St. Peter's at York, was begun by his directions A.D. 627. After many years, when Athelstan w;\s on his march against the Scots, he halted at York A.D. 936, and there besought of the ministers of St. Peter's Church, who were then called Colidei, to offer up their prayers on behalf of himself and his expedition, promising them that, if he returned victorious, he would confer suitable honour upon the chiu'ch and its ministers. Accordingly, after a successful campaign, he revisited this church, and observing that the Colidei, who maintained a number of poor people, had but little whereon to live, he granted to them and their successors for ever, a thrave of corn from every ploughland in the diocese of York, a donation which continued to be enjoyed until a late period.
be seen that two leading incidents in the Legend brought into a common centre. York Minster, which Edwin founded and whose ministers Athelstan endowed. If, indeed, in the skein of fable of which the Masonic Legend is composed, there should be a solitary thread of fact, it appears to me that we must look for it among those of our traditions which can be associated in any way with
It will
of the Craft are here
the city of York and the cathedral there.
It may be safely assumed that the foundation of the Minster Church by St. Edwin, and the victorious march of Athelstan, must have been long preserved in the memory of the people also that these historical events would be handed down from one generation to another by song and recitation, thus leaving in the present instance hardly any room for doubt that the name and fame of each of those great soldiers continues to be commemorated in the legendary history of our Society. But there is a still older document of the Craft than the "Constitutions" which I have just passed under review. This is best known as the Masonic Poem, or Regius MS. and dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. It also contains a legend, but of a more fragmentary character, than is metjwith in the Manuscript Constitutions.
incidentally referred to, and the though, in the place of Nimrod, who is ordinarily associated with this edifice, we meet with Nebuchadnezzar. No mention is made of David, Solomon, Naymus Grecus, Charles Martel, St. Alban, the city of York, or even of Prince Edwin, but the introduction of Masonry into England is stated to have taken place in the time of " Good King Athelstan," whose Statutes and
" Noah's
of Babylon,"
Assembly are noticed at some length. A distinctive feature of the Poem, however, is the passage headed Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, which is an invocation of
the "Holy Martyres Fowre," the tutelary saints of the building trades, an outline of whose story may be given in a few words. During the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, five masons, or stone-squarers {inirificos in arte quadrataria) refused to
execute the statue of a pagau god {^Eaculapius), and in consequence were put to death. Other artists were found who performed the work for the Emperor. On the return of Diocletian to Rome, he commanded that all the soldiers in that city should march past and throw incense over the Four officers, however, who were altar of .^sculapius. Cornicularii, declined, as being contrary to their piinciples, having embraced the Christian faith, and they also suffered death. The martyrdom of the five is supposed to have taken place on the 8th of November, A.D., 298, and of the four on the same day in 300, though by some authorities these dates are brought down to A.D. 302 and 304 respectively.
The nine were eventually interred in the same spot, a November 8th, being set apart for the five whose names had been preserved, and for the four who were Upon the latter. Pope only known by their military rank.
single festival,
Melchiades— A.D. 310 bestowed the title of Quafuor Co7'onati, or Four Crowned Ones, by which they are described in the ancient Missals and other formularies of
public devotions, tliough in conjunction with the Five, who are referred to by name, and as Holy Martyrs. In the seventh century. Tope Honorius I. erected a handsome church, in the form of a basilica, to the memory of the F'our, out of the ruins of a temple of Diana, on the Coelian Hill. Into this, the church of the Quatuor Coronati, were removed, A.D. 848, the remains of the Nine ]Martyrs. They were interred in an oratory beneath the altar. The relics of the Four Soldiers were placed in two sarcophagi on either side, and in two others the remains of the Five Masons. Hence has arisen a certain amount of confusion, and the Four officers instead of the Five Masons have become the patron saints of the building trades, while the occupation of the Five has survived under the name of the Four.
The church, which still exists, now beai's the name of the Quattro Incor-onati according to some authorities Incoronati in modern Italian being identical with the Coronati of while by others the word is supposed to mediaeval Latin be a corrupt form of the militaiy term Cornicularii, which has been brought back into the Latin from the Italian as
has also been suggested that as there were two classes decorated soldiers in the Roman Army, the higher being known as Coronati and the lower as Cornicularii, so it may very probably have happened that the Four received a posthumous brevet at the hands of the faithful, a supposition which gains further strength if we bear in mind that crowns of martyrdom are also implied by the word Coronati.
at least certain that
in the
Middle Ages, according to the fashion of the times they chose patron saints, and that the building trades selected the Quatuor
associations of
workmen were formed
Coronati, or Four Crowned Martyrs, as presenting nearest approach to men of their own calling.
Thns, in the ordinances of the Strasburg Fraternity of Stonemasons, 1459, will be found the following invocation: " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of our gracious Mother Mary, and also of her blessed servants, the Holy Four Crowned Martyrs of
everlasting memory A similar and almost identical invocation is prefixed to the Torgau Ordinances of 1462, and in both instances it will be apparent that the military calling of the Four has been forgotten, while they have had ascribed to' them the trade of the Five, who are not mentioned at all.
Tiiat the legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs nuist have penetrated into Ik'itain at a ver\' early date is quite clear, as we find it recorded by Bede, in his Historia Ecclesiastica, that there was a church in existence at Canterbury dedicated to the QtiaUior Coronati, a.d. 619. They are also mentioned, as already observed, and inferentially as the Patron Saints of the Masons, in the oldest document of the English Craft, the Kegius MS. or Masonic Poem, dating from the early part of the fifteenth
After this they disappear frou) British Masonic history or though as we have seen, their memory continued to be cherished until a much later date by the Stonemasons of (iermany. But as a period of more than a century-and-a-half separates the Manuscript Constitutions (as written
documents) from the Poem, the omission of any allusion in the former, either to the Blessed Virgin or the P^'our Saints, is easily understood when we consider that such invocations in a Protestant country during the last quarter of the sixteenth century and no dated form of the old Constitutions can claim a higher antiquity than a.d. 1583 would have been inconsistent with the principles of the Reformation. The fact, however, remains, that during the splendour of Mediaeval Operative Masonry, and until the period of its decay, the legendary Patron Saints of the building trades, were those soldiers and martyrs the Quatuor Coronati.
In passing from legend to history, the Collegia which we know from inscriptions to have existed in Bri^in during its occupation by the Roman legions, are said to nave been the progenitors of the Saxon Guilds and from the latter, it is furtlier stated that the Mediaeval Operative Masons, and subsequently the modern Freemasons, can trace a direct
But in the first place it is very doubtful whether the Saxon Guilds were descended from, or were even imitations of the Roman Collegia. Nor do organised bodies of Masons seem to have arisen until long after the appearance of guilds
the necessity of moving from place place as work called them, would long ^Ji'eclude their having associations such as those by which the other trades
among the other trades. The reason is obvious,
were strengthened and controlled, and the essence of which was (as in the case of the Collegia) a local habitation. Hence, I am obliged to pronounce, however reluctantly, against the popular theory that the germs of our present Freemasonry were introduced into this country by the legions of Imperial Rome. The architeetiu'al achievements of great soldiers in most nations of Eiu-ope and x\sia, though presenting a tempting theme, is one upon which I can do no more than bestow a I'here is documentary evidence which passing glance. dispute, that in the eighth century proves beyond Charlemagne (grandson of Charles Martel) invited Masons and other Craftsmen from every country of Europe in which
they were established, Aix la Chapelle.
to be
to erect his magnificent
church at
Other examples miglit be freely cited, V)ut a selection has made, and I shall therefore next instance David I. of Scotland, in whose reign many bishoprics were founded and enlarged, and to the same time, also, belong the religious houses of Holyrood, Melrose, Jedburgh, Kelso, Dryburgh, Of this King, we are told that the Xewbattle, and Kinross. Scottish Masons " worshipped him as their beneficent Gi'and Master," a tradition which I shall do no more than relate but it is certain, at all events, that the munificence, or rather the prodigality of David in rearing ecclesiastical An old edifices, seriously impoverished the royal revenue. chronicler observes " King James the First, quhen he com he was ane soir to Davidis sepulture at Dunfermeling, said, sanct for the crown,' as he wald mene, that King David left the Kirk ouir riche, and the Crown ouir pure." As a military commander, David appears to have shown great tlie glory of his earlier ability and resource, though campaigns has l)een somewhat obscured by the signal defeat which he sustained at the famous " Battle of the Standard," near Northallerton, in 1138.
Passing to our
own Richard
of the
believe the historian
Saladin, built the
" Cceiu* de Lion," if we may Holy War, the conqueror of Acre, Porphyra, Ascalon, and
King, Edward 1., who also took the cross, towers and castles on his return, which in form and strength were imitations of what he had actually seen in the Levant and the Holy Land. This brings in the Crusaders, whose influence, both on Eastern and Western art, was great and lasting. Seven hundred years ago Palestine must have been as thickly covered with churches as England is now. In 1187 Jerusalem was captured by Saladin, and the Christians were soon after expelled from the greater part of the Holy Land, though Antioch was not taken until 1268, nor Acre until 1291. Thiis there were driven back into German}', France, and Britain, thousands of skilled men accustomed to work under the ouidance of the Crusaders.
later English
be next observed, that most of the characteristic Marks Avere originally developed at a very early period in the East, and have been used as distinguishing signs, of some kind, fi'om the middle ages down to the present time. 'I'hey appear to have been introduced into this country in the first quarter of the twelfth century, or many years after the conquest of Jerusalem by
called Masons'
the Crusaders.
A peculiar kind of toolmarkiug was, however, used in the East from very ancient times, and this was not introduced into England until the end of the twelfth century, the opening period of our beautiful Early English Architecture, when it quickly superseded another style, whose origin had been in the West.
so well
summed — " There was a up by my distinct style
friend, Professor
as well as
of Architecture
both in England and Palestine at about the middle of the twelfth century\ Also, there was another peculiar type of Masonry and toolmarks of an earlier date which was scarcely known in this country until about the time when the Crusaders were driven out of Palestine, that is in 1 187. The ai'cliitecture of the Crusaders in Palestine was mainly designed and carried out under the superintendence of Western architects and masons, and there was a strong Eastern influence in the English Masonry of the thirteenth century after the return of the Crusaders." Before that Lime, and during the early period of the Norman Style of arcliitecture, France and England went hand in hand in its progress, but after the expiilsion from Palestine, French and English art went quite different ways and from different centres. After this we have a school of art distinctly English, and in the opinion of the eminent authority whose remarks I am transcribing, it must have been ruled by some such central body as the Freemasons. Restricting, however, the field of inquiry^, and passing to Military Arcliitecture, it may be observed that what has been appropriately termed the style of the Crusaders, was introduced by Edward I. in 1272, and the stvle of Windsor, by Edward HI. in 1.3o0.
Many of the Barons who had acquired Avealth \>y the ransom of prisoners taken at Poictiers and Cressy, were proud to appl} it to the decoration and enlargement of their castles, as the example the King had shown at Windsor,
excited in
of a castle a matter of mere These edifices both in England and abroad were erected on scientific principles well known and regularly applied. We may suppose a mediaeval castle, fully garrisoned, to resemble a modern man-of-war, in the arrangement of the different parts, the complete occupation of space, and the perfect conmiand of every division of it.
them a rivalry of Nor was the construction
ordinary skdl.
The splendid reign of Edward III. was an era very favourable to architectural improvement works were commenced by him at Windsor about 1350, and a few years afterwards, at tiie suggestion, it is said, of the Kings of France and Scotland, who were detained there as prisoners of war, he was induced to extend the castle, and in a manner that could scarcely have been foreseen by his advisers, if we may credit Stow, who relates that our English Soldier-King apjn-uved the sayings of his captives, "adding pleasantly, 'tiiat he would enlarge the castle, and the charges thereof should be borne with their two ransoms.'
as after
William of
Wykeham, and
by writs
artisans were
summoned from
this period,
several counties
has been affirmed, the Masons entered into a combination not to work without increased wages, and agreed iipon certain signs and tokens by which they might know one another, and render mutual assistance against being
impressed. They further agreed not to work at all, unless as Freemen, and on their own terms, in consequence of which they were called Free JJasons. There is probability aboiit nuich of this, but so far as 1 am aware, no authority, beyond the circumstance that writs of impressment in connection with the re-building of Windsor Castle, ai-e mentioned by
in his Hhtory of the Order of the Garter. But while Operative Masonry certainly flourished under
the House of Plantagenet, the closing years of this dynasty witnessed the setting in of its decay. In 1337, the Hundred Years' War with France began, and in 1349 occurred the first visitation of the lUack Death. About half the labourers in England were swept away.
millions, a reached until the reign of Elizabeth. Then followed the peasant revolt of 1381, and early in the next century, under the successors of the Plantagenets, commenced the long and savage contest for supremacy, between the respective adherents of the Red Hose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York.
The population before the mortality was four
which was not again
During the continuance of the struggle the nation went back in many ways from the refinement of the fourteenth
arts lost their vigour
population still further and beauty.
Finally, in the sixteenth century, the Reformation struck the death-blow of mediicval architecture, which, with the monasteries, had long been decaying, and both, perhaps would soon have expired in a natural way, had they not been prematurely extinguished. It is reasonable to suppose that Masonry, as a speculative science, declined or fell into decay, ^^a^Y 2miisu, with Masonry as an operative art, or to put it in another way, let me state for the benefit of those readers who are not of our fraternity, that while the symbolism of the Craft is of great and undoubted antiquity, only a very fragmentary portion of what must have formerly existe'd has come down
to us.
After the Reformation, no more churches were built, at The builders almost died out, and the unions of these men, having lost their raison d'etre, naturally dissolved. A few, however, from causes we cannot trace, contrived to escape the gi'eat cataclysm of the Reformation, and these Unions or Lodges we find taking a new departure about the But by this time the Masonic bodies appear year 1717. under a new guise. While still retaining many forms and ceremonies, which they had derived from their direct ancestors, the working Masons, we find that the connection
least for a long period of time.
with Operative Masonry had ahiiost come to an end, and that Speculative (or SymboHcal) Masonry, with a remnant of the old forms, had been substituted in its place.
indeed not entirely wanting, is nevertheless to supply more than an occasional glimpse of the way in which the old system was gradually succeeded, and ultimately supplanted by the new. The earliest authentic record of a non-operative being a member of a Masonic Lodge is contained in a Minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh, under the date of June the 8th, 1600. John Boswell, tlie Laird of Auchinleck (ancestor of the wellknown biographer of Dr. Johnson) was present at the meeting, and like his operative brethren, he attested the minute by his mark. But that Speculative or Symbolic, flourished side by side with Operative Masonry, at a much earUer period, may be safely inferred from the solemn declaration of a Presbyterian synod in 1 652, that ministers of that persuasion had been Freemasons " in the purest tymes of this Kirke," the reference probably being to the years immediately following the Reformation of 1560, and without doubt considerably antedating the introduction of Episcopac}^ in 1610.
In the South of England, it is only in connection with the Mason's Company of the City of London, that we meet with any actual proof of the existence of any form of Symbolical or Speculative Masonry in the early part of the seventeenth century.
About the year 1530, this Company ceased to use their old title of " Fellowship of Masons," and became known as the " Company of ffree-masons," a title which was retained until 1653. Most of the records are unfortunately missing,
but from an old book of accounts, which has fortuitously been preserved, it is made clear that previously to 1620, and inferentially from a more remote past, certain brethren who were members of the Company in conjunction, it is supposed, with others Avho were not, met in Lodge at Masons' Hall, London, and were known to the Company as the " Accepted Masons." Seven persons were received into the " Acception " or Lodge, in 1620-21, all of whom were already members of
the Company, whicli is sufficient to prove that the two bodies were distinct associations, although, as the accoiints show, tlie latter had entire control over the former and its
Of this, indeed, there is a more conspicuous example in the case of Nicliolas Stone, the King's Master Mason, who, though Master of the Company in 1633, and again in 1634, was not enrolled among the " Accepted Masons " of the Lodge, until 1639.
In Scotland,
the holder of a similar,
of the Su- Anthony Alexander, Society at a slightly earlier date second son of the first Earl of Stirling, Master of Work to the King, together with his elder brother, Viscount Canada, and Sir Alexander Strachan, was admitted into the Lodge of P^dinburgh as a fellow of Craft, on the 3rd of Jidy, 1634.
had become a member of the Speculative wing
Lord Canada, then Sir William Alexander, had been constituted some years previously. Knight Admiral of Nova Scotia, !Uid sailed for that country in May, 1628, in command of a squadron of four vessels carrying upwards of seventy colonists, who were safely landed at Port Royal. The admiral and his officers were regularly commissioned "to make prize of all French or Spanish Ships, and to displant the French." The third son of the first Earl of Stirling, Henrie Alex-
who succeeded Sir Anthony as General Warden and Master of Work to the King, became a member of the Lodge He was subsequently, for a time at of Edinbui'gh, in 1638. least, like liis eldest brother, an officer in the Royal Navy, and served as such under Lord Aboyne, in 1639, when that nobleman, in the interest of Charles L, sailed into the roads of Aberdeen with three ships of war to resist the upholders of the Covenant. Among the members of the other branch of the profession of arms who were received into Masonry in the Lodge of Edinburgh, the first appears to have been David Ramsay, whose admission is recorded in a minute of August,
1637. This soldier of fortune,
who was equerry to the elder son seems to have obtained, after the death of
Prince Henry, a conuui.ssiuu as eai)tain of a company in the Countries, and in 1624 tlie colonelcy of one of the Scots Regiments which served under Count Mansfield, in Holland.
years later he figures in an entirely new role, as we of a letter to the English King from the ambassador to the President of the Rosy Cross, of which an amusing account is given by Dr. Birch in his Court and Times of Cha)l(S I.
him the bearer
It was by the advice of the same "ambassador" that Frederick, the unfortunate Elector-Palatine, is said to have accepted the Crown of Boliemia, which, if true, may tend to explain why Ramsay was selected as an envoy by the Rosicrucians, since we have it on the authority of Bishop
Burnet, that he was strongly recommended to Charles I. by the King of Bohemia, " as one who had served him faithAfter this, however, he fell into fully in Germany." disgrace, and is referred to in the description by Sir AV alter Scott of the last trial that took place in the old Court of Chivalry. "Whether, indeed, the British officers who served on the Continent during the Thirty Years' War, were indoctrinated to any considerable extent with the mystical tenets of the Rosicrucians, nuist remain a mystery, but there is evidence to show that a secret, or at least an oathbound society, with customs approximating to those which are severally ascribed to the Herraetical Philosophers and the Freemasons, was established in an English Regiment serving abroad, and by it introduced into this country. In a letter from John Chamberlain, a gentleman and scholar, who was very well informed of what was going on in the world around him, to his intimate friend Sir Dudley Carletou, the writer, December 6th, 1623, observes
a crew or knot of people discovered, who, under colour of srood fellowship, have made an association, and taken certain oaths and orders devised among themselves specially to be true and faithful to the Society, and conceal one another's secrets, but mixed with a number of other ridiculous toys, to disguise the matter as having a Prince whom thej' called Ottoman wearing of blue or 3-ellow^ ribbons in their hats or elsewhere having certain nicknames, as Tifi/re-tu. or such like, for their several fraternities and many other odd conceits, the bottom whereof is not yet discovered, though divers of them
16 have been examineri. and some committed, as one of the Windsor's, and a few others. Most of them are younof gentlemen who used to flock to taverns, thirty or forty in a company. This comljination began first in the Low Countries, in the Lord Yauxs Regiment, and hath since spread itself here to the number of eight score ah-eady known. What mischief may lurk under the mask. God knows. But sure they are confident, and presumed much of themselves to carry it so openly.
Alexander and Master of the Ordnance and Ammunition, was admitted as " Fellow and Master of the Craft" May 20th, 1640. This officer held a higli command in the expeditionary force sent from Scotland ill 1631 to serve under Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, during the Thirty Years' War. General Hamilton was present with the Scottish Army at Newcastle in 1641, and together with other members of the Lodge of Edii'burgh, he took part in the fi,}-st initiatioib on English soil, of which any of the surrounding circumstances have come down to us. The Scottish troops having crossed the Tweed and defeated the Royalists at Newburn, had occupied Newcastle, where they remained during the negotiations that Avere proceeding. A minute of the Lodge " At Neucastell the 'JOth day off May, 1641,'"' records the admission of "Mr. the Right Honerabell Mr. Robert Moray, General Quartermaster to the Armie off Scotlan." From this we may conclude that there were members of the Lodge of Edinburgh who accompanied the forces of the Covenanters in 1641, and that it was at the hands of these
return, liowever, to the
of Edinl)urgh,
General of
militant craftsmen that the then Quartermaster-General of the Army of Scotland was made a Mason. Two months later Newcastle was evacuated by the Scottish forces, and on returning to Edinburgh it is supposed that the brethren by whom Moray was admitted (at a distance from the Lodge) must have reported the i)roceeding, which beingapproved was recorded in the minute-book and attested by the signatures of General Hamilton and the others who took part in it, as well as by that of the newly-received
member. Both Hamilton and Moray
the former having in the the artillery on the winning side at the
Moor wore again present in tlie Lodge 1647, and signed the proceedings on the occasion of the admission of " WiUiam Maxwell, Doctor of Fisik," an officer in the King's service, whose name takes the first place of all on the bead-roll of eminent medical brethren who have shed a lustre on our Society.
battle of Marstoii
Before holding the appointment of Quartermaster-General the Army of the Covenanters, Sir Robert Moray (or Murray) served with distinction in France under Richelieu. He was with the Scottish Army when Charles I. sought shelter in the camp of his fellow-countrymen, in May, 1646, and planned a scheme for his escape, which, but for the King's want of resolution, mast have been crowned with After the Restoration he was Secretary of State success. for Scotland and one of the founders, and the first President of the Royal Sociot}'.
He was
greatly esteemed
shall pass over the
to find to
by men of all shades of opinion, encomiums of his friends in order what was said of him by Anthony Wood
According though somewhat splenetic writer, " He Avas a single man, an abhorrer of women, a most renowned chymist, a great patron of the Rosicrucians, and an
with reference to his love for the occult sciences.
this diligent,
excellent mathematician."
be here conveniently referred to, that according popular theory, the mystical knowledge or symbolism of the Masonic Craft is supposed to have been introduced into the Lodges by the Hermetical Philosojjhers or Rosicrucian adepts, whose studies appear to have embraced the same objects, and between whom the only difference seems to have been one of title, the former appellation being the earlier of the two, but the latter (owing to the alleged existence of a Society of Rosicrucians) becoming the more conmion term by which the votaries of the "Chymical Art," or "Sons of the Fire," were alluded to. It is well known that women were the aversion of the older school of Hermeticists and Rosicrucians, and we may, therefore, conclude that the abhorrence which Sir Robert Moray is said to have entertained for the fair sex must have
been an unfortunate result arising out of his studies as an alchemist ical philosopher. No such characteristic could possibly have been the effect of his training in the profession of arms, nor can we credit for an instant that he acquired it through participation in the fellowship of the Craft. On this point, indeed, the woi-ds of the old song, which have come down to us with a very respectable flavour of antiquity, will be regai'ded ])y all true believers in Masonic tradition as being absolutely conclusive
mortal can more ladies adore a Free and an Accepted Mason."'
recoi'ds of several Scottish
greatly to be regretted that while the minutes and Lodges, dating from the seventeenth (and in a solitary instance, the sixteenth) century, have been preserved, we meet with none whatever which relate to or illustrate the proceedings of English Lodges luitil a much later period.
Of the existence, indeed, of an actvial living Freemasonry very least an equal antiquity with that prevailing in the North, there cannot be a doubt. But the evidence upon which we depend is meagre in the
in the South, possessing at the
That there were Accepted or Speculative Masons in London in the opening years of the seventeenth century is amply proved by the records of the Company to which I
have previously referred but there is only a bare mention of a few names, and the minutes of the L(,)dge or " Acception " have wholly disappeared. The next evidence in point of date is supplied by the " Diary of Elias Ashmole," from which I extract the following
Oct. 16. 4.3i) p.m. I was made a Free Mason at 1640. Warrington, in Lancashire, with Coll. Henry Mainwaring, of Karincham. in Cheshire.
At this time Ashmole was a Captain in Lord Ashley's Regiment, and also Comptroller of the Ordnance on the King's side while Mainwaring, of whom there is frequent mention in the bulletins of the Civil War, was a staunch
also gives " the names of those tliat were then Lodge," which may perhaps amply justify the conclusion that the members of it had been in the habit of but even associating in Masonic Fellowship for some time if we suppose that the Lodge was really formed or created for the purpose of admitting Ashmole and Mainwaring into the fraternity, the attendance of other gentlemen on the occasion, for it is a very noteworthy fact that not a single Operative Mason appears to have been present on the afternoon of the 16th of October, 1646, shows with the utmost clearness that English Symbolical Masonry must have had a much earlier existence, and points in the direction of a Speculative ascendency (over the Operative element) having become well established, at least at Warrington, in that year.
The Diary
of the
It is singular, nevertheless, that although many years before the events at Newcastle and Warrington in 1641 and 1646, there must have been gentlemen Freemasons in the Southern Kingdom, the first three of whose admission to the Craft any particulai's are forthcoming, were members of the military profession.
Of Ashmole,
Anthony Wood, who seldom
was the greatest virtuoso and curioso that ever was known or read of in England before his time. Uxor Solis took up its habitation in his breast, and in his bosom the great God did abundantly store up the treasures of all sorts of wisdom and knowledge. Much of his time, when he was in the prime of his years, was spent in Chymistry, in which faculty being accounted famous did worthily receive the title of Jfei-curiojihiltts Anglims." The inducements which led Ashmole, Mainwaring, and other men of their class to become Freemasons have been the subject of much curious speculation, and more than a
side of panegyric, says
— " He
on the
Nicolai, a learned bookseller of Berlin, singular hypothesis. It was, that English Masonry had its origin in the "New Atlantis " of Lord Bacon, and was the actual product of an Hermetical and Rosicrucian fraternity, of which Elias Ashmole and others " It was established at Warrington were leading members.
c 2
in 1646,
mysterious admitted into the Masons' Company of London, and took the name of Freemasons."
in order to conceal their
and afterwards,
members were
The theory survives, though in a modified form, and at the present day there are many who believe that because the Alchemists, Hermeticists, and Rosicrucians had no association (or organization) of their own in England or Scotland, they joined the Masonic Lodges in order to meet one another without giving rise to suspicion.
further supposed that to these men, or to others who their opinions, we are indebted for the Third Degree and the introduction of Hermetic and other symbols into Masonry, and that they framed the three degrees of the Craft (as we now have them) for the purpose of communicating their doctrines, veiled by their symbols, to those fitted to receive them, and gave to all others trite moral explanations of them which they could comprehend.
If these views are sustainable, it necessarily follows that a distinction must be drawn between the Morally-Symbolic Masonry of current date and the Philosophically-Symbolic Masonry of more ancient times the former being, therefore, our " Speculative " Masonry, a system of morality veiled in symbols, and the latter something very difierent, in which the symbols conceal, and to the adept express, the great philosophic and religious truths of antiquity, or, it may be, the philosophic doctrines of the Hermeticists and Rosicrucians, which, as their books show, are (or were)
quite true that certain observances and to be in existence and prevalent among The fact is the Masonic body in the seventeenth century. also patent (without laying undue stress on the case of David Ramsay) that Sir Robert Moray, Elias Ashmole, and very probably other students of the occult sciences were members of the Society. But evidence is entirely wanting to show that the Hermeticists or Rosicrucians ever practised among themselves any mystic or symbolical ceremonies which they could have passed on to the Freemasons, and what therefore seems incapable of proof, nuist be
ideas were found
pronounced, of course, equally incapable of refutation.
weight has been attached to the undoubted fact Hke Moi'ay before him was both an Ashniule Hermetical Philosopher and a Freemason. Still, conjecture must not be allowed to take the place of evidence, and from this it is only legitimate to infer that the Freemasons had not amalgamated with any of the supposed Rosicrucians or Hermetical fraternities of the actual existence of which there is no proof nor that they were their actual descendants, or themselves under another name. A contrary view would, in my own opinion, be ridiculous, though in order to appease the wrath of our modern Rosicrucians, I freely admit that the subject of the Hermetic learning has lain outside my course of study, and is, perhaps, beyond my sphere of comprehension.
Before, however, passing away from Moray, Ashmole, and the associate of the latter at Warrington, Colonel Mainwarino-, a few words remain to be expressed.
That these three men Covenanter, Royalist, and Parliamentarian— were the earliest Freemasons of whose initiation on English soil any details are forthcoming, 1 have already shown but it is also worthy of being
recollected that all the admissions occurred in the heat of the great Civil War, and that each Military Brother, so received, belonged to a separate and distinct section of the
which took part in it. Returning to Scottish ^Masonry, we find that of forty-nine fellow crafts (or master masons) who belonged to the Lodge of Aberdeen in 1670, less than a quarter were of the Masons' trade. The Master was of gentle birth, and among the members were clergymen, surgeons, merchants, and three noblemen, one of whom (Lord Errol) was then an old man, and presumably, therefore, must have joined the
Society at a
earlier date.
who succeeded to the title 1638, was Colonel of Horse in the army raised for the rescue of Charles I. from the hands of the Parliamentary party, known by the name of the " Unhappie Engagement;'"
Gilbert, tenth Earl of Errol,
and subsequently raised
James, fourth and
became a member
the service of Dunferndine, who of the same Lodge in 1679, served in his
last Earl of
younger days under the Prince of Orange in several memorable expeditions. He joined Viscount Dundee with ;i troop of Horse in 1689, and fought at their head at the
battle of Killiecrankie in that year.
John, seventh Earl of Cassilis, afterwards a prominent the Revolution of 1688, was deacon or head, of the Lodge of Kilwinning in 1672. The same position was filled by Alexander, eighth Earl of Eglinton, in 1678, liimself a staunch supporter of the Covenanters, but whose father and grandfather, in accordance with the astute policy of hedging, so well known in Scotland, had fought on opposite sides at the battle of Marston Moor. The former served with the Koyalist Army, and the latter, who was
ligure in
" Grey-steel," for his intrepid courage, commanded the Lancers of Ayrshire, one of the Scots Cavalry Regiments in the " right wing of Horse " under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
of the
John, eldest son of Sir Ewen Cameron of Locheil, chief Clan Cameron, was a member of the Lodge of Dunblane in 1696. This "theoretical" Craftsman and other leading brethren of the Lodge were prominent actors on the Stuart side in the rising of 1715.
leaving the seventeenth century some of the Masonic customs of that era demand a passing notice. We find that while the Lodge of Kilwinning was content to meet in the upper chamber of an ordinary dwelling-house, the Masons of Aberdeen held their Lodge in the open fields, except when it was " ill weather," on which occasions they met under shelter, but only in some house or building that was not used as a place of residence. Of what are now termed Masonic degrees, there was at this period, and for long after, only one known to the Scottish
It comprised a form of reception in which, under an oath, apprentices received " the benefit of the Mason word, together with all that was implied in the expression."
But what the old Scottish Mason Word was, remains unknown. It has not yet been discovered either what it was or to what extent it was in general iise. Neither can it be determined whether at any given date prior to 1736 it was the same in Ene'land as in Scotland.
In both countries, during the seventeent heentiny, there
was Operative as well as Speculative Membership in the Lodges, yet a ditterence is found which should be noted. In Scotland the Lodges existed for trade purposes, and to fulfil apparently certain Operative functions, of which the
may have passed away, or at least has been unrecorded in the South.
when we meet with them were of an essentially Operative character, while the English Lodges of corresponding date, to the extent tluit there is evidence ujjon which we can rel}', were as essentially Speculative both in their character
Scottish Lodges, therefore,
and composition. At the Union of the two countries in 1707 there was a marked difference between the ceremonial observances of In the Northern the English and Scottish Lodges. Kingdom the ancient symbolism of Masonry had descended to the level of the ordinary artisan, while in South Britain more of the old frame-work still existed. A passing glance at the Freemasonry of the South, two years after the Union between the two Kingdoms, has been afforded us by a military othcer (and distinguished man of
of the
Steele, in
period. Captain (afterwards Sir Richard) an essay, from which I extract the following
reason for troubling yon at this present is to put a stop, if it may be. to an insinuating set of People who assume the name of Pretty Fellows, and even get new Names. They have their Signs and Tokens like Freemasons
the}' rail at
Upon this evidence it will be quite clear that a Society known as the Freemasons, having certain distinct modes of recognition, must have existed in London in 1709, and there is scarcely room for doubt, from a much earlier date.
It should be recollected also that, besides being a close observer of what was transpiring in London, Steele must have been fully conversant with the military customs prevailing in his day. Hence, the practice of acc[iiiring "new Names" referred to in the essay may be usefully compared with a similar habit which, as already related (on the authority of a letter from John Chamberlain to Sir
tion " that sprang serving in the Low
Dudley Carletou), was a marked feature of the " Combina up iu Lord Yaux's Regiment while Countries. The final words of the quotation would seem to indicate that the class of persons whom Steele had in his mind, when writing his essay, must
have shared the peculiar sensibility of the Rosicrucians with regard to the gentler sex, and, like the members of that shadowy fraternity, were, in theory at least, great " abhorrers of women."
The first naval officer of the "United Kingdom" who can be identified as a member of the Craft, is Admiral Robert Fairfax, who was "admitted and sworn into the honourable Society and Fraternity of Freemasons " at the city of York on the 7th of August, 1713.
This distinguished officer, who was the grandson of Sir William Fairfax, the cousin and companion in arms of the great General of the Parliamentary forces, entered the Navy in 1688, and became a post-captain in 1690. He was present in many battles and fought several gallant actions, particularly distinguishing himself during the operations of!' Granville, and at the taking of Gibraltar, receiving for his services in the former instance a gold medal, and in the latter a silvei' cup, which was presented to him by Queen Anne. He attained the rank of Yice (afterwards altered to that of Rear) Admiral, and was appointed a member of the Board of Admiralty in 1708. The next year he fixed his residence at York, and in the month following his reception into the Masonic Fraternity, he was elected as Parliamentary
representative for that city.
possessor of Steeton and
The Admiral had become the head of the fiunily and Newton Kyme (in Yorkshire), iu 1694, when in command of the Rulnj, chasing j^rivateers in
the Irish Sea. He died at
sixtieth yeai*.
in the right
Newton Kyme
last years of his
in 1725, being then in his good portrait of him was painted in the life. The left hand rests on a globe, and
he holds a pair of compasses. ^lany prominent Freemasons rashl}- took up arms in the Some were executed, and Jacobite risings of 171o 16.
others embarked for the Continent.
Among the Litter were George, tenth and last of the Earls Marischals of Scotland, captain of the Scottish troo[) of Horse Grenadier Guards, who had served with distinction in the campaigns of ^larlborough, and ended his career in the serA'ice of Frederick the Great James Keith, his brother as a soldier, beyond question, by far the greatest and of all " Scots abi'oad " ; John Cameron, of Locheil George Seton, Earl of Winton, who escaped from the Tower after sentence of death had been pronounced upon him, aiad " was in later life Master of the famous " Roman Lodge
(founded by Scottish brethren in Rome) at the time of its suppression in 1737. It will be seen on a later page that Masonry in Russia, if not actually introduced, was established on a firm footing by the younger Keith and if we may believe the Frencli historians, it was by another of these exiles, James Ratclifte, who, after his elder brother was beheaded, assumed the title of Earl of Derwentwater, that the first Lodae in France was founded at Paris in 1725.
Neither in ancient nor in modern times, has the schoolmaster made a single step of progress, except by holding on to the skirts of the soldier's coat. Regular armies gave the fii'st check to the barbarism of the Middle Ages, and it was under their protection alone that arts, sciences, commerce and industry, greiv up and extended in Europe.
of legendary of were great warriors there is no stint, the prosaic facts of liistory assure ns that the earliest of Grand Lodges was established on the 24th of June, 1717. The foundation of the Grand Lodge of England was a great event, but the Society of Freemasons organised on a new basis made very slow progress in jjublic favour. Anthony Sayer, " gentleman," was the first Grand Master, while Jacob Lamball, " carpenter," and " Captain " Joseph Elliot, were the Grand Wardens. Sayer was succeeded by George Payne, of the Civil Service, and the latter (in 1719) by Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers, an ingenious natural philosopher, and after Elliot, the next of the Grand officers that can be associated witli the military profession, as he received, though in later life, a conunission as Chaplain in what is now the 12th Lancers, Init was then (1738) Colonel Phineas Bowles's Regiment of Dragoons. In 1720, George Payne was elected for a second term, after whom came the first of a long and unbroken series of noble Grand Masters John,
—Major-Gbx. Mitchell. Grand Masters — many whom
on June 24th, 1721, when the Society rose at a single boiuid into notice and esteem. The Duke, who was then a colonel in the Army, died of a violent fever, in July, 1749, aged fifty-nine, and at the time of his death v.'as Master-General of the Ordnance, (ieneral of Horse, colonel of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, (irand Master of the Order of the Bath, K.G., F.U.S., and a
Duke of Montagu, who was
Privv Councillor.
Of the first Noble Grand Master of Speculative Free masons, it may indeed be said that he was also the First (jfrand Master of Speculative Artillerists, having consolidated by Royal Charter in 1741 (when he was Master-General), the Royal Military Academy, which had been established in 1719, as a school of theoretical instruction at Woolwich. From 1741, therefore, Artillery (like Freemasonry at an earlier date) merged into a speculative science founded upon an operative art.
The Duke
Montagu was one
of the
of the period,
of the generous assistance
most remarkable which he
in time of need, both to his brethren in the Craft and his brethren in arms, many anecdotes have been related. The following, from the pen of Dr. Stukeley, appeared in one of the London journals, shortly after the death of his benefactor and friend
After a war concluded, when many officers were reduced to half-pay. the Duke, walking in the park, he, as he was an excellent physiognomist, saw a cajitain. a brave man. whom he had some knowledge of, sitting on a bench, with deep marks of sorrow and dejection on his countenance. The Uuke accosted him. and soon became acquainted with his hard case. He had a wife and foiu- children in the country, who could not possibly be maintained on the allowance. He ordered him, on that day fortnight, to come and dine with him. In the meantime, the Duke sent for his wife and childi-en to town, and had them at his house at dinner on the day appointed. The ciptain was prodigiously surprised at the sight of them. The joy. mixed with the concern of the difficulty he had to maintain them, caused an inexplicalile tumult in his breast, but the Duke dispelled the cloud, by telling him that he had been soliciting a better commission for him. He presented him with it. and with a bank note of £5(1^). and then put on his grave air. and sat down to dinner as composedly as if he had done
This nobleman was succeeded in 1722, by Philip, Duke AVharton, an outline of whose meteoric career will be found on a later page, and the younger peer, in the following year by James, Earl of Dalkeith, a grandson of the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, who, in turn, gave place to the Duke of Richmond, in 1724.
The Grand Lodge
of which, the
" Lodge of Antiquity,"
1717 was founded by four lodges, and the "Royal
Somerset House and Inverness" (Nos. 1 and 4 respectively below), still exist. These bodies met in 1724 1. At the Goose A\D Gridiron, in St Paul's Churchyard. 2. At the Queen's Head, Turnstile formerly the Crown,
in Parker's Lane.
3. At the Queen's Head, in Knave's Acre formerhj the Apple Tree, in Covent Garden. 4. At the HoRNE, in Westminster formerly the Rummek AND Grapes, in Channel Row. With the exception of Anthonj' Sayer, the Premier Grand Master, who is cited on the roll of No. 3, all the
; ;
eminent persons who took an}- leading part in the early history of P^reemasonr}-, immediately after the formation of
a Grand Lodge, were members of No. 4. In 1724, No. 1 had twenty-two memljers No. 2, twenty-one; No. 3, fourteen and No. seventy-one. The three 4,
'• be described as Esquire," while in No. there were ten noblemen, three 4, honourables, four baronets or knights, two general officers, ten colonels, four officers below field rank, and twenty-four esquires. Payne and Desagnliers former Grand Masteis together A\ith the Rev. James Anderson the " Father of Masonic History" were members of this Lodge. Also Charles, second Duke of Richmond, Lennox, and Aubigny, Master of the Lodge in 1723, and Grand Master of the Society in 1724, who became a captain in the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards in 1722, Major-General in 1742, and Lieutenant-General in 1745. In 1743, he attended George II. to the scene of the war, and was present at the battle of Dettingen in that year. He afterwards accompanied the Duke of Cumberland on his expedition against the Jacobite rebels in 1745.
Henry Scott, created Earl of Delorainein 1706, a younger son of the Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, was appointed to the command of a Regiment of Foot in 1707, promoted Colonel of the second troop of Horse Grenadier Guards (in succession to a more unfortunate Craftsman, George Keith, 10th and last of the Earls Marischal of Scotland) in 1715, and died a Major-General in 1730.
Lord Carmiohael, captain in the Foot Guards, who succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Hyndford in 1737, was sent on a special mission to (iermany in 1741, to mediate between Frederick the Great and the Empress Maria Theresa; and also to Russia in 1744, when his skilful negotiations greatly conduced to the peace of
in the 1st
Adolphus Oughton, who was Captain and Lieutenant Foot Guards in 1700, and A.D.C. to the Duke of .Marll)orough during his retirement on the Continent in 1712, afterwai'ds became a Brigadier-! ieneral and Colonel
Dragoons. Robert Rich, fourth Bcironet, who entered the (irenadier Guards in 1700, and saw service under the Duke of Marlborough. Colonel of the 13th Light Dragoons, 1722 Lieutenant-General, 1739. Embarked for Flanders to join the Earl of Stair's Army in 1742, and fought at Dettingen in 1743. Promoted General in 1747 and Field;
of tlic 8th
20th, 1757.
officer in the service of the Low Countries, who Avas actively employed as a Lieutenant-General at the battle of Dettingen in 1743 and officer, Baron Dieskau, militai'y afterwards a brave (]Iommander-in-Chief of the French troops in America during the period anterior to Montcalm, and famous for the active part lie took in the wars between the English and French during that period. In his last campaign he commanded the expedition sent to defeat that of the Engli.sh which Avas advancing to invade Canada in 1755. But though he achieved a brilliant victory over the Army of Colonel Williams, a second battle on the same day resulted in his sustaining a total defeat at the hands of Sir AVilliam .Johnson (a brother Freemason), the French commander being himself made a prisoner, and also very seriously
Count La Lippe, a distinguished
Count Walzdorf and the Marquis Des Marches, who were members of the Lodge, may have been, and probably were, like La Lippe and Dieskau, foreign military officers,
but further details relating to their biographies have so far
Many other foreign noblemen were initiated in the Lodge during the Mastership of the Duke of Richmond, and among them the Marquis Du Quesne (1730), Captain in the French Royal Marine Service, who was descended from the greatest Du Quesne, Grand-Admiral of France. He was a brave and judicious Governor of Canada from 1752 to 1755, in which latter year he solicited his recall on the plea that he wished to return to active militaiy duty. The Duke of Wharton was Master of the Lodge at the King's Arms, St. Paul's Churchyard, and the Duke of St. Alban's of that at the Queen's Head, Bath, in 1725. Charles Beauclerk, first Duke of St. Albans, who was the son of Charles II., by Nell Gwynn, served with the Imperial Army against the Turks, and was present at the taking of Belgrade. He afterwards commanded an English regiment of horse, and in 1693 left for Flanders, where he served under William III., in the campaign of Landen. He was a gallant soldier, and much esteemed by the King. Viscount Cobham, and the Earl of Lichfield, were also members of the Lodge at the Queen's Head. Richard Temple created Baron Cobham in 1714, and a Viscount in 1718 in the first year of Queen Anne's reign was appointed colonel of a regiment of foot served in Flanders and Germany, and having particularly distinguished himself at the siege of Lisle in 1708, was sent express, by the Duke of Marlborough, to the Queen with an account of the surrender of that fortress. Major-General, 1709 Colonel of the 4th Dragoons, 1710; of the 1st Dragoons, 1715; and of the King's Dragoon Guards, 1721; Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor Charles VI., 1715; Commander of the Land Forces against Spain, 1719; Constable of Windsor Castle, 1716; and Field Marshal, 1742. George, second Earl of Lichfield, was the son of SirEdward Lee, who, on his marriage with Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, natural daughter of Charles II. by Barbara Villiers, was created Earl of Lichfield. It has been asserted that the " Merry Monarch,"
never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one,"
of which, however, there
was himself a Freemason,
proof; bat the number of his descendants, whose names appear in the Lodge lists for 1724-25, is certainly large, comprising as it does the Dukes of Richmond and St. Albans, and the Earls oi Dalkeith, Lichfield, and Deloraine.
purely ^lilitary Lodge (of which any distinct forthcoming) would seem to have been the one originally numbered 51 on the lists, which was established This, however, was of a stationary at (Gibraltar in 1728. character, as Ambiilatory Lodges were first set on foot in a sister jurisdiction, and the practice becoming a general one under the various Grand Lodges of the British Isles, will necessitate a brief digression, wherein I shall relate the histories of those bodies, so far as may be material to a due comprehension of the general narrative. The Grand Lodge of York was established in 1725, reconstructed in 1761, and expired about 1792. It issued a Warrant to the 6th or Inniskilling solitary ^lilitary
Regiment of Dragoons in 1770. A Grand Lodge, of which the Earl
Kosse was Grand
Master, existed at Dublin in 1 725. This was followed in 1 726 by the Grand Lodge of Munster, Colonel the Hon. Jame.s O'Brien, Grand Master; and in 1729-30 by the Grand Lodge of Ireland which still exists under James, Viscount Kingston, G.M., who had previously been Grand Master of England in 1728, and Provincial Grand Master of Munster in 1729.
The Grand Lodge
of Scotland was founded in 1736, and Earl of Crawfurd, the first Colonel of the Black (now the 1st Battalion of the Royal Highlanders),
Avould probably have been elected Grand Master had he not declined the honour. William, Earl of Home, who subsequently saw much active service, rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and died as Governor of Gibraltar in 1761, appears after this to have stepped into che place of Lord Crawfurd as the candidate whose election would have been most acceptable to the Lodges. Though in the result, and at the conclusion of a pre-arranged drama (the particulars of which are related at length in my History of
of the
Freemasonry), William St. Clair, of Roslin, a leading member Royal (company of Archers (now the Queen's Body Guard for Scotland), was chosen Gi-and Master.
This was followed by the election of Captain John Young, Kilwinning Scots Arms," as Depute Grand Master, and among the other members of the Lodge at the same period were the Earls of Crawfurd, Home, Cromarty, and Kilmarnock, the two last mentioned of whom will be again referred to in connection with the Jacobite rising of 1745.
of the "
These names by no means exhaust the list of the Scottish who were members of the fraternity in 1736, but a few only need be mentioned. The Duke of Perth, initiated in the Lodge at Dundee, who, on joining the Pretender in 1745, was created Lieut.General, and served with the Highland Army until tiie
disaster at Culloden.
and only brother, Lord John a member of the Lodge at Dunblane. James, fifth Earl of Balcarres, who, having served in the Navy and obtained the rank of lieutenant, afterwards joined the rebels and was especially complimented by the Earl Marischal, by order of the Earl of Marr, for his gallantry Ptcceiving a pardon, he re-entered the at Sheriffmuir. King's service as Lieutenant in the 2nd, or North British, Dragoons (Scots Greys), and attained high distinction as a military officer, displaying great gallantry at the Ijattles of
Duke's younger
Drummond, was
Dettingen and Foutenoy. John, fourth Earl of Loudoun, who, in November, 1736, when the Grand Lodge of Scotland was erected, occupied the position of Grand Master of England, in which he had been installed in the beginning of the same year. Lord Jjoudoun, who was Colonel of the 50th Foot, and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, took an active part in the suppression Major-General, 1755 (iovernor of of the rebellion of 1745 Commander-in-Chief of all the British Virginia, 1756 Forces in America in the same 3'ear Lieutenant-General, riie title eventually descended to the only daughter 1758.
of the fifth Earl, Flora,
in her
who became
(!!ountess of
1804 married the Acting Grand Master of English Freemasons, Francis, Earl of Moira (afterwards Marquess of Hastings), then commanding the i^'orces in North Britain, and who, in 1806, was elected Acting Giand Master of Scotland.
to 1752, although a new Grand Master of was chosen annually, the Deputy (or Depute) Grand Master John Young continued to hold office uninterruptedly. This worthy, who was a captain in 1736, became a major in 1745, and Lieutenant-Colonel in the 60th Foot, or "Royal Americans," with which corps he served under Colonel Munroe at the capitulation and massacre at Fort William Henry, in 1757. In the same year he was appointed Provincial Grand Master over all the (Scottish) Lodges in America and the
From 1736
transferred to the 46th Foot, also in America, but which shortly after sailed for the AVest Indies, in 1761. His name is given in the Army List for the following year as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the regiment, but disappears in that for 1763. To what extent he was a sharer in the Masonic histor}' of the gallant 46th Foot must remain luiknown, but his association with that distinguished corps, -coupled with the terms of his patent as
Provincial Grand Master, ma}- at least justify the belief that one of the most prominent Masons of the Old World, must have been much favoured by accidental or fortuitous circumstances in carrying out his mission in the New.
West Indies. Young was
Pieturning to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, George, 3rd Earl of Cromarty, succeeded William St. Clair as Grand Master in 1737. This nobleman was afterwards eno-a^ed in the rebellion of 1745, and, with 400 of his clan, took part in the Battle of Falkirk. He and his son, Lord Macleod, were taken prisoners. Both pleaded guilty, but were pardoned. The son, in 1777, was appointed colonel of the 73rd (afterwards the 71st) Foot. During the Earl of Cromarty's year of office it was resolved that all the Lodges holding of the Grand Lodge should be enrolled according to their seniority, in consequence of which regulation the first place on the roll was awarded to the Lodge of Edinburgh, and the second to that of Kilwinning. The validity of this decision was not at first openly challenged by the latter body. But many influences were at work, aroused by the brilliant oration of a Scottish soldier of fortune, which afforded the Ayrshire Masons, in
1743, at least a reasonable excuse in claiming a pre-eminence the Old Court of Operative Masonry at Kilwinning, that was clearly absent from their thoughts as being in the Avomb of futurity in 1737.
Andrew Michael Ramsay, better known as the Chevalier Kamsay, was born at Ayr, and about 1706 he went with ihe English auxiliaries to the Netherlands, where he fought luider Marlborough during the war of the Spanish succession. Converted by Fenelon to the Koman faith, he afterwards became tutor for a short while to the two sons of the (Old) His chief works are the "Travels of Pretender at Rome. (^yrus," " Philosophical Principles of Religion," and the l"he following is an extract Lives of Fenelon and Turenne. from the famous oration which he delivered as Chancellor of the Grand Lodge at Paris in 1737
the times of the last Crusades many Lodges were already erected in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and from thence in Scotland, Ijecause of the close alliance between the French and the Scotch. James. Lord Steward of Scotland, was Grand Master of a Lodge established at Kilwinning, in the West of Scotland, MCCLXXXVL. shortly after the death of Alexander III., King of Scotland, and one year before John Baliol mounted the throne."
This passage has been seized upon by the inventors of alleged Scottish rites, all pretending to hail from Kilwinning, and asserting the superiority in point of antiquity and pure tenets of the Grand Lodge held there, which body, it is almost unnecessary to say, never existed. AVhile Ramsay himself, with an equal disregard of truth, has been described as a Jacobite partisan, a Jesuit Missionary in disguise, the inventor of the Royal Arch, and of many other rites and
It may, however, be safely laid down with respect degrees. to this gallant soldier and distinguished man of letters, that
genuine tradition with regard to the
Scottish Masonry was swept away by his famous oration, which substituted for it a spurious tradition, awarding the palm of priority over all the other Scottish Lodges to the
Lodge of Kilwinning.
The so-called " Scottish Masonry " of the Continent, which was unknown before the date of Ramsay's speech, appeared shortly afterwards and had attained a great .vogue in 1743.
35 was in this jear tliat the Lod<;e of Kilwinning seems in have awakened to the conviction that it had been improperly relegated to a secondary rank. The Lodge therefore resumed its independence, which in the matter of granting Charters it had in reality never renonnced, and for well nigh seventy years continued to exist as an independent Grand Body, dividing with that of Edinburgh the honour of formi-ng branches in Scotland as well as in tlie British
possessions beyond the seas. Ultimately, a reconciliation was happily effected, and " Mother Kilwinning," having returned to the bosom of the Grand Lodge, was placed at the head of the roll without a number, in 1808.
pass to a
schism, which,
upwards of half-a-century, disturbed the peace of Masonry throughout the woi'ld. The " Grand Lodge of England, according to the Old Institutions," was established in 1751, in opposition to the jmrent Grand Lodge of English Masonry (1717), which it was averred by the junior body had adopted 7ieiv plans and departed from the old land-marks.
The schismatics, therefore, in reverting, as they alleged, to the "old forms," arrogated to themselves the title of " Ancient " Masons, bestowing on their rivals the appellation
of " Moderns," and by those distinctive epithets they have since been generally described.
Tiie two Grand Lodges of England amalgamated in 1813, but during the continuance of the schism, the junior body was a most important factor in the dissemination of particular ritualistic observances in countries beyond the seas, through the instrumentality of the Army Lodges. Lodges were established in British Regiments by all of the Grand Lodges mentioned above, as well as by " Mother Kilwinning." The Irish Lodges, however, always worked accoi'ding to the system in vogue among the so-called Ancient Masons, and the result in America, where the influence of the Army Lodges made itself chiefly felt, w^as very marked. The customs of the Scottish Regimental Lodges were in harmony with those of the Irish, and the older Grand Lodge of
c 2
England was too sparsely represented among the Militar}' Forces of the Crown to exercise any counter-influence, if indeed her Field Lodges in foreign parts did not as I imagine must have generally been the case acquire the tone and character of the vast majority of these associations. in North America of the Hence, the predominance "Ancients" over their rivals, the titular "Moderns," must be ascribed to the influx of Regimental Lodges from the Old AVorld, and to their dissemination of the principles and the practice of what was then termed " Ancient Masonry throughout the continent of America. The first warrant creating a travelling Lodge of Freemasons to which the number 11 was subsequently was issued to the 1st Foot then the " Royal assigned Regiment," now the " Royal Scots " by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1732, and the date will be a convenient one at which to resume the general narrative of events from the point where I left off in order to present a short sketch of the Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom. Among the prominent military brethren, whose names figure in the English lists, up to and inclusive of the year 1732, were the 1st Earl of Portmore, Colonel of the 2nd Foot 1703, who served under the Duke of Ormonde in the
of succession as Lieutenant-General 1710, the Forces in Scotland and became General Lieutenant1710, and was Governor of Gibraltar, 1713. General Francis Columbine, Governor of the same fortress in 1738, but who is better known to students of Masonry as holding the rank of "Colonel" in 1725, when occupying the combined offices of premier Provincial Grand Master, and Master of the Lodge held at the Sun, in Chester, in 1725. Colonel George (afterwards 2nd Lord) Carpentei", 3rd Dragoons, initiated 1724, and Grand Warden, 1730 the 2nd. Earl of Dunbarton, Lieutenant-Colonel of Foot, 1715, and
Ambassador to Russia, 1716
and Francis, Duke of Lorraine,
the earliest of Royal Freemasons, who was made an Entered Prentice and Fellow-Craft, at the Hague by Dr. Desaguliers in 1731, and later in the same year a Master Mason, together with the Duke of Newcastle, by Lord Lovel, Grand Master, at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the residence of Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister.
The Duke of Lorraine, who married Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of the Emperor Charles VI., in 1736, was shortly appointed Field Marslial of the Empire, and after It was in that double Generalissimo of the Imperial Army. quality that he commanded, in 1738, the Austrian Army
Francis, who (like so many of the against the Turks. "speculative" Freemasons of a still earlier period) was fond of alchemy, and a searcher for the Philosophers' Stone, became co-regent with his wife in 1740, and five years later was elected Emperor. Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle (1693 1768), with his brother Henry, raised a troop in 1715 for service against the Pretender, for which he received his dukedom ; Prime
Minister, 175-1.
The first Lodge in foreign parts which obtained a place on the roll of the Grand Lodge of England, was constituted at Madrid, by the Duke of Wharton at that time enacting the role of a military adventurer in the Spanish Service, in 1728.
Another former Grand Master of England, and also a the Duke of Richmond, assisted by the Baron de Montesquieu, the celebrated author of De V Esprit cles Lois, and Brigadier Churchill (a member of the Lodge at the Rummer, Charing Cross, 1724, Lieutenant-General 1747), admitted into the Society of Freemasons at the house of the Duchess of Portsmouth in Paris, many
gallant soldier,
persons of distinction in 1734.
A similar meeting in the French capital took place in the following year, at the Hotel Bussy, which was presided over by a still earlier Grand Master of England, the veteran Desaguliers. Several noblemen and gentlemen including the 2nd Duke of Kingston, General in the Army, 1772 Avere received into the fraternity, and among those who assisted the learned natural philosopher at the admission of the candidates was Lord Dursley, afterwards 4th Earl of Berkeley, at that time an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, and who subsequently became a General in the Army, and held a command against the rebels in 1745. Many supporters of the Old as well as of the Young Pretender were Freemasons, as I have already had occasion
to remark,
and among them was Sir Duncan Campbell,
who, on August 28th, 1721, received in the Edinburgh tiie degrees of Entered Apprentice and
Queen Anne, the sympathies of Sir appear, like those of many other eminent Scotsmen, to have been enlisted in the Jacobite cause. At his father's death, January 10th, 171-4, he kept the corpse imburied until the 2Sth in order that the funeral might be turned to account. "Hence it came to pass that the inhumation of Lochnell was attended by two thousand five hundred men, well armed and appointed, five hundred being of Lochnell's own lands, commanded by the famous Rob Koy, carrying with them a pair of colours belonging to the Earl of Breadalbane, and accompanied by the screams of thirteen bagpipes."
Fellow-Craft. On the death
Duncan Campbell
Sir Duncan was capta'.n of one of the ten independent companies of the Black Watch so called from their dress being composed of black, blue and green tartan raised in Of these (aftervvards the 42nd, and now the Royal 1729. Highlanders), John, 17th Earl of Crawfurd, was the first
seems that notwithstanding his appai-ent loyalty (as an in the Army) to Ueorge IL, Sir Duncan was in concert with Prince Charles Edward in 1745, and first made
known his arrival in Scotland to the supporters of the He assisted in founding the Stuart cause at EdinV)urgh. Lodge of Inverary. now St. John, No. 50. His sister was married to John Cameron, of Locheil, a member of the Lodge of Dunblane, and who served with the Earl of Mar in the rising of 1715.
Crawfurd was made a Mason in the Lodge of 1733, and five months afterwards he was introduced to the English fraternity by the Earl of Strathmore Captain in Barrel's Foot whom he succeeded in the Lord Crawfurd was for office of Grand Master in 1734. several years Colonel of a company in the 3rd Regiment of He Foot Guards, and subsequently of the 42nd Foot. served with the Germans against France, and with the Afterwards he greatly disRussians against the Turks. tinguished himself at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy.
The Earl
Ij^dinburgh in
The command
of the 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards was conferred upon him in 1740, and the Colonelcy of the Koyal Kegiment of North British Dragoons, now the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), at a later period.
second Scottish peer of military renown, the Earl of (of whom a short notice will be found on an earlier page) was placed at the head of the English Craft in This nobleman served with great distinction on the 1736. winning side during the Rising of 1745.
I shall now turn to the more chequered career of another Scottish Earl of equal rank in the hierarchy of the Craft, whose misfortune it was to have been arrayed on the losing side throughout the disastrous struggle which ended at
4th Earl of Kilmarnock, the first Master Kilmarnock Kilwinning (1734), and who held the same office in the Lodge of Falkirk and "Mother Kilwinning" when in November, 1742, he was elected Grand Master ^lason of Scotland. It was at the recommendation of this nobleman that, in 1743, the Military Lodge (under the Grand Lodge) was first erected, the petitioners being some sergeants and sentinels belonging to Colonel Lee's (afterwards the 55th) Regiment This, however, appears at no time to have had a of Foot. place accorded to it on the official roll, where, as we shall presently see, a Lodge in another regiment of infantry is shown as the earliest Military or Army Lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The Baron von Hund, who was the leading figure at the organisation of the rite or system called the Strict Observance (1764), declared that about the year 1743, he was made a Knight Templar in the presence of Lord Kilmarnock, and that the Grand Master of the Temple at that time, was either his lordship or Prince Charles Edward Stuart. No evidence, however, from any Scottish source has yet been produced of Lord Kilmarnock's connection with Continental Masonry, and none whatever that will justify our believing the young Pretender to have been a member of the
eldest son of the Earl (f Kilmarnock,
Lord Boyd
Grand Master of Scotland in 1751 was elected Master of the Lodge of Falkirk, with his brothers, Charles and
William Boyd, as Wardens, in 1749.
At the Stuart Rising in 1745, the Earl and his eldest son Lord Boyd was an officer in Kingtook different sides. George's Army, and as such he was present with his regiment, the 21st Foot, at the Battle of Culloden, fighting against the insurgents, in whose ranks his father held a high command. Charles Boyd joined the rebels along with Lord Kilmiirnock, and on the defeat of the Young Pretender, he with great difficulty managed to effijct his escape. The youngest brother, William, was in the Royal Navy, and on board Commodore Barnett's ship at the period of his father's He was afterwards (1761) a captain in the 114th execution.
The Earl of Kilmarnock was executed in 1746. Lord Boyd, who, on the death of his aunt, became 13th Earl of Errol, officiated as Constable of Scotland at the Coronation and neglecting by accident to pull of George III. in 1761 off his cap when the King entered, he apologised for his negligence in the most respectful manner but his Majesty entreated him to be covered, for he looked on his presence at the solemnity as a very particular honour. A Military Lodge, "The Duke of Norfolk's," in the 12th Foot, was placed on the Scottish roll as No. 58 in 1747.
The petition averred, that " The Duke of Norfolk's Mason Lodge " had been " erected into a Mason body, bearing the
back as 1685," and, indeed, no higher antiquity could well have been asserted, as the 12th Foot was only raised in that year. The fact, however, remains that at the close of the first half of the eighteenth century a Lodge in an English regiment claimed to have been in existence more than thirty years before the formation of the
title aforesaid, as far
earliest of
also a Lodge in the 2nd Dragoons (now the R(n'al Scots Grej's), the date of whose constitution is uncertain, which, through the influence Kilof the Earl of Eglinton, had been procured from It is probable, indeed, that Regimental Lodges, winning. though not of an indigenous character, had penetrated into
Grand Lodges. About the same time (1747) there was
Scotland before the petition was favourably considered by the Grand Lodge in 1743, of certain "sergeants and sentinels " belonging to the 55th Foot. As we have already seen, a Lodge was established in a British regnnent (the 1st Foot) by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1732. Four other similar Lodges in regiments then bearing the names of their colonels, but which afterwards became the 33rd, 27th, 21st, and 28th Foot making a total of five, were at work under the same jurisdiction at the close of 1734, and the number had risen to eight when the first Military Warrant was issued by the Grand Lodge Two of these, dated 1732 and 1734, of Scotland in 1743. and bearing the numbers 11 and 33, were attached to the 1st and 21st Foot respectively, both Scottish regiments. Moreover, we hear of other Military Lodges in Scotland besides those previously noticed as existing under the Grand Lodge and "Mother Kilwinning " as early as 1744, in which year the minutes of "St. John's Old Kilwinning" at Inverness record the visit of " David Holland, Master of the Lodge of Freemasons in Brigadier Guise's Regiment " afterwards the 6th Foot then " lying at Fort George." This Lodge seems to have been without any charter or warrant, but it is possible that the lost archives of the Grand Lodge of Ireland would supply a key to the mystery, and for a variety of reasons I am led to the conclusion that there must have been many Irish Lodges in the British Army (and elsewhere) of which all traces have been lost.
Lodges on the register evidence at my command had certainly risen to twenty-nine, and of those claiming a Scottish ptirentage to at least five, when the earliest Lodges of the kind were established by the rival Grand Bodies in
of Ireland
The number, however,
— according
of Military
to the
South Britain. Lodges in the 8th and 57tli Foot respectively were constituted in February and September, 1755, the first by the titular " Moderns " (or Regular Grand Lodge), and the second by the so-called " Ancients " (or Schismatics). From this time Lodges multiplied in the British Army, -and Abraham Savage, who was authorized by the Provincial Grand Master of North America, under the " Moderns," to
"congregate all Free and Accepted Masons in the Expedition against Canada into one or more Lodges," admitted into Masonry at Cx'own Point after the surrender of that fortified place, twelve officei's of the 1st Foot, in the Lodge he had established there, and of which he was Later in the same year, at Quebec, the Master, in 1759. " the Anniversary of St. John, the Evangelist, was duly observed by the several Lodges of Freemasons in the
14th, 29th, and a part of the Regiments arrived at Boston (U.S.A.), and a little later the 64th and 65th Foot direct from Ireland. In these regiments were three Lodges, all working under what was commonly known as the " Ancient system " Nos. 58 (A.), 14th Foot; 322 (L), 29th; and 106 (S.), 64th— holding under the Grand Lodges of England ("Ancients"), Ireland, and Scotland respectively. The presence of these troops created an intense excitement. Nevertheless, the members of St. Andrew's, a Scottish Lodge at Boston, saw the opportunity before them of forming a Grand Lodge under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and with this end in view did not scruple to enter into fraternal communion with, and to make use of, their brethren in the
1768— October 1— the
obnoxious regiments.
of these
Army Lodges
were present at the instal-
Grand Master under England (Regular Grand Lodge) in November, but all of them joined St, Andrew's in December, 1768, in a petitioivto the Grand Lodge of Scotland requesting the appointment of " a Grand Master of Ancient Masons in America." Dr. Joseph Warren was appointed in 1769 "(>rand Master of Masons in Boston and within one hundred miles of the same " but in the interval the 64th Regiment had been removed from the station. The Grand Lodge, however, was formallv inauuurated bv St. Andrew's, and Lodges 58 (A.) and 322 (I.) ^in the 14th and 29th Foot. By a further Scottish patent (1772) Joseph Warren (afterwards killed at the battle of Bunker's Hdl, where, though holding
the commission of Major-General, he fought as a volunteer) w^as appointed Grand Master for the Continent of America.
The last patent was granted by the 5th Earl of Dumfries, Grand Master of Scotland, 1771-7'J, a Colonel in the Foot
but it is to his immediate predecessor in that office next turn, Lieutenant-General James xAdolphus Oughton, who, at the period of his election November, 17G9 was commanding the forces in Scotland in the absence of Lord Lome, afterwards 5th Duke of Argyll.
The names of other military brethren (in addition to those already given), who at an earlier date than General Oughton, had become Kulers of the Craft, as British or Irish Grand Masters, are very numerous. The Commanderin-Chief of North Britain in 1769, was the twenty-seventh Grand Master Mason of Scotland, and of his predecessors in office, at least thirteen, or one half, held commissions in the army, among them being the Earls of Leven, Eglinton and Kellie, Lord Erskine, only surviving son of the 11th Earl of Marr (attainted in 1715), and James, afterwards the 16th Baron Forbes. To these examples, I shall fur the present content myself Avith adding the names of the Mar(]uis of Cai'narvon, afterwards 3rd Duke of Chandos (1754-56); the Dukes of Beaufort (1767-71), and Manchester (1777-82), Grand
whom were all of Lord Geoige (eventually Viscount) Sackville to be hereafter refeired to in connection with the 20th Foot Grand Master of Ireland, 1751 and Sholto, Lord Aberdour, later ] 6th Earl uf Morton, Grand Master of Scotland, 1755-6, and of England, 1757-61, who (while holding the latter office) raised a corps of Light Dragoons, of which he was made the Commandant in 1759.
colonels in the arm}';
be mentioned that General Lord Blayney, England, 1764-66, was sujiported throughout the whole of that ])eriod by another soldier as Deputy Colonel John Salter, who was })romoted to the rank of Major-General in 1770. James Adolphus Oughton, a natural son of Sir Adolphus Oughton- one of the military members of the Lodge at the Horn, in 1724 served with the 37th Foot at Cidloden, and also (in command of that regiment) at the battle of Minden in 1759. He became a Knight of the Bath in 1773,
It also
Grand Master
Commander-in-Chief, Scotland, in the at 1778, and time of his death in was a 1780, LieutenantGeneral and Colonel of the 31st Foot. Amidst all his campaigns he cnltivated a taste for literatni"e and the fine arts, and in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, there were few men of any profession whose range of general knowledge was
more complete.
General (then Lieutenant Colonel) Oughton was Provincial Grand Master of the Island of Minorca under the "Moderns," in 1752, and became a member of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, at Edinburgh, in 1754. In 1770, the Lodge " Scots Greys, Kilwinning," in the 2nd or Royal North British Dragoons, having lost their charter, and all their records in the wars, petitioned for a warrant from the Grand Lodge, which was granted, and the Lodge re-constituted by General Oughton March 12th
—as the
" St. Andrew's Royal Arch."
The affiliation of a Regimental Lodge by a Grand Master, who was also at the time commanding the King's forces in
Scotland, points out to us the estimation in which Military Masonry was then regaixled, and the significance of the event is heightened by the circumstance that the Master of " St. Andrew's Royal Arch," Colonel William (afterwards 6th Lord) Napier, was in command of the 2nd Dragoons.
After General Oughton, no soldier of equal rank was placed at the head of the Scottish Craft until 1806, when the Earl of Moira, at that time commanding the troops in North Britain, was elected Acting Grand Master a position which, as will be presently shown, he had long filled with signal ability in the southern kingdom. Between the eras, however, of these two Military and Masonic Chiefs, there were several Commanders of the Forces in Scotland who were zealous Freemasons, and many Grand Masters, who were very distinguished members of the military profession. Of the former class, may be named Lieutenant-General Archibald, Earl of Eglinton, a former Master of "Mother Kilwinning," who held the chief command at Edinburgh, in 1783; Lord Adam Gordon, his successor in 1789, who, while holding the same high military position, served the office of Master in the Lodge
Aberdeen and Sir Ralph Abercrombie (1798), who first saw the light of Masonry in Lodge Canongate Kilwinnnig, in
Of the Grand Masters, I shall begin with the names of the 3rd and 4th Dukes of Atholl, elected in 1773 and 1778, respectively; each of them, at the date of his being chosen to fill the Scottish chair, held the position of Grand Master in the Junior Grand Lodge of England, or "Ancients." Both Dukes served in the Army, and the younger one raised a regiment the 77th or Atholl HighWilliam, 10th landers for the public service in 1778. Baron (afterwards 1st Earl) Cathcart Commander-inChief of the Forces of Ireland, 1803; of Scotland, 180C and of the Army against Denmark, 1807 obtaining a company in this corps, vacated the chair of the Alloa Lodge, by which body a bounty was forthwith offered to recruits. " the freedom of This practice often combined with was forbidden Masonry," expressly by the Grand Lodge, but in the Lodge of Kelso, the spirit of patriotism thus awakened, reached a great height, and unanimously in the same year brethren the sovereign, their resolved to testify their zeal for and their respect for their Noble Grand Master, by marching at the head of the recruiting party, beating up for recruits for the Atholl Highlanders, and by off"ering a bounty of three guineas to every man enlisting in that
Duke of Atholl, was Grand Master of Scotland 1778 and 1779, and of the Junior Grand Lodge of England, or "Ancients," from 1775 to 1781, and again from 1791 to 1813. He was admitted into the first, second, and third degrees, and became the Master of the Grand Master's Lodge (under the " Ancients ") on February 25th, 1775. On March 1st he was elected Grand Master, and on the 25th of the same month, duly installed in the presence of the Duke of Leinster (Colonel, 1st Regiment of Dublin Volunteers, 1777), and Lieutenant-General Sir James Adolphus Oughton, former Grand Masters of Ireland and
John, 4th
Scotland, respectively. As a result of the patronage by the
of Atholl, of
the English Schismatics or "Ancients," that body became widely known as " Atholl" Masons, and to the inflnence of these two noblemen must be attributed in a great measure the marvellous success of the Great Schism.
Of the succeeding Grand Master Masons of Scotland, the 6th Earl of Balcarres (1780-81), and the 7th Lord Napier (1788-89), accompanied General Burgoyne in his unfortunate expedition from Canada, and were present with the force under the command of that officer which was compelled to siirrender to General Gates, in 1777.
George, Marquis of Huntley, afterwards Duke of Gordon, while Grand Master of Scotland (1794) raised the 100th, later the 92nd Foot (Gordon Highlanders), of which he was made Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant, and accompanied it in 1799 to Holland, where he was severely wounded. Lieutenant-General in 1808, and in the following year held a pi-incipal command in the expedition to the Scheldt. The Earlof Ancrum, subsequently 5th Marquis of Lothian (Grand Master 1794-5) served for many years in liis father's regiment, the 11th Dragoons, in which a Lodge was established by the Grand Lodge of England, " in Captain Bell's troop " while he held a commission as lieutenant, in 1756. He commanded successively the 12th Foot, the 4th Regiment of Horse, the 1st Life Guards, and finally, his original corps, the 11th Dragoons. He attained the rank of General in the Army in 1796. Lord Doune, afterwards 9th Earl of ^loray, the fortyfirst Grand Master Mason, and the Earl of Dalkeith, later 7th Duke of Buccleuch, the forty-third, were also soldiers ; but of greater note in the military service of the Crown, was the 9th Earl of Dalhousie (Grand Master 1804-5), who, entering the Army in 1788, served with great distinction in Holland, Egypt, and Walcheren, and was Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies from 1829 to 1832. Through the influence of Francis, Earl of Moira, Commander of the Forces in North Britain, a fraternal union between riie (irand Lodge of Scotland, and that of England (under the older sanction) was established, with the result that in 1806, the Prince of Wales and Lord Moira, the Grand and Acting Grand Masters of tlie latter body were
elected to similar positions in the Masonic Jurisdiction of the North. The sympathies, therefore, of the Scottish Masons, which, following the example set them by a former Commander-inChief, General Oughton, and two other militaiT Grand Masters, the Dukes of Atholl, had adhered to the " Ancients," were now diverted into a new channel, at the instance of the Earl of Moira, who stated " that the hearts and arms of the Grand Lodge to which he was attached, had ever been open for their seceding brethren," and from that time may be dated a lasting friendship between the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and the only Constitutional Grand Lodge of
England, or " Moderns." Returning, however, for a short period to those rivals of the latter body, the " Atholl " Masons, or " Ancients."
In 1781 the "Ancients" and Field Lodges in New York met as a Grand Lodge, and elected Grand Officers, January 23rd a warrant for a Provincial Grand Lodge was granted by the Grand Lodge of England ("Ancients "), September 5th and the Provincial Grand Lodge was duly inaugurated by three stationary and six ambulatory Lodges The former were Nos. IGD, 210, and in December, 1782.
; ;
212 on the roll of the " Ancients," of which the first-named was acknowledged as the leading authority by the varior.s Army Lodges, while the last two were also to a great extent military bodies. Of the six travelling lodges, one-half were likewise English (or "Ancient"), namely, Nos. 52, 213, and 2L5, in the 22nd Foot, the 4th Battalion Ptoyal Artillery, and the Regiment of Anspach-Bayreuth, respectively. Tlie other Regimental Lodges that took part in the proceedings were Nos. 132 (Scottish) and 44-1 (Irish) in the 22nd and 38th Foot, together with Sion's Lodge in the 57th Regiment, holding under a dispensation granted by Lodge Ko. 210, " Ancients," with the consent and approval of two Scottish Lodges, Nos. 132, " Moriah," in the 22nd Foot, and 134 Eskdale Kilwinning, at Langholm, in Dumfries-shire.
In the following year a majority of the Grand officers New York with the British Army, and at that date Lodges had been formed by the Provincial Grand Lodge in the New Jersey Volunteers, the Regiment of Knyphausen,
the 57th Foot, aud the Loyal American Regiment while within the same period two Irish Lodges, Nos. 478 in the 17th Dragoons, and 90 in the 33rd Foot, had ranged themselves nnder its banner. After the war, the body thus established by British Army Lodges abandoned its provincial character and assumed the title of Grand Lodge of New York. Passing from " Field " to " Sea " Lodges, there was a "Sea Captain's Lodge" at Wapping, Liverpool, Sunderland, Yarmouth, and Bristol. But the first Lodge afloat which obtained a position on the lists was held " On Board His
Majesty's Ship the Vang^iai-d in 1760." Similar Lodges were afterwards established "on board " H.M.S. Prince and Canceaux,'m the former "at Plymouth," in 1762, and in the latter at. Quebec, inl768. No other "Sea Lodges" than these three appear to have been regularly constituted either before or since and as they all seem to have owed
their existence to the exertions of a single individual, their
to the extent that
be proceeded
with, will be incorporated with the biography of
Dunckerley, the gunner of H.M.S. Vanguard, in 1762.
Royal Family holding a commiswho joined the Craft, was Edward Augustus, Duke of York, brother of George IIL He served as a midshipman at the taking of Cherbourg, and the defeat of St. Cas in 1758. Made captain of the Phoenix of 44 guns, 1759, and Viee-Admiral of the Blue, 1762. Three years later he was initiated- at Berlin in a Lodge which, with his permission, then assumed the title of " Royal York of Friendship," and is now the Grand Lodge of that name. The first Naval Officer of rank who presided over a Grand Lodge was Washington Shirley, Earl Ferrers (Captain 1746, Rear-Admiral 1775), who was Grand Master and after an interval the same of England in 1762-63 position was filled by the Duke of Cumberland, Admiral of the White, brother of George III., who continued to hold it from 1782 until his death in 179U. The remaining brother of George III., William, Duke of Gloucester, who died a Field Marshal, was also a Freemason,
of the
49 having been initiated
in 1766, when Colonel of the 13th Foot. All the sons of the same King were officers in the Army, Navy, or Volunteers, and all except the Duke of Cambridge, namely, the Prince of Wales, the Dukes of York, Clarence, Kent, Cumberland, and Sussex, were members of the
On the occasion of the election of the Duke of Cumberland in 1782, a rule was established that whenever a Prince of the Blood accepted the position of Grand Master he should be at liberty to nominate any Peer of tlie Kealm to be the Acting Grand Master.
The Earl of Effingham, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, who had previously served in the 1st and 2nd regiments
Foot Guards and the 22nd Foot, was appointed to the office, in which he was succeeded (179U) by Francis, Lord Rawdon, afterwards 2nd Earl of Moira, and 1st Marquess of Hastmgs the '' Bayard " of the British Craft who continued to discharge the duties incidental to the appointment until his nomination as Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, and Acting Grand Master of India, at the close of 1812. This gallant soldier was greatly assisted throughout nearly the whole of his long tenure of office as Grand Master by an equally gallant sailor. Admiral Sir Peter Parker, who had been appointed by the Duke of Cumberland a brother flag officei' his Deputy, in 1786.
The Deputy Grand Master, who was a distinguished naval commander, had previously served as Grand Steward and Grand Warden, and then held the office of Provincial Grand Master of Jamaica. He was a member of what are now the Grand Stewards, the Royal Somerset House and
He is Inverness (No. 4) and the British (No. 8) Lodges. best remembered as the early patron of Nelson, at whose funeral Parker was chief mourner, but in the capacity of Admiral of the Fleet, the senior officer in the Navy, rather than as a personal friend. Sir Peter died in December, 1811, having held the office of Deputy Grand Master for more than a quarter of a century. No other naval or military brother has ever served for an equally long period
Grand Officer in either Nurtli or South Th-itain, tliough the most famous of Scottish " Deputies," Cohniel Younij,-, remained at liis post for a yjeriod of fifteen years, and the Earl of Moira, as Acting (Jrand Master of Enghmd, for nearly twenty-three.
as a
service of neither of these worthies,
however, nor
of duration,
even that of Parker himself,
compare with the record of a very distinuiiishcd (irand Ofhcer of Ireland, John Hely-Hutchinson, who was Senior Grand Warden from 1791 to 18-4. This high military and Masonic dignitar}' entered the Army in 1774, became Lieutenant Colonel 77th ("Atholl Highland") Regiment in 1783, and Colonel of the 9 Ith (Hutchinson's) liegiment of Foot in 1784. He accompanied the expedition to Egypt in 1801, and on the death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie s\icceeded For his services he was created Bar^n to the command. Hutchinson of Alexandria, a title afterwards exchanged for that of '2nd Earl of Donoughmore, which devolved upon
him at the death of his elder brother (the 1st Eaid) in 18"2o. The latter was Grand Master of Ireland from 1789 to 1813, and therefore occupied the chair of the Grand Lodge Avhen his younger and more distinguished brother entei-ed upon his long career as Senior Grand Warden, in 1791. The 1st Earl, then 2nd Baron Donoughmore, who entered the Army somewhat late in life, as cornet in the 9th Dragoons, became on the same da}' —May 31, 1794 —
Captain in " Hutchinson's " Regiment of Foot, Avhich he probably raised, as it will tend to explain his rapid advancement to Major in another infantry regiment on July 19th, and to Lieutenant-Colonel in a third on July 21st in the same year. He became a Colonel in 1800 and a LieutcnantGeneral in 1812. Tfie Prince of Wales, then a Colonel in the Army, accepted the position of Grand Master of England, on the death of his uncle, the Admiral, in 1790, and a pause will be made in order that some statistics may be laid before the
At the above date, about a hundred Military Lodges are to liave been constituted by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and many others were doubtless formed, of which
no traces are now forthcoming. character, established under the
The Lodges Grand Lodge
of a similar
of Scotland,
numbered twenty-one. About forty-nine had been set on foot dlredli/ by the "Ancients," but a large number of subsidiary Lodges were chartered by the provincial authorities under this sj-stem, particularly in America, Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, Gibraltar, and Jamaica, which, in the comparative absence of lists, cannot be satisfactorily identified, though various regimental Lodges are traceable among them; and of the existence of others there is scarcely room for doubt. To a more restricted extent the same practice of issuing
warrants prevailed in foreign districts which were under the obedience of the "Moderns." In 1790, fourteen regimental Lodges had found places on the lists. About an equal number of Ay my Lodges were attached to the various Brigades in Bengal, and others of a stationary, though military character, existed in all three of the Indian perhaps, with Presidencies, flourishing, the greatest luxuriance on the Coast of Coromandel. There was a " Royal Navy " Lodge at Deal, Gosport, London, and Halifax (Nova Scotia), and a " Marine Lodge at Plymouth," " in the second division of Marines." 'J"he " Royal Military," at Woolwich, and the " Lodge of Mars," at Yassy, in Russia, were established inider the same sanction (original Grand Lodge of England) iu 1774. The "Carnatic Military Lodge"
was constituted at Arcot, in 1784; and "St. John's Lodge of Secrecy and Harmony " (in the Order of Knights of St. John)
at Malta, in 1789.
The older Grand Lodge of England continued to be ruled by a Military Chief (the Earl of Moira), aided by a Naval " Deputy "(Sir Peter Parker), until the death of the latter in 1811, and the removal of the former, in 1813, to a greater sj)here of usefulness in the East. During this period English Masonry was well represented both at home and abroad by members of the two services. Among the Provincial Grand Mastersunder theolder Grand Lodge of England were Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who commanded the British and Hanoverian Forces at the battle of Minden ; Generals Sir Robert Melville, and Sir Adam Williamson, in
West Indies and Brigadier-General Matthew Home (who held the chief command of the Coast Army) on the
Coast of Coromandel. Captain Sir John Borlase Warren, while Provincial Grand Master of Derbyshire, gained a signal victory over the French naval force intended for the invasion of Ireland, capturing the whole squadron, consisting of a ship of tiie line, La Hoche, and three frigates (1798), for which on the next promotion he was made Kear-x\dmiral of the Blue. There were also Generals Sir Samuel Hulse (afterwards Field-Marshal), and Sir John Doyle, who ruled the Craft in Sussex and the Channel Islands, respectively. The former saw much service on the Continent, and was Deputy-Master The of the Prince of Wales's Lodge from 1787 to 1820. latter, then Major John Doyle, was initiated in the same Lodge, in 1792, and in the following year raised the 87th Regiment, " the Prince of Wales's Irish " (later, the "Royal Irish Fusiliers"), iu conmiand of which he embarked for the Continent with the expedition luider the Acting Grand Master of England the Earl of Moira in 1794. He afterwards accompanied the Senior Grand Warden of Ireland, General Hely-Hutchinson, to Egypt, and took part in the campaign of 1801.
Prince Edward, then a Colonel in the Army at a later Duke of Kent, and a Field-Marshal held office under both Grand Lodges of England, having been appointed Provincial Grand Master of Gibraltar, by tlie "Moderns," in 1790, and of Lower Canada by the " Ancients," in 1792. At the latter date there were no less than eleven Military Lodges at " The Rock," one Scottish 32nd Foot; Six Irish— 1st, 11th, 18th, 46th, 51st, and 68th Foot; three English {Aiicierd) 50th Foot, Royal and one Provincial in the ComArtillery, and Garrison The records from which I quote, also pany of Artificers, mention three Lodges of a similar character as having recently left the Garrison, besides a warrant (Irish) "held by the officers of the 32nd Foot, but for neglect erased."
The Earl of Moira embarked for India in 1813, and the Prince of Wales declining a re-election as Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex, Colonel of Volunteers, and at a later period
Captain-General of the Hon. Artillery Company of Tendon was chosen as his successor. In the same year the Duke of Kent, Field-^Iai'shal, and Colonel of the 1 st Foot, was installed as Grand Master of the other Grand Lodge of England, and on St. John's day (in winter) 1813, the Union of the two fraternities who had been so long mistermed Ancient and Modern was accomplished.
The Act of Union was ratified and confirmed. One Grand Lodge was constituted. The Duke of Kent then proposed his royal brother for the office of Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England. This being put to the vote, was carried unanimously, and the Duke of Sussex
received the
of the fraternity.
epoch (1813), without counting the remote pendicles under provincial Grand Lodges in foreign parts, the approximate number of Military or it will be more correct to say Regimental Lodges, which had existed under
the Irish, English, and Scottish jurisdictions, was as follows Irish, 190; English, 141 {Ancients 116, Moderns 25); and Scottish, 21 showing a grand total of 352. Of these, many of which were dormant, though not yet erased from the lists, there remained in 1813 Irish Lodges, 135; English, 65 {Ancients 46, Moderns 19); and Scottish, 19; amounting in all to 219. A period of decay, however, had set in the following year showing that only 52 English Military Lodges (45 Ancient, 1 Modern) were really carried forward at the Union. In 1816, the Scottish Regimental Lodges had shrunk to ten, and in the same year the records of the Grand Lodge of Ireland disclose that there were then twenty-five Military Lodges "of which no account had been received for years." In 1822, the latter jurisdiction, which, as already observed, has always included the greater number of (British) Army Lodges, only possessed a military following of 42. About 30 Irish, 25 English, and 2 Scottish or in all, 57 Regimental Lodges have been chartered since the " LTnion " of 1813, thus forming a grand total of at least 409 Ambulatory Lodges, which are known to have been constituted by the Grand Lodges of the
British Isles.
Nor would the record be complete without
that no less than 40 " Regimental," "Military.'' or "Army Lodges, and several others bearing the titles of " Koyal Navy " or " Marine," are shown by Mr. John Lane, in his valuable work, to have been warranted by the English provincial authorities abroad, which were never registered in the books of any Grand Lodge. The last "Travelling" Lodge on the Scottish roll (in the Tiirkish Contingent) was "cut off" in 1860. Fifteen only, imder both the remaining jurisdictions, were at work in 1886, and the number has still further dwindled, at the present time of writing, to eight, of which six are Ii*ish and the remainder English the latest to disappear being, I regret to say, a Lodge attached to the 31st Foot (now the 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment), of which I had the honour to be a founder and the first Master, in 1858.
types xve speal:
hy tokens, secret loays,
teach the ivisdovi of primeval days.
— Douglas
Of the assistance x'endered by one brother to another in cases of danger or distress, many stories have been related, and a selection from the number, showing the influence of
Masonry in warfare, and its beneficial effect in soothing the angry passions of those soldiers and sailors who arc ranged under its banner, will be laid before the reader.
As mentioned in another chapter, the statement of Sir Robert Wilson that a French captain owed his life when about to be transfixed by the lance of a Cossack to the fortunate circumstance of giving a Masonic sign, was described by the editor of a leading journal as an incident so incredible that no amount of evidence could induce him The story, however, was really very well to believe it. authenticated, as the narrator and one of the chief performers was Sir Robert Wilson himself, who was always on the alert during his numerous campaigns to recognize a brother in the Craft, and of whom a short memoir appears in another portion of this book.
The same fortunate presence
in resorting to the
language of Masonry saved the life of a gallant officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Tytler, during the last war in which this country was engaged with America, who, when lying on tlie ground with a bayonet at his breast, succeeded in interesting a generous American officer in his behalf and saving his life. The truth of this story was vouched for by Sir A. Alison, not only in his " History of Europe," but also in his address to the brethren as Grand Master of the ]Masonic Province of Glasgow. At one of these meetings shortlv after the close of the Crimean War he related tlie
in connection with the attack on the that assault an English officer led a small party of soldiers up to one of the guns placed in a recess of the Redan, and most of the men fell before the fire with wdiich they were received. The others were met by a body of Russians, and the English officer was about to be bayoneted when he chanced to catch the hand of the Russian officer, and had presence of mind enough to give him a Masonic grip. The Russian in a moment struck up the bayonets of his soldiers, led his newly-found brother to the rear, and treated him with the kindness of a Mason."
— "anecdote During
similar story
Vaughan, 90th Foot,
related of the late Captain Herbert whom a brother officer (the present
Commander-in-Chief, Viscount Wolseley) wrote as follows " It is quite true that poor Vaughan was the only English officer removed at once from the Redan to the hospital. And this he owed to the fact that he was a Mason."
which is well attested, in the career of James Lindsay, of Balcarres, may also be recorded. While a prisoner in the hands of the Turks in the north of Africa, he made a Masonic sign to an old man who held some employment in the fortress in which he was detained. This man thereupon suggested to him a method of effecting his deliverance from captivity, and on his leaving the fortress provided him with a boat in which he escaped to
The examples might be greatly multiplied where the accuracy of anecdotes, like the foregoing, has been deposed But it will be to by persons of credit and reputation. sufficient to say, that if the improbability of any of the stories I am about to relate, is the only reason that can be then the cirassigned for casting discredit upon them cumstance that other and similar tales have been (and are) well authenticated, will permit of our reasoning by analogy, which should entirely set at rest the question of
Naval Anecdotes.
be seen from the following examples that the influence of Masonry has made itself felt not only in vessels of war, but also in the merchant navy, and among the crews and commanders of privateers and slavers, and has even operated like a charm in the case of actual buccaneers.
It will
the 27th November, 1812, a very large and valuable from Spithead for the West Indies, under the convoy of the Qtieen man-of-war. A very short time after their sailing a most violent tempest arose, and this valuable convoy was so much dispersed that only forty sail remained under the protection of the Consort. At this ci'isis it happened that the Gloire, a French frigate of forty-four guns was cruising betwixt the Western Islands and Ferrol, and fell in with the numerous stragglers of this ill-fated The frigate made many valuable prizes, and convoy. among them the Princess Royal, Captain Alexander Foster, a fine ship of 400 tons, laden with plantation stores for the Island of Jamaica. Captain Foster, on being taken on board the Gloire to deliver his papers, took the opportunity of making himself known as a Mason to the brave and chivalrous commander of the frigate. The French officer, after some private conversation, said that the duty which he owed to his country was paramount, but that next to it was the duty he owed as a Mason, '' To help a Brother in the hour Feeling encumbered by his numerous captives, of. need." and wishing to continue a cruise destructive to our commerce, as being strictly compatible with his duty, he thought that he might with honour show his respect for the Craft by making " Brother Captain Foster " a present of his ship the Princess Royal and her cargo, as cartel to receive from the frigate all the prisoners by whom he was then encumbered a proposal most gratefully and fraternally accepted.
fleet sailed
During the late war with France," recites an old naval " I was taken, with several others, a jDrisoner of war. We were carried to the Mauritius, and in that island confined together in one dungeon. Some few months had
and we had experienced many disagreeable privawhen one of our companions in misfortune requested
the use of pens, ink, and paper, and permission to despatch On the day following this event a letter to the Governor. some French gentlemen visited our cell, and paid particular attention to our comrade. Our general condition afterwards was rendered less insupportable but what most surj^rised us all, and myself especially, for 1 was not then in the secret, was the mysterious change which took place in our fellowThe former Qiiser}' which we had all equally sufferer's lot. endured was certainly greatly alleviated, but our comrade was soon altogether removed, and, as we subsequently learnt, not only released from prison, but every necessary procured for him, his purse well stocked, and a passage This man was a obtained for him to his native country. Freemason. We, however, remained in confinement, though its former rigour was mitigated, for two years after his
About the year 1824 the ship Leven, engaged on a survey,
commanded by Captain Bartholomew, having
Cape Bolador, crossed the Bar, and anchored
Ouro, on the
in the river
of the officers, with
The captain and some coast of Africa. two boats' crews, proceeded to examine The shore represented, as far as the eye could the river. The boats proceeded, discover, one vast desert of sand. after rowing for about forty miles, to what appeared to be an island. The crews landed and slept there, but in the niorning were awoke by the loud yells of savages, and suddenly surprised also by the appearance of a large
of Arabs, who were armed with Spanish muskets (afterwards found to be loaded with balls and slugs) and Hostilities seemed to be inevitable, but the long knives. captain advanced towards the Arabs and made a Masonic
which was answered by their leader, who immediately his musket and embraced tlie British officer. The captain and party were assisted to regain their ship, and the Arab Chief intimated his intention of visiting them on the following day. Nothing, however, was seen
of these natives afterwards.
Within a year or two of the date of the last anecdote an English naval captain was travelling in Egypt. He was
accompanied by his sei'vant, an active and intelligent young man. They were attacked in a desert by the Arabs, two of whom they slew, but were ultimately overpowered. It was settled that the captain's life should be forfeited, and he awaited his destiny (the two prisoners having been sepai-ated) with what fortitude he could command. In the morning, however, he was agreeably surprised by his servant's approach with the joyful intelligence that the sentence was not only remitted, but that he was at liberty to resume his journey, and this retributive justice was accompanied by the restoration of all the property of which he had It is not to be wondered at previously been despoiled. that his gratitude to his servant ended in his taking early steps to claim a nearer association with him as a Brother in the Ci-aft, for by the exchange of the mysterious secret the robber of the desert kept faith with a Brother Mason.
Captain O'Brien, R.N. in his "Adventures," comprising shipwreck, captivity, and escape fi'om various prisons during the war with France, relates that " after many severe and cruel hardships our route was through Hesden and St. Pol Some genteel young men of the town, to whom to Arras. Tuthill and Essel had contrived, in passing to the gaol, by signs to make known that they were Freemasons, obtained permission for both to accompany them for the night to their houses, where they were most hospitably entertained, whilst Ashworth and I were left upon straw and scanty prison fare in the dungeon." After this experience, as may readily be conjectured, the captain embraced the first opportunity which pi-esented itself of being admitted a member of the Masonic Institution.
The following appeared over the nom cle plume of " An Old Soldier" in a Masonic Journal of 1839 " I was some years in the Foot Guards, from which I was dischai'ged in consequence of ill health, and was induced in 1831 to enter the service of the Queen of Portugal and in 1833 returned to England and joined a ship just fitted out for the
Portuguese service, as a non-coramissioned officer of marines. We had on board a complement of 120 seamen and 14 When passing Dover, in consequence of some marines. little misunderstanding between the captain and crew, the latter attempted to run the ship aground upon the sands, and but for the prompt and determined spirit of the marines the ship would have been lost. They, however, succeeded (with the most determined assistance of the officers of the ship) in driving the whole crew below, with the exception of one very young man, who was at the helm at the time, and who remained there for tivelve hours, aiding the captain in the most praiseworthy manner, the officers and in the and marines working the ship all night morning, after a proper concession from the crew, all was amicably arranged, and we sailed direct for Oporto to join the fleet of Admiral Carlos de Pouza (Napier), where we arrived on the 19th of June, 1833, but he had sailed twelve hours previous. We, howevei", spent that night in Oporto roads, where we had an opportunity of seeing the constant firing of shell, shot, and small arms, carried on the whole We sailed night between the armies of Pedro and Miguel. next morning for the south, but were, most unfortunately, wrecked on the following morning at Peneche, a strongly fortified place belonging to the enemy, Don Miguel, and lost everything we had except our clothes that we had on at
We had amongst us a petty officer, wdio the moment. spoke very good Portviguese, and who had an opportunity of making Itwiself known to the Provost Marshal, wdio, it From that appeared, was enlightened as well as ourselves. moment he devoted all in his power to our interest and comfort, always giving us the lightest work to do, and sometimes a little wine, a great luxury at times, and sometimes a little extra food, our allowance being a pound of coarse, black bread per day, with some boiled beans that an English pig would not eat, and were worked very hard, from five in the morning until seven at night, resting about three hours in the middle of the day, our employment burying those who died of the cholera (about fifty or sixty We had to carry naked dead bodies about two a day). miles in the broiling sun, and lost four of our own men
myself the indulgence In a country like Portugal, received as above alluded to. torn by contending armies, where father was divided against son, and brother against brother, I consider it as an unlooked-for mercy, that a man should, from principle, protect and shelter a foreigner fighting against him on his own native shore ; and it shows at once the full advantage,
by the same dreadful disease. I had and attribute my recovery
an attack
as well as sound principle, of Freemasonry."
late gallant
employed on the coast of Africa
Pritchard, E,.N., when the suppression of the
slave trade, rendered important services to his country by his daring and successful capture of slavers. On one
occasion, off the dreaded Bight of Benin (where
it is said,
reference to the fearful mortality from fever which prevails there, " a hundred come out where a thousand go in "), hove to and lowered two boats, each conH.M.S. taining fifteen seamen and marines, for the purpose of boarding a suspicious-looking barqiie-rigged vessel, then under full sail and steering directly out of the Bight. Commander Pritchard, then a lieutenant, had charge of the two boats they neared the dark sides of the rakish craft and hailed her captain to heave to, but were answered with
a shower of musketiy bullets, which wounded three of the crew of each boat the wind lulled almost immediately into a calm (another remarkable scientific mystery of these climes, perhaps the concussion or report of the firearms having something to do with it). Amid the unwelcome salutation the stern, clear voice of the lieutenant was heard *' board her, boys, starboard and port " (which means one boat to each side). The crews bent to their oars, and ere they reached the sides a broadside from the slaver commander passed harmlessly over their heads, and cutlass in hand, with a dash and spontaneous British cheer, both boats' crews at the same moment were clambering either side of the fated craft the struggle was sharp and severe. Lieutenant P. had two pistol balls through the collar of his coat each side of the neck, and his face blackened by powder; he gained the deck, and was in the act of cutting
the captain, an American, when the latter made the M. sign of distress and cried out " I am your prisoner." Lieiitenant P., being a brother of the mj^stic tie, sheathed his sword and spared his victim then takingpossession of the slaver, with five hundred slaves on board, permitted the reckless American to keep his sword and have as much liberty as he liked. The captain was afterwards tried for his life, in making armed resistance, but the energetic appeal of Lieutenant P., in conjunction witli others of the Masonic fraternity, turned the sentence of death passed npon the inhuman fellow, into one of a term of im])risonment,
thus in a two-fold manner saving the life of a fellow-creature ilhistrating in a noble manner the glorious principles of our Order when thoroughly acted upon.
Marine Board on September was made to Captain Sharp, of the Jeff Davis schooner, of 237 tons, for rescuing the crew of the water-logged barque Albert, when about 200 miles oS Cape Hatteras, at the eastern edge
a meeting of the Liverpool
8th, 1869, a presentation of a splendid telescope
A frightful gale prevailed at the time of the rescue, and the crew of the Jeff' Davis had for thirtyfour days subsequently to go on half-allowance, till the Captain Sharp said that the schooner reached Bermuda. other captain having passed the Freemason's sign, he felt himself doubly bound to rescue him, if possible.
of the Gulf Stream.
In 1823 a merchant ship belonging to Sweden was wrecked upon the coast of Africa, about five hundred miles from Cape Town. The crew, about seventy in number, were saved, and afterwards conveyed to the latter place. Fifty-seven of ship's company, including the captain, were Freemasons, and immediately made themselves known to They were supplied with food, the Dutch Lodges there. clothing, and every necessary for about a month, until an opportunity occurred of sending them homs, passage free. In consequence of this benevolent act, the inhabitants of Cape Town opened a subscription and sent home the remainder of the men, so that the benefits of Masonry were experienced by the entire crew.
About the year 1742, Captain Preverot. of the French Navy, brother of the celebrated Doctor of Medicine (of the f<ame name) in the Facidty at Paris, was shipwrecked ofl^" an island, the governor of which was a P'reemason, who hearing of his misfortunes, and learning that he too was a brother, conducted him to his house, where he was furnished with all the comforts of life until a ship bound for France touched at the place. Before liis departure, however, his benefactor loaded him with presents, and gave him as much money as was sufficient to carry him to his native country.
In the summer of 18.35 (writes an inhabitant of the Shetland Islands), the schooner Vigilant, Captain Berguin, from Dunkirk, arrived in Lerwick harbour with loss of sails and other damage. The captain procured an agent with whom he agreed for the necessary repairs, which were soon effected, and the vessel declared ready for sea. A misunderstanding, however, arose between the captain and agent on the charges incurred, which, in the sequel, proved The captain threatened to sail without to be excessive. acknowledging the account, unless corrected, whereupon a meditations fugcp warrant was procured against him. As he understood the English language very imperfectly I yjroffercd my services in his forlorn state. He earnestly requested that a Freemason might be sent him, and to some of these I made his case known. The agent who procured the warrant, the judge who signed it, and the captain who suffered by it were all Freemasons. Instant justice was rendered, and the captain immediately liberated.
In 1762, two French prisoners in Edinburgh Castle, who were Freemasons, were allowed four guineas from the Grand Lodge. In the same year the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, Grand Master, ordered the several Lodges under his jurisdiction to assume Don Antonio de Pizarro, Governor of Tarragona in Spain, as a nominal member, the reason for this being as follows
to Italy,
Mr. Dickson, a Scottish Mason, was Sfiiling from Giliraltar and during the voyage a storm compelled him to rxin his ship ashore under the Avails of Tarragona. Tlie
captain and crew were seized as prisoners of the Spanish King, and brought before the Governor, Don Antonio de Pizarro, who, however, treated them with the utmost humanity. After conversing for a while, the Governor inquired of the captain concerning some persons at Gibraltar whom he knew to be Freemasons, which made him conjecture that Don Antonio Inmself was a member of the Mr. Dickson, therefore, made a sign, which was Society. returned by the Governor, who gave orders that nothing should impede the captain's journey, whom, because of his being a brother, he allowed with his crew to return to Gibraltar, and supplied them with all necessaries for the On arriving at Gibraltar, Mr. Dickson informed passage. the Governor of what had occurred, who was so charmed with the story that he forthwith released sixteen Spaniards belonging to Ihe garrison of Tarragona, and the same night he was made a Mason. The captain afterwards sent an account of the whole affi\ir to the Grand Master of Scotland, who, with his own hand wrote a letter of thanks to Don Antonio, and ordered the story to be recorded in the books Also, as the noble behaviour of Don of the Grand Lodge. Antonio de Pizarro had done honour to Masonry, the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine ordered that he should be assumed as a nominal member of all the regular Lodges in Scotland. The Governor of Gibraltar, referred to in this anecdote,
would appear to have been Major-General Parslow (1761), in that office by the Earl of Home, and followed by Lieut. -General the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, both of whom ai-e known to have been active members of the
who was preceded
fraternity at a
earlier date.
During the last war with France, a small coasting vessel, trading between Plymouth and Hampshire, was captured by a French privateer. The officer who boarded the vessel discovered among its papers the certificate of a Master Mason, which belonged to the English captain. The circumstance having been reported to the French Commander, who was a member of the Craft, he came on board the prize and proposed to his captive tliat if he would pledge his word, as a man of honour and a Mason, to use his best exertions to
obtain the release of his (the French captain's) brother, who was then a prisoTier of war at Plymouth, he would restore The his vessel and allow him to proceed on his voyage. terms were glndly acceded to, and the grateful Englishman proceeded to his destination, where, on landing, he assembled the Masters of the Plymouth Lodges and commvmicated to them this remarkable convention. One of the Masters was employed by the government in the management and supply of the prison, and, on reporting the facts to the Head Board in London, received by the next post an order to complete with despatch and fidelity an exchange which the French Brother had commenced with so much confidence and generosity.
On the resumption of the war^after the short "Peace of Amiens" in 1803, Captain Akerman was returning from Newfoundland to Poole, and his vessel was captured by a
French privateer
off Portland, nearly in sight of his native nearing the coast of France, as the prize-master was overhauling the ship's papers, he observed a Masonic certificate, dated September 10th, 1783, showing that the captain belonged to the Lodge of Amity at Poole. He then called one of the crew who could speak English, and through him conveyed to Captain Akerman his great regret at not knowing sooner that he was a Mason, or he would have put him on shore at Portland or Albany Head. On landing at Bordeaux the captain was ti-eated very kindly, and legularly billetted at the house of a Freemason when proceeding to Verdun on his parole. At that depot the unfortunate victim of war remained until the peace of 1814, but during his eleven years of imprisonment often experienced the kindness of his captor. While thus detained, Napoleon passed through Verdun, and, hearing that several Masons Avere among the prisoners, he inquired how they conducted themselves, and, on receiving a favourable report, ordered a dinner to be given them. They were invited accordingly, and, after a due examination by the proper officers, sat down (on Christmas Day) to an excellent repast, the Commandant presiding. At the close of the meeting each P^nglishman was presented with a five-franc-piece in the Emperor's name,
which they gratefully received, though from the hands their national enemy.
In the year 1807,
another victim of the war,
became a prisoner in France, and was for a time detained at Verdun. But in the following year, from some caprice of the French Government, several of the detenus were ordered to Givet, another depot for English prisoners, and a place at a considerable distance from Verdun. We left, a party five, four naval officers and one civilian, escorted by
gendarmes. Occasionally we were handcuffed to deserters from the French Army, and otherwise illtreated, particularly This continued until our arrival at Mezieres or at night. Sedan (I forget which), where a rest of three days occurred. This interval was made use of by the civilian already mentioned, who, discovering that there was a Masonic Lodge in the town, contrived to send a note which fell into the hands Shortly after, a gentleman came to the of the fraternity. prison and conversed with the writer, whom he supplied with money and informed him that better food would be furnished during the remainder of our stay there, also that the rest of our journey should be rendered more easy and These promises were strictly carried into effect. agreeable. We were at once supplied with abundant fare, including wine of the best quality, and indulged with a ramble in the town under the escort of a solitary gendarme, while the concluding part of our journey was rendered more like a tour of pleasure than the march of prisoners from one de[)ot and all this because one of our party happened to another to be a Freemason.
the present century, on the at Havannah, the captain received a letter urgently soliciting his protection on behalf of some British sailors who were forcibly detained, on board a privateer, then at anchor. A lieutenant was immediately despatched with a proper complement of hands to demand He duly executed his task and returned to the the men. frigate with his countrymen, but, on leaving the ship where they had been detaiued, the master of the vessel swore that before night he would be revenged.
During the early part
In the evening the lieutenant went on shore and engaged game at billiards. While thus occupied he oLserved a In swarthy, ill-looking man watching him most intently. a corner of the room there was also a slender young man with a pale countenance also regarding him very earnestly. To his surprise a "Sign" was hastily given. It was fortunately exchanged, and a few seconds after a note was " Beware Take put into his hand containing these words,
in a
Two other persons now accosted caution from a Brother.'' him and behaved in a manner likely to provoke a quarrel, in which they would probably have succeeded but for the Prudence, however, came to caution he had just received. his aid, and feigning an excuse he left the room, but without his hat, the better to deceive the persons of whose With unfriendly intentions he had no longer any doubt. (lithculty he reached the house of the American Consul, four men pursuing him with knives in their hands, but the door iipened in time and he was saved.
the 6th November, 1812, the schooner United Sinters, Joseph Webb, Master, was captured off the Start Point by Le Furet, French privateer, nnder the command of Captain Louis Mariencourt. Later in the same day, the Irish sloop Three Friends, of Yoiighal, James Campbell, Master, hove in sight, and was also taken possession of by the enemy. Soon, however, the signals of Masonry were exchanged between the three commanders, and instantly, ship, cargo, and liberty were bestowed on each of the prisoners of war, by the captain of the Privateer, Bro. Joseph W^ebb pledging his word to effect if possible the release, in exchange for the liberation of himself and his ship's company of Bro. J. Gautier of the French Schooner La Confiance, who had been captured in the earlier part of the same year, and was at that time detained on board the prison ship Crown Prince at Chatham.
of Poole,
Conduct so trnly noble was soon reported by Bro. James Campbell to his Lodge, the Union, No. 1-3, at Limerick, and a silver vase of one hundred gninens value was voted to the generoiis Frenchman who, in the meantime, with his vessel, had been captured by the British Frigate Modeste. D 2
This votive tribute, which, owing to the speedy liberation and subseqiient death of the gallant iMariencourt, could not be presented, has since been reverentially preserved as the Ijrightest ornament of the Lodge, and is the St. Jolui's Box
in all appeals to the
sympathies of the brethren.
that the efforts of the other Captain, Bro. Joseph Webb, to shorten the captivity of Bro. J. Gautier, were crowned with success.
It is gratifying to relate
The narrator of the following, shipped as a lad on board a vessel called the Rover, commanded by James Holley, and l)0und to the Bay of Hondui-as, from Kingston in the Island of Jamaica. One night about the middle watch, they were surprised, overpowered, and captured in an incredibly short period, by a French privateer. All hands were taken on board the Frenchman, and the vessel and crew plundered and made prisoners. The moon at this moment burst out in unusual splendour, and they could observe all that was going on upon the cpiarter-deck and it appeared to him and the others that the conmiander of the privateer was questionWhen, ing their captain as to what his vessel had on board. after a short time, they approached each other, made some signs, and were at last locked hand in hand, the lookers on thought that they had each found in the other some long lost friend. A few hours afterwards everything was returned that had been taken, and the vessel delivered to the English captain, while the two men Avho had been enemies only such a short time before, now parted with the' greatest apparent reluctance. They were Brother Masons.
In April, 1804, Lieut.-Colonel Duncan Campbell, of the Royals, arrived at Barbadoes from Guadaloupe. He had been captured together with Majors Blair and McDonel (of Kepjjoch), by a French privateer, on his way from England to join his regiment. On its being discovered that Major McDonel was a Freemason, the privateer's captain was particularly kind to him, as well as to his companions, and their baggage was preserved fi'om plunder. He was introduced at a Mason's Lodge in Guadaloupe, where the whole party received great attention. Soon afterwards, having
been supplied with money, they were permitted to leave the island on their parole \mtil exchanged.
The following inscription is attached to a Biscuit which enclosed in a glass case and preserved by the Lodge of Amity, No. 137, Poole
This Blscuit
preserved by the Lodge of Amity as a memorial of their gratitude and brotherly affection for Jacques de Bon, captain of the Jinioii. French privateer, of St. Malo, who captured at sea, on the 13th of December, 1S13. at Ham. in lat. 4'J"oO North long, 7 West, the brig Oak, of Poole. Bro. Stephen Pack. Master, belonging to Bros. G. W. Ledgard and John Goss. on her passage
Bill^ao to Poole, who. after treating him and his crew with every mark of kindness, restored him his vessel, and sent on board a dog. which Ijefore had been taken fi'om a brother, with this Biscuit suspended by a string round his neck, signifying he would not keep a brother's dog in bondage nor see him want bread. Thus the man who holds forth his hand for the relief of his necessitous In-ethren, is fully repaid by the gratitude of those whom he obliges, by the approbation of his own mind, and the favour of that Omnii)otent Being Avho cannot behold such a bright display of Masonic virtues without asserting his divine and everlasting approbation."
Then came Captain L. with his five daughters (writes Harriet Martineau), he looked too old to be their father, and well he might. When master of a vessel, he was set ashore by pirates, Avith his crew, on a desert island, where he was thirty-six days without food. Almost all his crew were dead, and he was just dying, when help arrived by means of Freemasonry. Among the pirates was a Scotchman, a Mason, as was Captain L. The two exchanged signs. The Scotchman could not render aid at the moment, but after many fruitless attempts he contrived to sail back at the risk of his life, and landed on the desert island on the thirtvsixth day from his leaving it. He had no expectation of finding the party alive, but not to throw away a chance he went ashore with a kettle full of wine in his hand. He l)oured wine down the throats of the few whom he found still breathing, and treated them so judiciously that they recovered. At least it was called recovery. Captain L. took the Scotchman home, and cherished him to the day of his
Of Babastro, a renowned Spanish corsair, who, nnder the protection of Napoleon, did much injury to British smallcraft in the Mediterranean I must (says Mrs. Bronghton'), in justice and charity, trace one redeeming trait. After the
capture of an English prize by this so oft-named corsair, and while his crew were following their usual practice of stripping our unfortunate coimtrymen to which they compelled submission by holding over them unsheathed knives it so occurred that the master of the English vessel while undergoing this unceremonious disrobing, made use of one of those mystic gestures invisible to all but the initiated brethren of the trowel and apron. Whatever that sign was, it did not pass unnoticed, for the hand of the giver was immediately clasped in that of Babastro, who at once ordered his satellites to release the English captain from their grasp, and he desired that whatever property was exclusively his own shoiild be held sacred and restored to him. All that I recollect besides of this chieftain of the privateers which so long infested the coast of Algiers is, that the Emperor Napoleon judged him worthy of being named a member of the Legion of Honour.
some 250 tons, with a crew of eighteen hands the Havannah, and was passing through the Keys, when a sail was descried, and the ship neared them every instant. The merchantman being a heavy sailer, was soon boarded by at least fifty men, the captain and crew ordered A short time below, and the work of pillage commenced. sufficed to sec\ire all the portable valuables, which were put The captain into a boat and conveyed on board the pirate. and supercargo were then ordered on deck and interrogated Concealment or subterfuge being as to the cargo itself. entirely out of the question, they rendered the best accoinit their indifferent knowledge of the Spanish language would permit. Matters Avere apparently assuming a civil character, when on the pirate's boat boarding for the second time, the captain observed in the bow a man standing upright in " the bloody shirt," with an axe resting on his shoulder. The party soon came on deck, and the captain was ordered
vessel of
to go forward
supercargo insisted on accompanying
him. They had scarcely proceeded a few paces when the captain felt himself struck a severe blow on the shoulder, and turning quickly round I)eheld the supercargo struggling. It appeared that the latter, observing the intention to the strike off the captain's head, had averted the blow other coolly remarked that he thought the chance afforded him of saving time and torture was lost, and that, therefore, the windlass would be a good block for the purpose. Not a moment was allowed for preparation. They reached the The former windlass, the captain and siipercai'go embraced. knelt down, and was about to place his head on the block, when, in addressing a short prayer to his God, he made a sign the axe that all but gleamed for its fatal purpose fell at his feet. The pirates swore they saw a ship, and that no time must be lost in clearing the cargo. In two hours they sacked the vessel, left a few days' provisions, gave the captain his ship, and spared the lives of all.
Some three years afterwards the supercargo, on I'evisiting the Havannah, was accosted by a man who intjuired after his captain, and hoped he was well, saying that he, the " supercargo, was lucky in liaving sailed with " one of them (alluding to the captain being a Freemason), as otherwise they would all have been beheaded. A promise was also made that if the captain should re -visit those parts he should go " free."
In June, 1823, the Minerva, a Dutch merchant vessel, returning from Batavia to Eiirope with several rich passengers, most of whom wei"e Freemasons, including Bro. Engelhard, Deputy Grand Master of the Lodges in India, was attacked off the coast of Brazil, and defeated by a corsair under Spanish colours. Pillage and massacre were about to take place. In this extremity Bro. Engelhard made a Masonic signal, when the commander of the corsair, who the moment before was insensible to prayers
became moved even to softness. He was Mason, as well as several of his crew. He acknowledged the Brethren, embraced them, restored their vessel and property, made compensation for the damage inflicted, and only demanded in return the favour of affiliation with a Dutch Lodge
Tn the year 1830, a Bro. Glen, afterwards a member of the Phoenix Lodge, Sunderland, but who liad not then been initiated into Masonry, was mate of a merchant vessel bound for the island of Cuba. The crew, besides the When captain and mate, consisted of seven seamen. approaching their port of destination they discovered a suspiciousdooking schooner hovering in their course, which bore down quickly upon them, and the merchantman was boarded by twenty -five desperadoes, all of whom were armed The commander of the pirate with pistols and cutlasses. was a Spaniard, and from the appearance of the lieutenant, who was dressed inapecidiar manner, Bro. Glen conjectured The unfortunate crew that he must have been a Maltese. of the merchantman were bound and secured in the fore The captain and Bro. Glen were also part of the vessel. The work of plunder tied to two pillars in the stern cabin. being finished, directions were given for the destruction of the vessel by fire. Gunpowder, tar-barrels, and other combustible materials were brought from the schooner, and the train was actually laid. At this juncture the lieutenant of the pirates went aft and entered the cabin where Bro. Glen and his captain were secured. The latter, fortunately As a last for himself and crew, happened to be a Mason. resource he attracted the pirate's attention, and addressed him (in the language of the Craft) as an apprentice. The other regarded the captain steadfastly for an instant, and Some further communication replied as a Fellow Craft. then passed between them, though neither could understand the speech of the other ; but in this short interval they had made themselves understood by the universal medium of Masonry. The lieutenant then returned to the deck, where, as it subsequently appeared, he dissuaded his commander from burning the vessel. After this he went again into the cabin and wrote a short note in the Spanish language, which he carefully folded up and left on the table. Next he cut the cords with which Bro. Glen had been boinid, and making a gesture of caution left the ship with the remaining Bro. Glen speedily released portion of the boarding party. his captain, who said that he had made himself known to the pirate as a jNIason, and to that circumstance their
must be uttributed. After waiting for a while they cautioiisly jtroeeeded to the deck and released the Nothing particular occurred until the second day crew. following, when to their consternation they again espied the piratical schooner, which bore down upon them as before. They lioisted their English colours, when the pirate recognising the vessel as the same which had been recently pillaged, merely displayed his black flag, the terrible ensign of his dreadful calling, which he immediately loAvered, and then altering his course was seen by them no more. The letter which had been left on the cabin table Avas couched Having recognized "Brother, in the following terms: you as a Mason, I have induced the captain to spare the but for this you would all have lives of yourself and crew perished." It only remains to be stated that Bro. Glen on liis return to England lost no time in seeking admission into a Society, which, under Providence, had been instrumental in the preservation of his life.
In tlie year 1795, the ship Betsy, belonging to a Boston It was merchant, sailed from AVest Gardner, Maine. commanded b}' Captain Chapin Sampson, who had been received into Masonry, in what is now St. George's Lodge of Harmony, at Liverpool, on the 15th of August, 1793. The vessel was taken off Malaga, by an Xebec from Tripoli, and carried with all on board into that port. There, the captain and crew were stripped of their clothing, except a Being the first slight piece of cotton about the waist. Americans brought into Tripoli, they were driven through the city chained, and were pelted by every offensive missile. The captain was thrown into a dungeon, but after a few days taken Qwt and set at work clearing the cargo from his shi[). While tlms engaged, an officer named Hassan Bey, occupying a high station in Tripoli, made himself known as a Freemason. Captain Sampson was soon liberated, clothed, and furnished with many comforts. An opportunity of releasing him was found, and when about to leave, Hassan Bey, still mindful of his Masonic duties, made him numeroiis presents. This worthy native of 'J'rijjoli, and faithful brother, had been initiated in France. Captain Sampson, then eighty 3'ears of age, was living at West Gardner, Alaine, in 1845.
Military Axecdotbs.
June 18tb, 1815. A Belgian officer during the engagement, recognised in the opposing army about six in the evening, a former associate and Brother Mason, member of the same Lodge ; they were at such distance apart that he feared the chance of a mutual greeting was impossible, but he dreaded more the possibility of a personal conflict. At length when he saw his friend attacked and woimded he forgot everything but that they were brothers. The Belgian rushed into the melee, and at the risk of beingconsidered a traitor, he protected him made him prisoner placed him in safety and, after the battle, renewed his friendship. On the same evening, about nine o'clock, about fifty men, nearly all wounded, the miserable remains of two French regiments, found themselves encompassed by a considerable party of the enemy after performing prodigies of valour, finding retreat impossible, they decided on layingdown their arms but the enemy, irritated by their obstinate defence and the havoc they had made, continued to fire on them. 'J'he lieutenant in conunand, as well as the men, considered that nothing but a miracle could save them ; a sudden inspiration seized the officer, he advanced to the front in the midst of the firing, and made the sign of distress. Two Hanoverian officers observed him, and by a spontaneous movement, without consulting their commander, ordered the troops to cease firing, and, after securing the prisoners, they placed themselves at the disposal of tlieir General for the breach of military discipline he also was a Mason, and instead of punishing he approved of their generous conduct.
the battle of Waterloo was so badly keep up with liis regiment, and in that situation was discovered by a Scottish Dragoon of the Bi'itish Army, who piit spiu's to his horse and galloped up to dispatch him. But just as he was on the point of striking the fatal blow, the officer gave a Masonic sign of distress. This was recognised by the Scotsman, whose arm Love and sympathy were was immediately unnerved. depicted in his countenance, and as he turned his horse to
officer at
as to be miable to
protect thee,
he was heard to nay, my Brother "
the memorable 16th of June, 1815, at the moment the allied army commenced a retrograde movement, a Scottish field officer, who had been seriously wounded' in the atl'air of Quatre Bras, was left on the field of battle. Trampled on by the French Cavalry, he thought but of death, when he perceived the patrols of the enemy who came to succour the wounded. Kallying the little strength that remained, he cried out in a faint tone, and implored This attracted the attention the assistance of his brethren. of a French surgeon, who, recognising in him a Mason, He first dressed those wounds which hastened to his aid. presented the greatest danger, and then raised and carried placed him on his own the patient to the sick quarters pallet watched by his side and directed him to be conveyed to Valenciennes, where he was warmly recommended to his friends, from whom the officer received the kindest attention, and by whose care he was completely restored to health.
The 17th (French) Chasseurs, entering the town of Genappe, made prisoners of all they found. Some musket shots, fired from the windows of a house, struck several of the
who instantly 'attacked the house, vowing revenge, and determining to put to the sword nine wounded enemies that were lying there. The chief of the Chasseurs was at their head. At the critical moment he observed one of these poor wounded fellows, a Brunswick officer, who made the " sign of distress." Vengeance ceased war lost its vigour the Masonic appeal conquered. He threw himself between his own soldiers and the wounded men, and then genei'ously saved their lives. This noble action was not unrewarded, for, on the morrow, he was wounded in his turn, and taken prisoner by the Prussians. He was recognised as a Mason by an officer, who took him under his care, attended to his wants, and restored to him the money of which he had been despoiled as a booty.
At the close of the fierce battle of the Moskowa, in the general melee which ensued, two members of the Craft, a French officer of Cavalry and a Faissian officer of Infantry, engaged in a hand-to-hand combat. The foi'mer's sword had shivered that of the latter, and was already uplifted to cut him down, when he made a Masonic sign. The sign was recognised, and although it was made too late to stop the descending blow altogether, yet it was not made too late to weaken its force. The Russian officer was only slightly Avounded, and instead of being killed he became a prisoner, and received such succour as in the circumstances it was possible for his captor to afford. This story is related on the autliority of an e^^e-witness of the incident to which it refers, M. de Beaufort, who served as Chef de Bataillon during the Russian campaign, and greatly distinguished himself at the Moskowa, receiving the cross of the Legion of Honour from the Emperor Napoleon on the field of battle.
A French officer, at the battle company, been separated from
of the
of Austerlitz, had, with his
regiment at the comAfter performing prodigies of valour, the devoted band were cut to pieces, and the officer dangerously Avounded, but he still refused to give up his sword, until, exhausted by loss of blood, he fell, making the Masonic sign. The Prussian officer in connnand, who was one of the initiated, on perceiving this, ran forward and drew off" his men, who, in their fury, were preparing to strike the death-blow. Faithful to his Masonic principles, he had his brother, no longer his enemy, carried to his own tent, Avhere his kindness and attention was so great that his prisoner was in doubt whether he ought not to bless his glorious defeat. When his health Avas completely restored, he perceived the necessity of complying Avitli the laAvs of Avar, and prepared to dej^art to the place assigned to the prisoners but he first demanded an intervicAv Avith his captor. What Avas his gratitude and astonishment to learn that he was free The Prussian officer had managed to get his name placed on the first list of those Avho were to be exchano'ed
Again, in the time of the late war, the Prussians invested the frontiers of France, and committed all sorts of outrages. They one day entei-ed a Cliateau, and after insulting the inmates and destroying everything they could lay their hands on, seized a box containing a large sum of money. The owner, on trying to prevent their taking his property, would have fared very hardly had he not, on a sudden thought, made the sign. The officer, who was a Mason, was immediately recalled to the duties which he had unknowingly violated. He dismissed his men, and placed a guard at the Chateau to prevent similar outrages.
The following appears in the autobiography of M. Gerard (blaster at one time of the Globe Lodge, Vincennes) who
for his military services
in the
was decorated with the Legion of Kremlin, at Moscow, in the year 1812
sanguinarj^ revolt at to that muchdisturbed city. reached our destination towards the end of April, and were temporarily stationed in a village about thi-ee miles distant from the city on the road leading to France. few days after our arrival, I mentioned to a young officer, a nephew of our Colonel, that I desired very much to visit Madrid, of which I had heard a great deal. He expressed also a Avish to spend a few hours in a visit to its far-famed churches and other public buildings, and promised me to ask for leave of absence. His request was granted by the Colonel and we obtained a pass for the 1st and 2nd of May. '"As soon as we had obtained our onuje. we made good use of our time and entered the city early in the morning and spent the "w hole day in examining the gorgeous churches and half-oriental public places, of which I had heard so much when a boy. Weary and exhausted we spent the night at the house of a French tavern-keeper upon the Scjuare Del Sol, where the officers and employers of our army were in the habit of congi-egating. The next morning we took our breakfast at an early hour, and were just preparing to resume our sight-seeing, w'hen several officers of the staff abruptly entered the house and requested us to repair immediately to the liarracks or to our quarters. They also informed us that the troops had been ordered to remain in their quarters, that everywhere they were beating to arms, and that the streets and squares Avere swarming with armed Spaniards evidently much excited. No time w^as to be lost and we resolved to leave instantly, in order to quit the city and repair to our quarters. ' As soon as we had gained the oi)en air. we heard the terrible sound of a general vappitl drummers were everywhere beating to
^ladrid. I belonged to a troop of
the 2nd of
1810, during the
Dragoons ordered
arms. We endeavoured to redouble our speed, but perceived very soon that it was impossible to reach our quarters while thus surrounded. A large number of Spaniards, armed with deadly weapons of every conceivable kind, now advanced upon us and obstructed the street through which we had to pass. We knew that attempting a passage through their ranks would be certain death we, therefore, looked for an opening through which to escape, but we could perceive onlj- a little street or rather blind allej- on our right. My friend seized me bj' the arm, and. dragging me along, cried. Come let us enter into But before he had time to hnish the sentence he fell dead at my feet, pierced by several balls. I escaped with only a ball through my hat but confused by the sudden attack, and wholly at a loss how to attempt any further escape, I already gave mj'self up for lost, when it happil}- occurred to me that I had been made a Masoti, and I made use of the means which the Craft had placed in my hands to call for help in imminent danger. My appeal was not made in vain. That happy thought saved n\y life. The door of the house, from which the shots had been fired, was immediately thrown open, and a powerful and tall man with a heavy moustache and a military overcoat rushed out and drew me into the house while he whispered to me in French. Fear not, and follow me, a brother leads the way.' When he had taken me into an outhouse and fastened the door, he proceeded to test me, and we exchanged those proofs known onlj" to the initiated. ' Having satisfied himself of my claim to his protection, he offered me a goat-skin filled with wine and we fraternized. He then bade me wait for him a little while he went out and locked the door behind him. In less than five minutes he returned with a soDthj'ci'o and a large Spanish cloak in his hand. Disguised in these, he led me from the house and through different streets until we reached the gates of the city. After we had passed them by means of the countersign in his possession, he pointed out to me my quarters, of which I had given him a description. Before he took leave of me, he threw his arms around my neck and said My Brother, I am a Captain in the English infantry, but now on a secret mission in Spain. My name is Henry Sueton. If ever the Great Ai-chitect should offer you an opportunity to save the life of any of my countrymen, do for them what I have this day •done for you. Farewell, God speed you." ' The name of this dear brother has ever since remained engraven upon my heart and there it will remani until it shall
: '
cease to beat. " Ever since that epoch in my life have I sought to learn more concerning the fate of my noble preserver but only lately have I been able to ascertain from a Captain of the English army, whom I met in the South of France, that Brother Sueton fell in 1H12 at the Cape of Good Hope, after he had attained to the rank of Major. " May the Great Architect cause the earth to rest lightly upon his grave."
The memorable battle of Mars-le-Tour (the second day's battle at Metz), at aboiit 2 o'clock, p m., the third company of the Ninth Battalion of Prussian Kifles were ordered to dislodge the enemy from a copse of wood about loO yards in
front. The men advanced under a galling tire, which in less than two minutes, cut down about half of them. Notwithand, standing, they advanced at a run with a hurrah reaching the wood, charged the French, who were of the Many Sixty-fourth Regiment of the line, about 200 strong. were bayonetted, many taken prisoners, and the remainder fled, save a company of about thirteen, who stood their ground, got behind a large log, refusing to surrender, and unable to get away. They were all shot down except three, one of them a corporal. Half-a-dozen Prussians jumping over the log, were about to bayonet them, when the corporal gave the "sign of distress." Instantly, non-commissioned he is my officer Hertran called out, " Don't harm him brother !" and with his own rifle, parried the blow aimed at him. The Frenchman was disarmed and led away, but his life Avas saved through the silent language of the Craft.
Captain Laurent Michel, wlio was initiated in the Lodge, "Disciples of Solomon," Marseilles, in 1811, was distinguished as a good man and brave soldier, and became known as the saviour of the " Holy Battalion," a title earned by his prompt and energetic condiict. He was one of those of
whom Dryden
Oh, but "tis brave to be admired, to see crowds with heads uncovered cry, that" s he."
the star of the Emperor Napoleon was declining, and the wish for peace had become as unanimous as the previous desire for fame, among the earlier movements were those of in the national guards for centralization and union, opposition to the Emperor. A portion of the imperial troops had fallen into an ambuscade carefully planned by a large division of the national guards, and many "a good tall fellow " who had escaped the bullets of the enemy, must have met his death at the hands of his countrymen, had it not been for the occurrence which I am about to relate. Marseilles was aa'ain to be the theatre of destnietion, the
scene of blood. The troops of Fort St. Nicholas had already received orders to march, already had the hour arrived for the death of the devoted little band the line was formed, the command to make ready and present being given but one word, one minute more, and the souls of the doomed men had been sent before their impartial Judge. Every hand was prepared for destruction, when the Captain of the Artillery, Laurent Michel, crying '' stop " in a voice of tliTuider, threw himself before the guns of the Artillery under his command. A powerful and pathetic appeal to his companions in arms, soon convinced the national guards of the error they were about to commit, and they yielded to his eloquence by allowing the troops they had encompassed to disperse. It appears that Avhen the unfortunate battalion had arrived at the trap prepared for it, and saw that every avenue for escape had been closed that not a hope remained one man, with desperate resolve, appealed by a sign of distress to the sympathy of his opponents, Laurent Michel's eagle eye watched the motion of his brother and to see, to recognise, and to place his life in the most imminent danger to save others, was the work of a
The following is given on the authority of an American captain of infantry, who took pai't in the capture of Fort George, diiring tlie last war (1812). The British troops were informed that orders had been issued to the American soldiers to give no quarter. This had probably been done for the purpose of inducing them to fight with greater desperation, and to prevent desertion. After Captain Arrowsmith's Company had landed and formed, he led them •to the charge. The British troops retired as the Americans advanced, leaving a young woimded officer directly in the
of Arrowsmith's
As they approached he
arose on one leg (the other was broken) and attempted to get out of the way, believing they would bayonet him if he did not. Unable, however, to accomplish his pm-pose he fell, but turning to them as he sat on the groimd, he gave Captain Arrowsmith the soul-thrilling appeal of a Mason. described his feelings at that moment as the most extra-
had ever experienced. I felt, said he, as if the head stood upright and held off my hat. But he instantly called out to the wounded man, "don't be afraid my brave fellow, you shan't be hurt." Soon after he saw a surgeon, and informed him that a friend of his, with
hairs of
a red coat on, lay
in the rear
near a certain bush,
and requested
his attention to him, a wish that
was imme-
diately complied with.
Arrowsmith, who was wounded in
the head din-ing the same battle, was shortly afterwards laid by the side of his friend with the red coat, where they had time to cultivate an intimate friendship, which lasted
About the year 1815, while the 4th Regiment of Foot, commonly known as the " King's Own," was passing through the Bermudas, on its way to take part in the last war with
America, both the officers and men experienced the iitmost inconvenience and distress, their pay being greatly in a'rrear, and their rations extremely limited. At this crisis in their affairs the officers were one day invited to the tal)le of a merchant residing in one of the principal towns. In the course of the entertainment the generous host did not fail to discover that among his guests there was one for whom, though a stranger, he felt the warmth of friendship, and with whom, though a foreigner, he felt the ties of brotherhood. In a word they were Masons. To draw the brother aside, to hear the record of sufferings and privations, and to furnish ample means of relief and consolation, was but the work of a few moments. A considerable sum of money was advanced by the merchant for the use of the regiment, and thus by the existence of a certain principle of action in two individiials a multitude were raised from a state of suffering and destitution to one of comparative ease and enjoyment.
at Woolwich,
in his "
Freemasonry," a work published in to " Mankind in (leneral, and the Ladies in particular," relates that a Scotch officer, in the Prussian service, who luifortu-
Use and Abuse 1783, and dedicated
iiately was taken prisoner at the battle of Lutzen, with foiir hundred of his companions was conveyed to Prague. The Scotchman made himself known as a Mason, was immediately released from confinement, had the honoiir to dine daily at the tables of the most distinguished of the Society, was always requested to assist at their meetings, and desired to think himself a Freemason and not a prisoner of On the exchange of prisoners, which hajjpened about war. three months after the engagement, the Scotch gentleman was in the politest manner presented with a pnrse of sixty
This dncats, to defray his expenses to the regiment. circumstance, adds Captain Smith, was commimicated to him by the officer himself, in a letter dated ^lay 13th, 1760.
The following was related at a meeting of the Shakespeare A Brother, whose pursuits led Lodge, No. 99, in 1839 him to that scene of turmoil and strife, the Basque provinces, saw mxich of the nature of the intestine war that
was raging, and which was marked by little else than rapine, murder, and all the effects of faithless depravity.
the capture of
the Durango Decree consigned the captives to an ignominious and merciless death. On the following morning the jailor brought three of the prisoners from their dungeon and delivered them to the fatal guard, by whom they were shot. But where was the fourth 1 The answer he would die before night." The was, "Dangerously ill to obey the oi-ders of a jailor, accustomed to deal with despot and to witness the ghastliness of doomed men on ±he verge of eternity himself without feeling, for all feeling had been blunted by the customs of his horrid such indifferent to everything passing around him office a man this man was arrested in his course of unholy occupation on being reminded of his obligation by one of those unhappy captives, who pleaded for mercy to his God through the hope— the last hope that was left— the trial of strength, from the bursting chords of his heart, sign of the to affect that of the executioner with
no hope
who were little accounted, and ordered for The fiat went forth, and there was no appeal-
Freemasonry sympathy and distress. Mysterious agency triumphed tlie man that was callous to all other humanities The blenched at the signal, and saved the Brother. continued horrors prevented immediate inquiries after the It was at length annoiuiced that subject of this anecdote. he had died, and no one cared what had become of his body indeed, little inquiry was ever made after those whom the Decy^ee had denounced. The jailor, however, had secured the Brother iintil he found means to favour his escape, and thus, in a measure, has made some reparation to society, by showing that if war be declared against society, the feelings of humanity, by the blessed aid of Freemasonry, will triiunph over the Demon of Darkness.
Early in 1S3T an English gentleman arrived at St. Jean de Luz, and after resting for a night at an inn, rang the bell and asked the servant girl to inquire if there was any boat about to start for St. Sebastian. The girl soon returned with the information that a boat would be ready in an hour. But on arriving at the beach the traveller found to his surprise and vexation, that the craft in Avhich he was about to trust himself was a small sailing lugger of about twelve tons burthen. The passage across the bar was rough in the extreme, but the weather then moderated, and at this juncture the skipper addressed his passenger rather freely, nitimating his belief that he was a military man, and declared it would be impossible to make for St. Sebastian, but that he should put into Fontarabia. The traveller's The Diirango Decree rang eyes were now clearly opened. in his ears he had heard that the Carlists paid as much as £20 to any boat that landed a Christino officer. He implored in turn all hands to alter their course, but iuetfectually, and the dreaded harbour was in sight. Providence, at this awful moment, suggested the attempt ti> practise the Masonic test. Forlorn hope as it was it succeeded. The skipper came deliberately forward, took the traveller by the hand, called him "Brother'," and ordered the mate to "put about." The course was altered, and he was safely landed at Passages, and even escorted to
the protection of his friends.
At the battle of Dettingen, in 1743, one of the French Guards, having had his horse killed under him, became so While in entangled as to be unable to extricate himself. this condition an English Dragoon galloped up, and, sabre The French in hand, was aboiit to deprive him of life. soldier, however, made the signs of Masonry, which, the Dragoon recognizing, not only saved his life, but freed him from his perilous sitiiation making him, of course, a prisoner, as the fraternal ties cannot dissolve those of
Not among civilized men only has the \iniversal genius Masonry extended her purifying and pi'otecting influences.
Joseph Brandt, a celebrated
Mohawk Indian, chief of the Six Nations, who had received the advantages of an English education, subsequently went to Englano, where he was On his return initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry. to America, however, the habits of early life resumed their influence, while the acquired ones of education were abandoned ; and Brandt, throwing oft" the dress and usages of civilization, assumed once more the blanket and the rifle, and seemed to forget in the wilds of his native forest
the lessons he had learned in his ti'ansatlantic schools. But the sequel of the story Avill show that, to whatever extent his memory may have been treacherous in other things, on one subject, at least, it proved to be admirably
During the Revolutionary War, at the battle of the Cedars, thirty miles above Montreal, on the St. Lawrence, Colonel McKinstry, then a captain in Paterson's regiment of Continental troops, was twice wounded, and afterwards taken prisoner by the Indians employed in the British
The previous bravery and success of Captain ^IcKinstry had excited at once the fears and resentment of his Indian
conquerors; and, in accordance with the customs of savage warfare, he was forthwith doomed to die at the stake, accompanied with all those horrid and protracted torments which the Indians know so well how Ijotli to inflict and to
and the preparations
ho been fastened to the fatal tree, human sacrifice were rapidly proceeding, when, in the strong agony of his despair, and .scarcely conscious of a hope, the captive made the great mystic appeal of a Mason in tlie hour of danger. It was seen, and understood, and felt by the Chief of the Six Nations, also a Colonel unattached in the British Army, who was present on the occasion. Brandt at once interposed, and succeeded, by the influence of his position, in rescuing his American Brother from his impending fate. Having freed him from his bonds, he conducted and guarded him in safety to Qiiebec, where he placed him in the hands of the English, by whom he was permitted to return to America on his parole.
for the
A pleasing incident with which is associated another anecdote relating to the same Indian Chief occurred at the raising to the third degree of the Hon. Thomas S. Wilson, Upon his admission to the Lodge he saw an Indian of Iowa After being introduced present, sitting with the members. to him he learned that he was the grandson of tlie celebrated Colonel Brandt, who commanded the Indian allies of the British during the war of the Revolution. " In one of the battles which occurred in Pennsylvania the grandfather of Judge Wilson was, with others, captured, and the company of which he was a member turned over to the Indians as their share of the trophies of victory. With a view to having some sport with their captives, the Indians would cause the American soldiers to kneel down, wdien an Indian would mount his back, compel him to creep to the water and crawl in, when the Indian would duck his head sometimes strangling them to death. When it came Soldier Wilson's turn, being a very stout man, he rose and threw the Indian over his head into the water, which, while it amused the Indians upon the bank, very much incensed the one victimized, whereupon he demanded that he and the remaining soldiei's who had survived the ordeal should be tomahawked. Accordingly they were ranged into line, when Wilson said to his companion that he was going to appeal to the Indians and make the Masonic sign of
His companion laughed at the idea bat joined in sign, wlien instantly the Indian chief rushed The Indian chief to their rescue and they were saved. proved to be the celebrated warrior Brandt, the gmndfather of the one pr^ent who witnessed the introduction into Masonry of the grandson of the soldier whose life his granddistress.
and gave the
father had
of the
to the civilized world at the time
incident to which
have referred." Similar tales are related of Tecumseh,the famous Shawanee warrior and orator, in connection with the war of 1812, during which he was an ally of the British, with the rank of Brigadier General.
There is a circumstance connected with the life of MajorGeneral Israel Putnam (U.S.A.) which is not generally known. In tlie French and Indian Wars he C(nnmanded a In a severe skirmish it corps of partizans on the frontiers. was his fate to become a captive to the Indians. So gallant After beinga warrior was worthy of no ordinaiy death. insulted and tortured in their villages he was led to the stake. The faggots were piled around him ; the flames He had taken his leaped and played over his wasted form. last look of earth, and was consigning his soul to God when he belield a French officer approaching. As a last resort he hailed him in a way that speaks with more than trumpet Quick as lightning tones to the heart of a genuine Brother. the cords were severed, the burning faggots were dispersed, and the officer rescued Putnam at the imminent peril of his
So powerful is the word that binds our Brethren in the Putnam always said that he owed his life hour of peril to Masonry, as he felt confident the Frenchman never would have incurred the risk of displeasing the Indians so much, Through life his zeal and to save any but a Brofher. services to the " good cause " were equal to the debt he owed, and after a long life spent in tlie service of his country, "on the square," he met the grim tyrant with the firmness of a Mason, and the hopeful resignation of a
At the eventful battle of Buena Vista (in the Mexican which is worthy of being recorded. During the fiercest moments of the fight, a young soldier of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry, the ranks of which \\ere more than decimated during the engagement, fell wounded, but apparently not mortally, on the ground. A score of lances pointed to his heart, but at that trying moment the young man thew himself upon that faith which so rarely fails. He made the sign, and the next instant a Mexican dashed past the gleaming instruments of death, and raised his The youth, prostrate /W, now his brother, and bore him off. however, ultimately perished with liis protector, but the act itself still lives as a memento of the force and purity of the Masonic tie.
war), a scene occurred
Among the prisoners taken by the Union troops at the time Picket made his great charge at Gettysburg, was a Virginian sergeant. He was a Mason. Captain John A. Kellogg, of the Sixth Wisconsin, gave him a drink of something reviving from his canteen, and put some rations in his empty haversack. Their parting was that of brothers.
In December, 1864, when Kellogg was a colonel comhis regiment (says the I'elator of the anecdote), I accompanied him on a ride along the picket line, a few miles to the left of Petersburg. By some means and without knowing it, we got beyond the picket lines. We w^ere brought to a halt suddenly by the immilitary salute " Is that you. Captain Kellogg 1 Looking up and about two rods to the right Ave saw a lieutenant and a dozen men in grey, who had apparently just taken their arms in preparation for serious business. "That's my name, sir," answered the colonel. " Beg pardon You were a captain at Colonel Kellogg. Allow me to extend congratulations upon Gettysburg. your promotion." It was becoming interesting, and both of us were making plans for a shooting match between a dozen confederate pickets with guns in their hands, and two officers with only revolvers, and they not in hand. " (iuess you don't remember me, colonel ?
" I guess that is so," said Kellogg and he was more nervous than I eA'er saw him in battle. " I'm the sergeant you gave a nip from your canteen and whose haversack you filled at Gettysburg. They have made me a lieutenant since then. I'd like to have a visit Guess with you, but the ofticer of the day is due here. you had better get back to your lines."
Thank you,
lieutenant," said the colonel,
as we turned to leave, the confederate gave the command : " Shoulder arms Present arms " Then Eight dress
! !
both of us
our hats.
There was fraternity for you.
friend, General
John Corson Smith, writes
among the Confederate (Tennessee), under my charge I found the adjutant of an Alabama regiment wearing a Masonic charm, I asked him if he was a Freemason, and receiving an afhrmative answer, without letting him know that I was member of the Ci'aft, I accepted his personal parole within the lines, and sent him to the house of Judge Ready, the father-in-law of the ConWhen about to be sent federate General, John H. Morgan. to the rear for exchange, the adjutant asked me why I had I answered so much confidence in him as to parole him. "Because I knew you to be a Freemason."
same informant I learn that during the made by Grant's army, on Petersburg
(Virginia), in April, 1865, when Lee's lines were broken, a young Confederate officer lay in the road severely wounded, and when, without a moment's warning, a compau}' of he "Federal Cavalry rode down towards him at full galloi) saw death staring liim in the face. His first thought was that possibl}' there might be a Mason among them, and he gave a sign of distress, known only to Masons. Then the Federal captain rode quickly to his side, dismounted and parted the company in tije centre, Avithout molesting the
He was quickly picked up, though a in the least. prisoner, taken to the rear and tenderly cared for, and in the course of time entirely restored to health.
General Smith also states that at the battle of Pea Ridge, Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards General) Frank J. Herron, of Iowa, was lying wounded, and an Indian, of General Albert Pike's command, was about to tomahawk him, when he gave a Masonic sign. He was made a prisoner and subsequently exchanged.
during the Atlanta campaign, when pressing the enemy, he saw a little white apron nailed to a cabin door, and riding up to the cabin he asked a woman he found there its significance, and was told that her husband was in Forest's Cavalry, which was then fighting that her husband was a Freemason, and on leaving his home had said There are many Freemasons in the Federal army, and if she would nail a white apron upon her door and let the Federals know she was the wife of a Freemason she would be protected.'" It is unnecessary to say that she was unmolested.
of Illinois, relates that
: '
same — From the Smithsource authority " General D. Atkins,
derive the following
The late Charles A. Dana tells the following story of General A. Rawlins, who was General Grant's chief of the statf from the time the latter became a brigadier-general, until he resigned his commission as Commander of the Armies of the United States, to become president of the gTeat nation, the unity of which he had done so much to " At the battle of Champion's Hill, on leaving preserve Logan, Rawlins and I were joined by several officers, and we coi^tinued our ride over the field. On the hill, where the thickest of the fight had taken place, we stopped and were looking around at the dead and dying men lying all about us, when suddenly a man, perhaps 45 or 50 years old who had a Confederate uniform on, lifted himself up on his elbow and said " For God's sake, gentlemen, is there a Mason among
" Yes,' said Rawlins, I am a Mason.' He got off his horse and kneeled by the dying man, who gave him some letters out of his pocket. AVlien he came back Rawlins had tears on his cheek. The man, he told us, wanted liim to
couvej some souvenir, a miniature or a ring I do not remember what to his wife, who was in Alabama. Rawlins took the package and some time afterwards he succeeded in sending it to tlie woman." General Rawlins -as 1 am told by his comrade in arms, General J. C. Smith was made a Mason in Galena, Illinois (1858), and while Secretary of War, U S.A., died at his post of duty in Washington City 1869
more, that our Lodges are the receptacles of
frequented hy
and revohdionary miscreants, / see them men of unaffected piety, and undaunted
Tell us no
more that our brethren of
Order are
/ see them in the form of heroes, at the head of our fleets and our armies ; and the day will arrive lohen
traitors, or indifff-rent to the welfare
of their
a Freemason shall sway the sceptre of these Kinqdoms, with honour and with dignity, the British fill,
— Sir
David Brewster.
ships of war Avere few number, the Craft has alwa3'S been hirgely supported by members of the sea service. Anything Hke an exhaustive list, however, even of the British Admirals alone (withoxit noticing the other ranks), who are or were Freemasons, would take up too much space, and a selection must be made. The names I am about to present are mainly derived from the actual records of the Grand Lodge of England, but there are thi'ee important exceptions, to which I shall assign priority
Although the Lodges heM on board
George Brydges (afterwards Lord) Rodney, at an interval of his career (a political contest having ruined his estate) found it necessary to retire to the continent, where he became a member of the Secret Society and Masonic Club in the Rue Saint Nicaise, at the French Capital. He was elected under an assumed name, but on disclosing his real one, at the instance of the Due de Biron, Marshal of France, his debts were paid, a banquet was given in his honour, the street was illuminated, and couplets were chanted to celebrate his departure for his native shores. Generals Dumouriez, and Paoli (the Corsican Patriot), were
of the Club.
his return
to England,
Rodney was again placed
of a squadron,
"which culminated in his defeat of the
Count de Grasse, in ended the war at a blow.
and achieved a series of victories French fleet under the A^^ril, 17S2, whicli saved Jamaica and
Nelson's connection with the the furniture in possession of
100, at
The evidence relating to Among Craft is as follows the Lodge of Friendship. No. block of white marble. On
Yarmouth, is an oblong each of the long sides is an That on one side commemorates the incised inscrijition. foundation of the Lodge of United Friends, No. 564 while on the opposite side of the stone thei'e appears
o{ Bro'*
of ihe Nile,
of Bur/ihaTQ Thoxptf, in
lost hife life in
oP Victory, in an engogcrnent wiih y^^CpJubiio'd Fleets of Ft-once8i Spain,
BroT John
ITnfortunately, the min\ite books covering this period all disappeared, but it can l)e proved aliunde that John Ciitlove was initiated in the Lodge of United Friends, on April 12th, 1799. Yet as Mr. Hamon Le Strange, from whijse interesting work {Freemasonry in KorUAl-) the foregoing is derived, well observes " It is extremely unlikely
where Nelson was so well known as he was at Yarmouth, the members of the Lodge would have Tdared to place on the stone, commemorative of their own constitution, an inscription claiming him as a brother, which, if untrue, would have exposed them to ridicule and From the contradiction from many Avho knew the facts." same writer, we learn (and all the details of the story are Avell authenticated) tliat there is still in existence a masouic snufF-box, which was given by Lord Nelson to a friend, when they dined together at Yarmouth.
that, in a place
It is also
on record that
Yarmouth Eoads
March, 1801, the Admiral came sail of the line, and that
before leaving the station an event oecuiTed to which he refers in a letter, addressed from Yarmouth Roads to Mr. I^illans, " Grand Master of the Ancient Order of Gregorians,"
which then flourished greatly at Norwich, thanking him for liis election into that Society. Mr. Le Strange, whose words I reproduce, goes on to say, " After the battle of Copenhagen, Nelson returned to Yarmouth, and landing there from the Kite, remained in the town for a time. He was also there when he returned to England after the battle of the Xile, so that there ware ample opportunities for him to have been initiated at Yai'mouth. The terms " Gregorian " and " Gormogon," which occur in the fourth book of the Dunciad, are explained by Pope and Warburton, as meaning " A sort of Lay bi'others, slips from the Root of Freemasons." The "Gregorians" are also mentioned by Crabbe in the Borough, as "a convivial sect," and " a kind of Masons, but without their sign." It is at any rate abundantly clear that Nelson was admitted a member of one of the many festive societies which then existed, and are now forgotten rivals of the Freemasons. Hence, as it seems to me, the probability is enhanced if we carefully bear in mind the lapidary evidence supplied by the Lodge of United Friends that he also joined our own Fraternity, of which, his old friends. Sir Peter Parker, Admiral of the Fleet, was Deputy Grand Master and the Duke of Clarence, Admiral of the White, (honorary) Past Grand Master, at the time he was received into the Order of the Gregorians. As these sheets are passing through the press, I have been favoured with the following extract from the minutes of the Union Lodge, York (still existing, as the "York Lodge," No. 236) :— December 16th, 1805. "Brother W. Master proposed that a public jDrocession should take place on the interment of our departed Brother and Hero, Lord Nelson, Seed, by Br. P.M., k Thirded by the S. Warden. The W.M. then expressed his wish that a uniformity of dress should be observed on the occasion. And that the Rev. J. Parker be requested to preach a sermon on the occasion at the Parish Church of St. Helen's."
There is also an interesting banner in the possession of the Lodge, a sketch of which, snpplied by the courtesy of Mr. Alfred Proctor, has been reproduced in the present work.
Allusions to the great seaman being a Freemason, were of frequent occurrence in the earliest Masonic journals which appeared after his decease, and it is to the same source of authority that I must now turn, for the sole evidence upon which the third Admiral on the list I am proceeding with, can be included in the ranks of the Fraternity.
The Freemasons' Jfar/azi7ie of November 17th, 1860, in recording the death of Sir Charles Napier, mentions that he was a constant visitor at the Lodge of Friendship. There are a large number of Lodges, however, distinguished by this title, and an exhaustive inquiry into the matter has been The story therefore, is one of those relations, impossible. which, to adopt the words of Bede (in the preface to his Ecclesiastical History),
I will
not warrant, but deliver purely on
Admiral Sir Charles Napier (passing over the long series of brilliant services preceding his promotion to flag-rank), in command of Dom Pedro's fleet, defeated that of Dom Miguel As second in command he ^ff Cape St. Vincent, in 1833. In 1847 he assisted at the capture of Acre, in 1840. received the command of the Channel Fleet, and, on the outbreak of the Piussian War in 1854, that of the Baltic. The next names are chiefly taken from those which have been registered in the books of the (^rand Lodge, and to a lesser extent from the lists of membei's which are given in the histories of certain private Lodges, and other authentic
Many officers of the United Service figure, as may be expected, on the roll of the Phoenix Lodge, Portsmouth, the annals of which have been recorded with a loving hand by Mr. Howell. Among the Admirals who were initiated in or joined this Lodge, may be named Sir Charles Morice Pole (1787), first captain of the grand fleet under Lord Bridport, and who commanded in the Baltic, 1801. Sir Roger Curtis (1787), signalised by his bravery when commanding the
Amidst the the explosion of magazines, and the presence of death in every frightful form, he boarded a Spanish ship and brought off a portion of its crew in his boat, which had not moved many lengths from the vessel before the latter went into the air. To this heroic act the poet laureate of the day referred, when (speaking of Britain)
at the siege of Gibraltar.
blaze of a burning
in victorj-'s moment, Iberia's sinking sous from Calpe's
She snatch'd
prompt to
glowing wave."
Sir Roger was flag-captain in Lord Howe's great battle of June the 1st, 179i. On telling the Admiral that the line was complete, Howe replied, "then up with the helm in the name of God," and the Queen Charlotte, dashing through the French line, fired from both sides with her guns doubleshotted, when 700 Frenchmen fell in the Montague alone. Curtis, afterwards Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet (1799), and still later at the Cape, was at one time sent on an embassy to Morocco, and in spite of his position found it impossible to proceed with his task. But on making himself known as a Mason all difliculties were removed, and he was allowed to pass freely through the
in chief
Ralph Abercrombie, at the reduction
commanded, with Sir of St. Lucia, and died
at the Cape.
Robert Winthrop (1791), commanded a small squadron on the coast of Holland in 1799, and the Stag frigate in the
expedition against Ferrol the next year.
(1792), in command of a frigate, Imvtortalite, 1798. Present 1796, and in the action with the Russian fleet, 1808 Commander-inChief, Mediterranean and Portsmouth Admiral of the Fleet, 1849.
Thomas Byam Martin
La Tamise,
Sir Lucius (son of Sir Roger) Curtis (1827), served at the reduction of the Isle of Bourbon, 1810. Admiral Superintendent at Malta, 1843 Admiral of the Fleet, 1864. This gallant officer, wlio was twice Master of the Phoenix Lodge (1833-34) and Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire from 1840 to 1869, often spoke with much eloquence as an
expositor of Masonic principles, of which some exam]iles will be laid before the reader. At a meeting of the Craft in an adjoining Province, August 23rd, 1850, he said: "Let them go to any part of the world they pleased, they would be sure to find Freemasons, and by making themselves known, as everywhere the same signs and signals were used, they I'eceived as much assistance as would be accorded to them even On this matter he spoke from experience, in their own country. and had himself been placed in situations to prove the value of He l)eing a Mason, and the exercise of true Masonic iirinciples. would give one instance of this being shown wliere it was little expected. General in the Army. Avell-known to him some years since, left Giln-altar with his family as passengers in a small vessel for Sicily, and on their passage the vessel was taken ])risoner bj'^ an Algerine pirate. Entreaty and intercession failed to induce the pirates to grant them their lives, and the order was given for all the hands to ^valk the plank, or in other words to be thrown overl)oard. when as a last resoui'ce Cxeneral Gardiner, who was a Freemason, thought he would try what effect the sign of unity might have upon the pirate captain. He made the sign, it was acknowledged, and the result was that their lives were spared and the Algerine landed them all safely in Sicily. As regards himself he was taken prisoner during the war, and. while a captive, being without shoes or stockings, and but half clothed, he had made himself known, and was acknowledged by a Mason, and fi'om that time he was clothed and fed by Brethren so long as he remained a prisoner."
Six years later, at a meeting of his own Provincial Grand Lodge, Sir Lucius Curtis expressed himself as follows: • On one occasion (during the late war) an officer of a French ship, in the heat of battle, showed the sign and his life was saved. Also, in the Peninsular campaigns, a sergeant's knapsack, which had been captured, on being opened and his Masonic certificate Ijeing seen, it was again repacked and returned perfect. When he (Sir Lucius) w^as in command at Malta, the Poiie's Bull it excommunicated all against Freemasonry was promulgated wlio joined the Order. Many of his subordinates were members of the Romish Church, and they applied to him, as their superior. to absolve them from their allegiance to a faith, the head of which condemned an institution so well deserving the support of He knew an English naval officer whose vessel all good men. WHS captured by the Algerines. and he. as well as his crew, was oidered to walk the plank. Some females on board were to be otherwise disposed of. In his exti-emity he showed his sign, and the vessel and all were given up to him." Hyde Parker (1832) commanded the Promethe^is sloop in the expedition to Copenhagen, 1807, and served gallantly <hu-ine: the last American war.
James Whitley Deans Duudas (who was
initiated at
the same time as his brother, Genei-al C. W. D. Dundas, in 1837) accompanied Sir K. Abercrombie to Egypt in 1800, and lip to 1815 not a year passed without his distingaishing In 1854 he commanded the himself in some encounter. Fleet which operated against Russia in the Bhick Sea. He was Junior Grand Warden of England, in 18-39.
Sir John Ackworth Ommaney (1843, Senior Warden 1844) was in command of the Albion at the Battle of Navarino, and of the Mediterranean station, 1837-41.
The Hon. Augustus Hobart (1847), who became famous Hobart Pasha, Admiral in the Turkish Navy. Sir J. C. Dalrymple Hay (Provincial Grand Master of Wigtonshire, Controller of the Navy. joined the Lodge in 1851)
Master, 1B89 District Albert Hastings ; of Malta, 1893), was piresented by the Iloyal (Jeographical Society with a gold watch, May 1877, for having planted the Union Jack in the highest latitude Commodore of the Training Squadever reached by man. ron, 1886-89, and second-in command, Mediterranean, 1892. Author of the " Life of Sir (China and Arctic medals). John Franklin," and other works.
Markham (1886
Grand Master
Of other flag officers who are known to have been Freemasons, the highest in naval rank was the Duke of Clarence, Admiral of the Fleet, 1811, and Lord High Admiral, 1827. He was initiated at Plymouth in 1786, and subsequently occupied the chair of the Prince of Wales's Lodge from 1827, until he was called to the throne as William IV., in 1830.
were also members of the Fairfax (joined the Pioyal Navy Lodge, Deal, 1762), Captain of the Venerable (Admiral Duncan's flag-ship) in the glorious fight off Camperdown, in 1797.
— Sir
Joseph Bullen (a founder of the Lodge of Honour, Bath, during his distinguished career, had more than 60 encounters with the enemy. Sir George Cockburn (Lodge of Anticiuity, 1812), commanded a squadron during the last x\merican war, which co-operated with the military
under Major-General Ross, who fell by his side at Baltimore, 1814. In the following year he hoisted his flag on orthumherland, and took Napoleon to St. board the Helena, where he remained Governor and C/ommander-inChief until 1816 Admiral of the Fleet, 1851. Sir Thomas Lodge, Bath), Fellowes (Cumberland commanded the Dartmouth at the battle of Navarino. Sir E. A. Inglefield (Junior (Jrand Warden, 1887, a member of St. John's, Haliftix, Nova Scotia, and many other Lodges), was Commander-in-Chief on the North American station, 1878, and Sir David retired from the navy with six medals, in 1885. Milne (Provincial Grand Master of Berwickshire, 1836; Senior Grand Warden of Scotland, 1838), was present in Lord Rodney's actions, 1779 and 1782, and as 2nd lieutenant of the Blanche, in 1795, when she effected the capture of The boats of both ships at the French frigate La Pique. the end of the conflict were either destroyed or unable to float, so Lieutenant Milne, followed by ten seamen, swam Secondto the conquered vessel and took possession of her. in-Command at the battle of Algiers, 1816, Commander-inDied Chief North America, 1817, and at Devonport, 1842. (being at the time Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Scotland) 1845.
Sir Pulteney (brother of General Sir John) Malcolm, after distinguishing himself in numerous engagements, became Commander in-Chief on the St. Helena station, 1816-17 ; in Sir the Mediterranean, 1828-31, and again in 1833-4. Edward Nagle (Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey, Sir John Ross, the 1807), a brave and esteemed officer. famous Arctic navigator. Sir Michael Seymour (Grand Master's Lodge, 1796), lost an arm in Lord Howe's great He captm-ed in the Amethyst, frigate, the battle, 1794.
his valour
Theth (1808), and Le Niemen (1809), and for and heroic conduct was created a baronet. From 1833 until his death in 1834, he was in command on the
Sir William Sidney Smith, of whom it has Pacific station. been truly said, that a more chivalric character is not to be found among the heroes of modern times, was Chancellor of the Chapitre des Trinosophes, at Paris, in 1818, and
became a joining member
of the
Grand Master's Lodge
exploits of this remarkable
like that of Nelson,
man, whose name, was long a terror to our enemies, would
a volume, and it will be sufficient to refer to his gallant defence of St. Jean d'Acro, 1799, when he frustrated the repeated attempts of the French to carry the place by storm. It was of this feat of arms, and of the victorious Commodore (as Sir Sidney then was) that Reginald Heber wrote
Britannia's champion bath'd in hostile blood, High oti the breach the dauntless Skaman stood."
Shortly after he was made a vice-admiral he received the distinction of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford, and on this occasion it was remarked, " Now that Sir Sidney Smith is made a doctor of Civil law, we hope that he will not abandon the practice of the cannon law, in which he has hitherto been so eminent." Sir -Sidney, who vainly endeavoured to effect a re-union of the knights of all the European Orders, particularly those of St. John of Jerusalem and Malta, succeeded to the Regency of the Knights Templar of France in 1 838, and held the office at his death, which took place at Paris, in 1840.
Houston Stewart, who, in early life served in the under Lord Cochrane, commanded the Benhow at the reduction of St. Jean d'Acre, in 1840, and the
British squadron at the capture of Kinbourn, in 1855. In 1856-60, he was Commander-in-Chief on the North American station, and while holding that appointment became a member of a Lodge St John's, Halifax, Nova Scotia which is renowned for the number of illustrious names connected with the Army and Navy, which have been inscribed on its roll Admiral of the Fleet, 1872. Sir William Hewitt, from 1847 until the premature close of his career in 1888, participated in almost every war in which England was engaged, and received the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery with the Naval Brigade before Sebastopol. He was Commander-in-Chief, successively, in the East Indies, and of the Channel Fleet. During the interval between these appointments, he was present with Sir Henry Keppel at the annual festival of the Moira Lodge, London, held (on the birthday of the 2nd
Earl of Moira) December the 7th, 1885. Each of the two Admirals wislied the other to return thanks for the visitors, The Admiral but ia the end there were speeches from both. of the Fleet was able, curiously enough, to refer to a third Mr. W. H. Head as having made him guest at the table a Mason "just forty years ago," at Singapore; and the Vice-Admiral (Hewitt), in the course of a spirited address, expressed the great benefit he had personally derived from having been admitted a member of the fraternity.
James Walker served in the battles of Camperdown and Copenhagen, and in the Vangiiard fought and captured, near St. Domingo, in 18u3, the Du([uesiie, a French ship of the line, which he afterwards commanded. This officer, when a lieutenant (during the peace of 1783) was a passenger The carriage was with several others in a diligence. attacked by robbers, near AschafFenbourg, and the lieutenant rushed into the midst of them, but being unsupported by his fellow-travellers, he was overpowered and He was afterwards found and conveyed to a left for dead. place of safety at Frankfort, where he was supplied with Sir Adolphus assistance and money by the Freemasons. Slade (St. John and St. Paul, Malta, 1827) commanded the Turkish Navy, and was the author of " Turkey and tlie Crimean War." Lord Alcester served in the Burmese and New Zealand wars, and in the expedition to the Baltic, 1854; Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1880, and at
the bombardment of tlie forts of Alexandria Warden of England, 1890.
Senior Grand
Of living British Admirals,and excluding royal personages, the veteran Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., who entered the Navy in 1822, is entitled to the first place, as Senior Admiral of the Fleet. He was made a Mason in Lodge Zetland in the East, Singapore, in 1846, and that he has retained a lively interest in the Craft throughoiit his long life, may be inferred from the circumstance that I am indebted to him (in conjunction with Admiral ]\Iarkham) for some of the professional details which are given in this He also fulh^ authorizes my placing portion of the book. on record in these pages, " that in his opinion Freemasonry did a great deal of good in the Navy, that it was a useful
between the officer and the man, and known an instance where one of the latter class presumed on his fraternity with one of the In these sentiments Admiral Markham heartily formei'." concurs. The autobiography of Sir Henry Keppel has recently appeared, under the title of "A Sailor's Life under four Sovereig-ns," and the pages are full of adventure, from
that he had never
his experience as a
midshipman in the AVest Indies, to the when he commanded at the great boat-action, and
destruction of the Chinese
at Fatshan, in 1857.
The naval brethren on tlie active list include Admiral of the Fleet, Sir F. W. Richards, G.C.B., 1st Sea Lord of the Admiralty Admirals K. Duckworth King, superintendent
Malta dockyard A. H. Markham (of whom previously) Sir Harry H. Rawson, K.C B., in command of the Channel squadron, and who in 1897 commanded the expedition to Benin W. H. C. St. Clair (a present Senior Grand Deacon) G. H. U. Xoel, 2nd-in-command on F. S. Vander-Meulen and Lord Charles Beresford, a the Mediterranean station
Grand Warden of 887. The Admirals on the retired list who are Freemasons, comprise Henry Boys, 2nd-in-command Channel squadron, 1878 Sir William Graham, a former Lord of the Admiralty and Controller of the Navy and P. H. Colomb, a great student and exponent of naval history, author of many learned works, and the inventor of the present s^'stem of
night signalling in the navy. Passing from the naval to the military heroes who have thrown a lusti'e on our Society, I shall begin with the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, who fought at Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Culloden and serving in the Seven Years' War, was left in command of the Lnglish Army on the return to England of the Marquis of Granby, in 1761. Appointed Commander-in-Chief, with a seat in the Cabinet, in 1782. No man was more generally liked. He died in 1795, being then the oldest general officer in the Army, and the premier Field-Marshal. Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote whose name appears on the roll of the " Antient Boyne Lodge " at Bandon, in the preserver of our Indian Empire,. the sister kingdom
1759 gained the decisive victory of Wandewasb over It led to the capture the French under Lally and Bussj. of Pondicherrj, and was the decisive battle which established the supremacy of the British in the Carnatic.
— initiated the Britannic Lodj-e by Cumberland, Grand Master, Admiral of the White, in 1787 — was placed at the head of the British
The Duke
his uncle, the
and again in 1799. During his powerfully reinforced by an expedition under the Earl cf Moira (1794), and to the name of the Bayard of the English Craft may be added those of a\any other victorious British Generals who were Freemasons.
in Flanders in 1793,
command he was
Sir Ralph Abercrombie, mortally wounded at the battle of Aboukir Bay, 1801, was admitted a member of Lodge Of his former aide-deCanongate Kilwinning, in 17o.3. camp, General Hutchinson (afterwards Earl of Donoughmore), who succeeded to the command in Egypt, a notice has been given on a previous page. Lord Lake Prince of Wales's Lodge, 1787 overthrew the Mahratta Army and the French General, Perron, in 1803, and captured Delhi; after which, in a sei'ies of brilliant actions, he triumphed over Scindiah and Holkar.
About the same period the future Duke of Wellington exercised an independent command, and his miUtary genius was fully established by the battle of Assaye, after which achievement he became the hero of India. The Dvike was made a Mason in early life, in Lodge No. 494 on
the Irish
held at Trim, in the county of Meath.
signature, " A. Wesley," is still preserved among the most vakied records of the Lodge, the chair of which his grandfather, father, and bi'other each filled in turn.
Lord Cathcart, to whose position as Master of tlie Alloa Lodge 1 have already referred, commanded the expeditions to the North of Germany in 1805-6, and the Baltic in 1807, also in the latter year at the siege and capture of Copenhagen. Sir John Stuart, the hero of Maida (1806), unquestionably the most glorious battle of the eventful period at which it occurred, was Master of St. Luke's Lodge,
in the following vear.
Sir John Moore, who fell at Coruuna, received the light Masonry in St. John's Lodge, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1780, when a captain in the 82nd Foot. On Moore's death the command devolved on Sir David Baird, who served in the East Indies, Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope (where he held the chief command), at Copenhagen (where he was wounded),
and, finallv, at Corunna, where he lost an arm.
Like Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Baird was an initiate of Canongate Kilwinning, and his interest in the Craft continued, after arriving in the East Indies with the regiment A large portion of the Coast to which he then belonged. army was at that time concentrated at Arcot, and many of They determined to open a Lodge the officers were Masons. to be called " Carnatic Military," which was accordingly done, in November, 1784, and among the founders and first members were " Matw. Home, brigadier-general, late Grand Master of the Coast of (Joromandel " and " D. Baird, the concluding letters captain. 73rd Regiment, M.M.S." After signifying, no doubt, " Master Mason, Scotland." Sir David's death, a monument to his memory was erected by Lady Baird, the foundation stone of which was laid The 4th of May was with Masonic honours in 1832. selected for the purpose, because on ihat day General Baird took Seringapatam by storm. Lord Lynedoch, who raised three regiments and founded tlie LTnited Service Club, served throughout most of the campaigns in the Peninsula, and commanded at the battle
of Barrosa.
" Barrosa's heights for splendid deeds,
May boast
Trafalgar's fame British troops, like Xeptune"s sons. glorious conquest claim.
Viscount Combermere commanded the allied cavalry under Wellington in the Peninsular War, and in 1825 was appointed to the military command in India, where he won His fresh honour by the capture of Bhui'tpore, in 1826. admission into Masonry took place at an early age, and in later life he was for a long period Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire. In the latter capacity he delivered many interesting addresses, declaring in 1839 that " in all his
as a military
who was
a Brother
" Another year has rolled taken place. Among the foremost to be regretted was the death to the nation of his commander, the Great Wellington. He liad been associated with him since 1793. Perhaps it was not generally known that the Duke was a Alason. He was made in Ireland, and often when in Spain, where Masonry was prohibited, in conversation with himself, he regretted how sorry he was that his military duties had prevented him from taking the active part which his feelings dictated ; for it was his (the Duke's) opinion that Masonry was a great and royal art, beneficial to the individual and the community." Sir Robert Sale (whose father and brother, Colonels in the
service, were also Freemasons) was nicknamed Fighting Bob," for wherever there was fighting he was He was present at the battle of always in the thick of it. Mallavelly, the storm of Seringapatam, the capture of the He also served in the AfFghan Mauritius, and of Rangoon. •campaigns of 1838 and 1841, and commanded the storming party at Ghuznee, but is best remembered by his countrymen as the " hero of Jellalabad." Killed at the battle of Moodkee in December, 1845.
he had never met with a bad Mason;" and in 1852 he said, over, and many changes have
After Sir Charles Napier, the conqiieror of Scinde (who again be referred to), come the Brethren who held independent commands during the Indian Mutiny.
General the Hon. George Anson (a Waterloo officer), the Commander-in-Chief when the outbreak occurred, and who died shortly afterwards, was Provincial Grand Master of Sir Archdale Wilson, of Delhi, when a Staffordshire. lieutenant in the Bengal Artillery, saw the light of Masonry
Lodge, Sangor, Central India. defender of Lucknow, received (as lieutenant) the 1st and 2nd degrees in St. Andrew's Lodge, Toronto (as captain) the 3rd in the Phcenix, Portsmouth and (as lientenant-colonel in the same corps, 32nd Foot) joined the Kyber Lodge, Peshawur, in 1852. Among the other members of this Indian Lodge at the same date was Lieutenant-Colonel William Rose Mansfield,
in St. .John's
Inglis, the
53rd Foot, afterwards Lord Sandhurjst and a little later, Lieutenant Fretlerick S. Roberts, Bengal Artillery (a subsequent Master), an officer of great distinction (though not holding a separate command) during the Mutiny, and whose name has since been inscribed on the roll of fame, as FieldMarshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar.
James Hope Grant,
but is still better known as having commanded with conspicuous success the expedition to the North of China in 1860, was admitted into Masonry (when Lietitenant-Colonel, 9th Lancers) in Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey, in 1851. John George Neil, after a succession of gallant services at Benares, Allahabad, and Cawnpore, fell at the relief of Lucknow, when moistening from his own flask the lips of a private soldier who had sunk wounded or exhausted by his
positions in
Long prior to the Mutiny, however, the names of distinguished military brethren serving in India, who were earnest and devoted members of the Fraternity, might be numerously quoted. For example, that of the Hon. Sir Charles Colville, commander of the Army of Bombay, who laid the foundation-stone of a Masonic temple at Pt)ona in 1825, appears on the roll of the Benevolent Lodge, city of Bombay, in the same year. This gallant officer, who was one of Wellington's favourite brigadiers, commanded a brigade and afterwards a division in the Peninsular War. He was also present, in command of the 4th division, at Waterloo, and the task was subsequently confided to him of storming Cambray, the only French fortress wdiich did not immediately surrender. Sir John Malcolm, equally distinguished as a military officer, author, and diplomatist, joined the same Lodge on taking up the government of the Presidency in 1827; and a little later it received as an initiate the brightest ornament of the Bombay Army, Lieutenant (afterwards Sir) Alexander Burnes.
The following Commanders-in-Chief in AVesteru India, were also Freemasons: Sir Thomas McMahon (1839), who, after serving under Abercrombie and Wellington, accompanied Lord Moira to India, where for twelve years he held
Adjutant-General, and was actively engaged in Alahratta War of 1817-18; Sir Willoughby Cotton (1847), who, after serving on the staff at Copenhagen and in the Peninsula, commanded a division in the first Burmese War, and also under Lord Keane in AfFghanistan Lord Frederick FitzClarence (a former Grand Master of Scotland), and the Duke of (1852); Sir W. R. Mansfield (18G0)
the the
office of
Sir Thomas Hislop, commanding the Madras Army, was a member of the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity in that Presidency
and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed Grand Master of Eastern India, while filling the
The former commanded Office, in 1842-48. the Army of the Deccan in the Mahratta War, and signally defeated the combined forces of the enemy at the battle of Maheidpore, in 1817 the latter, who served in the Peninsula, was wounded at Vittoria and Busaco, and again in the
same military
American War.
of Sir John Doveton, a very distinguished the Coast Ai-my, who served in all the campaigns against Tippoo Sultan, and commanded the Hyderabad Contingent, under the Marquis of Hastings, in the Pindari War, appears on the roll of " Perfect Unanimity " for 1807 and that of Major William (elder brother of Sir Henry) Havelock, under the year 1838. The latter served throughout the Peninsular War, and was present at most of the actions in which the Light Division was engaged. At the combat of Vera in October, 1813, a Spanish force was held in check by a formidable abattis, defended by two French regiments. Havelock, who had been sent to ascertain their progress, called on the Spanish to follow him, and putting spurs to his horse, cleared the abattis at a bound, and went headlong among the enemy. Then the Spaniards, cheering for " el chico bianco " (" the fair boy," for he was very young and had very light hair), with one shock broke through the French, and this just as their centre was flying under the fire of Kempt's skirmishers. The gallant youth also fought at Waterloo, and as Lieutenant-Colonel, 14th Light Dragoons, fell mortally wounded at the head of his regiment in the desperate charge on the Sikhs at Pvamnugger, in November, 1848.
officer of
The name
With a
time in
solitary exception all the militai-y brethren at
the entire Indian army have been Sir Eyre Coote, Lords Lake, Moira, incidentally referred to. Combermere, and Dalhousie, head the list. Then follow Sir Charles Napier, General Anson, Sir William Mansfield, and Lord Roberts. A glorious l)ead-roll of soldier Freemasons, to which I shall now add the name of Sir William Lockhart,
the presoit Commander-in-Chief in India, whose services are too fresh in the public recollection to require any recapitulation in these pages.
of successful British Genei-als in other portions
of the globe are afforded by Sir Benjamin Durban, who in 1794, while a subaltern in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was initiated in the TTnion Lodge, Norwich. He served under Sir R. Abercrombie, Lord Cathcart, Sir David Baird,
and Sir Robert Wilson (all of whom were Freemasons), and was present at most of the battles of the Peninsular War. He was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief at the Cape in 1842, and the principal event in his tenure of ofhce was the occupation of Natal. General George D'Aguilar, who was admitted into the Craft in the Rodney Lodge, Jamaica, in 1811, when a captain after serving in numerous campaigns, and in the 81st Foot for 26 years on the General Staff, commanded the expedition which, in 1847, assaulted and took the forts of the Bocca Tigris in the Canton river, together with those of the Staked Barrier, and of the City of Canton. Lord Chelmsford, who commanded at the battle of IJhmdi, which terminated the late Kaffir War, was received into Masonry in St. John's Lodge, Halifax, while serving at that station in 1845, as 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade. Sir Charles Warren was selected in 1884 as first Master now regarded by students of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge and in of all nationalities as the centre of Masonic light the same year as commander of the Bechuanaland Expedition, returning with an increased military reputation, and at once entering upon his lodge duties, in 1885. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, upon whose exploits as a
Grand Warden
be wholly unnecessary to dilate, is a Past of England, and (either himself or a name-
sake) to We
numbered with
John Doyle,
Sir C. J. Napier,
and Sir James Hope Grant, in the list of eminent military commanders, to whom Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship has afforded a Masonic home.
Freemasons who have conmianded be brought to n close with the name of Field Marshal Viscoxmt Wolseley, the present commander of the forces, who was initiated in the " Military Lodge," No. 728, Dublin, in 1851, and served as its Master (while holding the chief command in Ireland) in 1893 and 189-1. He is also a Past Grand Warden of England, a distinction which he shares with his illustrious compeers. Lord Roberts of Kandahar, and Lord Kitchener of Khartoinn.
armies in the
field, will
Among the military brethren, however, who have greatly distinguished themselves, though in the lesser roles of Divisional Commanders, or Brigadiers, may be named William King.sley, colonel of the 'lOth Foot, who was promoted Major-General, 1758, and greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Miuden, where his regiment, from its gallant conduct, acquired the highly honoiu-able appellation of Kingsley's Stand. It was directed by the Grand Lodge of England that the sum of fifty pounds should be sent to Germany to be distributed among the soldiers in the army of the Duke of Brunswick, who were Masons, and other recommendations of the Deputy Grand Master. The money was sent to Major-General Kingsley (being a brother) for
that purpose.
Sir Simon Eraser, who died a lieutenant-general in 1782, was the son of Lord Lovat, beheaded at Tower Hill for his He had himparticipation in the Scottish rising of 1745. self also been an adherent of the Pretender, biit was pardoned, and when the 78th Regiment, or Fi'aser's Highlanders, was
raised in 1757, he joined it as lieutenant-colonel, bringing It served at Louisburg and with him 700 of his clan.
Quebec, after which latter victory, in the winter of 1759, the Masters and Wardens of the Regimental Lodges in the garrison (to the number of eight or nine), agreed to choose an acting Grand Master. Their choice fell on Lieutenant Guinnett, 47th Foot ( undoubted] v the first subaltern who
and in the second instance on " Brother Simon Fraser, colonel of the Highland Regiment," who was duly installed in his high office by " Brother Dunckerley, of his Majesty's ship the Vanguard."
ever occupied a Masonic throne)
Thomas Desaguliers
in the
1777), served
Royal Artillery for a period of fiftj'-seven years, and was present as a captain at Fontenoy, and as a Brigadier at " The brave, the learned Louisbiirg and Belle Isle. Desaguliers," was a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as a practical soldier, and the only son of the "Grand Master" of that name, whom we know to have been a Freemason. It is possible that the extraordinary prevalence of Masonic Lodges in the Royal Artillery, during the last half of the eighteenth century, may have been due, in some degree, to the influence and example of Desaguliers, whose memory is still fondly cherished in the regiment as that of one of its brightest ornaments.
Sir John Byng, afterwards Earl of Strafford and a Field Marshal, was initiated at Frome in 1797, when a captain in the 33rd Foot, the colonel at the time being the Hon. Arthur Wellesley (also a Freemason), under whom he subsequently commanded a brigade in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
James Kempt, Provincial Grand Master
Scotia, 1819,
a brigade in seven battles, and a
division at Waterloo.
the Lodge of Harmony, the Peninsula and at Waterloo, commanded the Cavalry in the Aftghan campaign of 1839, and also at Maharajpore, Sobraon, and thi'oughout the Punjaub War of 1849.
Sir Joseph Thackwell (initiated Richmond, 1811), after serving
Sir William Kier Grant joined the Russian and Austrian armies in Italy in 1799, and was present in a long series of He afterwards served fifteen years battles and campaigns. in the East Indies, the first six as Adjutant-General under the Earl of Moira, and was the first Master of the Moira Lodge, Freedom and Fidelity, constituted by and named after that nobleman, on his arrival in Calcutta as GovernorGeneral and Connnander-in-Chief in 1813.
Sir Alexander Leitli, who received the Gold Cross -with one clasp for his services in the Peninsular War, and on the reduction of the army in 1815, was presented by the officers of the 31st Foot with a silver cup, may have been a member of the Scottish Lodge which then existed in the corps. But of his being at least a Scottish Mason there is no doubt, as in August, 1827, when Master of the Glen Kindie Lodge, Aberdeenshire, a special meeting took place at his own house, and the late John Hill Burton, Historiographer Royal of Scotland, together with the late Colouel W. J. B. MacLeod Moore (who, at the time of his death, in 1890, was Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada), received in one night all three degrees appertaining to the
Sir John Lysaght Pennefather was initiated in the Sussex Lodge, Jamaica, in 1828, when a captain in the 22nd Foot. This regiment he accompanied to India in 1841, and commanded the Infantry Brigade (of which it formed a part) at the battle of Meeanee, where he was shot through the body. He also served throughout the Eastern Campaign of 1854, in command of a brigade at Alma, and of a division at
Sir Charles Staveley
at Montreal and
— a member successively' of Lodges Hong Kong commanded the 44th Foot in
the latter part of the Crimean Campaign, and a brigade in the North China Expedition of 1860. He also served (as second-in-command) throughout the Abyssinian War. Considerations of space forbid my proceeding with all the names I had marked for quotation, but there is one more for which room must be found Major-General A. G. Yeatman-Biggs, of the Royal Artillery, who after distinguishing himself -greatly in China, Egypt, and the Cape, was appointed to the command of the 2nd division of the Tirah Field Force, which bore the brunt of the arduous campaign in the North West Frontier of India, so recently brought to a successful termination, under the personal direction of Sir William Lockhart.
At the time of his death, which resulted from disease contracted while on active service, General Yeatman-Biggs was District Grand Master of Bengal, and Grand Superintendent of the Royal Arch.
of the Royal Family were received the Society chiring the last half of the eighteenth century, has been mentioned in a previous chapter, and to the names already given may now be added those of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales Admiral of the Fleet and Field Marshal Most Worshipful Giand Master of England ; the Duke of Connaught General in the Army Provincial Grand Master of Sussex and two Past Grand Wardens who, alas, have passed over to the silent shore, the Dukes of Albany and Clarence, Colonels in the regular forces.
That many members
Three sons of William IV. were also members of the Major-General the Earl of Munster Lieutenantand Captain Lord General Lord Frederick Fitz-Clarence Lord Frederick, who was Adolphus Fitz-Clarence, R.N. elected Grand Master of Scotland in 1841, and again in 1842, made a Grand Visitation to the Lodge of Edinburgh in the latter year, and witnessed the initiation of his brother, Lord Adolphus, "commanding H.M. Y-Acht Royal George, \\\\o was afterwards passed and raised at the same sederunt."
The formidable difficulty has next to be encountered. of naval and military worthies to whom the opportunity of exercising high command against an enemy has been denied, but which, nevertheless, deserve honourable mention as being those of cotewortby Freemasons, is very numerous a few of these, however, can alone be found ro(jm To begin with the sea service, whether for in this volume. (Japtain James Cook was a brother I cannot say, though Sir Joseph Banks (afterwards president of the Royal Society) had undoubtedly become one before he accompanied the former (as naturalist) on his first voyage, 1768-1771. But the reason why the name of the great navigator has been brought into the narrative will appear from the following In some interesting 2fevioirs " by a Midshipman of the Bellerophon,'' the writer speaks of his father as an old naval officer who was serving under Cook when he was killed at Owhyhee. The old sailor was full of narrative, and the story Before going he told of Cook's death will next be related. on shore the day he was killed, he ordered the second lieutenant of his own ship (Williamson) to take the command Besohition and Discovery of the boats of both vessels
and pull in shore, there to await events, and if he observed any commotion after the caj^tain's landing, to at once join him with his whole force. Under this an'angement Cook, with a small party of Marines, went on shore, where a
quarrel took place with the natives, the English were overwhelmed by the savages, and the captain and two Marines " But while all this was going on " (to use the were slain. words of the actual narrator), Wliere, you will ask, was Williamson and the armed boats 1 Why, pulling as hard as they could off to the ships, instead of landing to support their captain. It was the intention of the whole of us to bring him to a court-martial upon our arrival in England but after Captain Cock's death, he came to be first lieutenant of the Resolution, and on our arrival at Kamschatka, he very knowingly established a Mason's Lodge, got all the men to become free-masons by bribing them with brandy, and got them to promise, a.s brothers, that they would say nothing
' '
of his cowardice
when he came
trick (concluded the
aged reminiscent)
So by this England. " he saved his bacon.'
Paul Jones, might well have been referred to on an earlier page as a successful commander, but, though a British subject, his naval operations were not of a character to endear him to his fellow-countrjanen, or to justify his name being placed in juxtaposition with those of the national heroes whose fidelity to the Craft has proceeded hand in hand with their loyalty to the throne. Jones attained the rank of Commodore in the American, and that of RearAdmiral in the Russian service. He was greatly admired
Paris, especially by the ladies, wild for love of him, as he for them," but the was the Countess adoration special object of his Lavendal, to whom (enclosing a lock of his hair) he
in the polished circles of
who were
I had the 17<S0 ^'Before wished to comply with the invitation of my Lodge, and I need not add that I have since found stroiKier reasons that have compelled me to seek the means of returning to France again as soon as possible." The Lodge mentioned, without a doubt, was that of the Nine Muses {Xeuf Soeurs), founded by the philosopher, Helvetius, and the celebrated astronomer, de Lalande, which absorbed
of seeing you, I
and scientiHc talent of Paris. was initiated in this Lodge^ April 7th, 1778. Among the other famous members were Claude Joseph Verney, Jean Baptiste Greuze, and Benjamin Franklin. Captain Nicholas Lockyer (at one time flag-lieutenant to Sir John Duckworth in the ^^'est Indies) had many good stories of his own adventures, and among them how his life was saved on becoming a prisoner to the South American Spaniards on the main, where he and his comrades were considered to be spies, and expected to be hanged the next The officer of the guard over him was a Mason, so day was he, and the former winked at his escape in the night. Douglas Jerrold, author of " I^lack-eyed Susan," "The Chronicles of Clovernook," and "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" (one of which was delivered on the evening of Mr. Caudle's admission into the Craft, and another on his return from a Masonic dinner), was a member of the Bank This great humourist served of England Lodge, No. '26.3. for two years as a midshipman on board the Namm\ when he had for a mess-mate Clarkson Stanfield (also in later
of the literary, artistic
years a Freemason). They both left the Navy in 1818, and, as all the world knows, while .Stanfield took high rank as a painter, especially in pictures connected with the sea, the success of Jerrold was equally great as a man-of-letters, and particularly as an author of nautical dramas which have never been excelled.
Masonry found a very ready acceptance among the members of the East India Company's maritime service, and
one of the lieutenants (in 1849) said "that it was always a matter of vexation and regret to him on his voyages that he was not a Brother, he being the only individual who was so circumstanced of all the officers of his ship." The Indian Navy is now defunct, but perhaps there has been no finer representative of it in recent years than Captain Sir Henry Morland, Grand Master (until his death) of All Scottish
Freemasonry in India. Passing from the sea
to the land service, Captain George Smith, Inspector of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and Provincial Grand Master for Kent, Avas the author of " The Use and Abuse of Freemasonry," which appeared
In the same year he was charged (with another) in 1783. for " making Masons in a clandestine manner in the King's
Bench Prison." It was pleaded in defence that " there being several Masons in the prison, they had assembled as such for the benefit of instruction, and had also advanced some of them to the 3rd degree. But a doubt arising whether it could be done with propriety, the Royal Military Lodge, No. 371, at Woolwich, adjourned with their Constitution for that purpose to the King's Bench Prison (Captain Smith being Master thereof), being one of those itinerant Lodges which move with the Regiment, the Master of which, wherever he is, having the Constitution of the Lodge, was, by Captain Smith, judged to have a right to Whereupon it was hold a Lodge, make Masons," &c. " That in the opinion of the Grand Lodge, it is resolved inconsistent with the principles of Masonry that any Free Masons' Lodge can be regularly held for the purposes of
making, passing, or raising Masons
any prison or place
confinement." The Royal Military Lodge was erased from the list, and in 1785 Captain Smith, who had committed a still graver misdemeanour, was expelled the Society.
General William Augustus Bowles, an American advenArmy in Philadelphia (1776) and received a commission, but was dismissed for a breach of He soon after became connected with the Creek discipline. Indians, whom he commanded when they assisted the Subsequently he led a roving British at Pensacola in 1780. at one time an actor, at another a portrait painter, life The following year he joined visiting England in 1790. the Prince of Wales's Lodge, and on his return to America After again became Commander-in-Chief of the Creeks. disturbing the peace of the neighbouring States for some time, he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards and sent to Madrid, and subsequently to ^lanilla, whence he escaped and returned to his old life. He was finally captured in This 1804, and imprisoned in Havana until his death. remarkable character was appointed Provincial Grand Master of the Creek, Cherokee, Chicasaw and Choctaw Indians, under the Grand Lodge of England, and his name appears as such in the official calendars of the period.
turer, joined the British
to be numbered the "bravest of the brave," enlisted the 22nd Foot, which he accompanied to India, and served against the Mahrattas under Lord Lake. He was one of the stormers at the capture of Deig, 1 804, and thrice led the forlorn hope of the storming column in the unsuccessful assaults on Bhurtpore, 805. His daring was rewarded by Lord Lake with an ensigncy in the 65th Foot, from which he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 76th Regiment during the same year. He then went home, but found it necessary to sell out in order to pay his debts, so he once more enlisted, and returned to India as a private in the 24th Light Dragoons. In 181 2 he was regimental sergeant-major, and three years later the Earl of Moira appointed him to an ensigncy in the 87th Foot. John Shipp had thus performed the unique feat of twice winning a commission from the ranks before he was 30.
John Shipp, a man who well deserves
and on the
afterwards distinguished himself in the Ghoorka war, staff of the " Grand Army '^ under the Marquis of Hastings, in the operations against the Mahrattas and the Pindarees (1817-18). In 1820, he was a member of the Lodge of Sincerity, Cawnpore, and in the following year he attained his former rank of lieutenant. In 1823 he was dismissed the service for insubordination, but allowed to sell out, and the East India Company granted him a pension
of £50.
He next became an author, and his earliest work, Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp," which appeared in 1829, has since passed through many editions. He also wrote " The Military Bijoii, or the
Contents of a Soldier's KnapsacK,"
Eastern Story-
and " The Soldier's Friend." Memoirs of the brothers (James and Alexander) Burnes will be found in a later chapter, and with the names of three more officers of the regular Army, and an equal number from the auxiliary forces, the present one will be brought to a close. I shall first of all refer to Sir James Brooke, Rajah of
Sarawak, who in consequence of a wound received
in the quitted the Madras Army, and entered upon
the adventurous career which resulted in his becoming the hero of the Indian Archipelago Captain Sir Richard Burton, of the Bombay establishment, the great writer and traveller and Major-General Sir Francis Worgan Festing, who commanded the regular troops during the earlier stages of the Ashanti war, and afterwards the Marines, during the subsequent operations under Sir Garnet Wolseley.
; ;
James Brooke was a member of the " Zetland " Lodge Singapore Sir Kichard Burton, of " Hope," in Kurrachee, Scinde and Sir Francis Festing, of the " Phoenix," Portsmouth, the membership of which he retained from his initiation in 1859 until his death in 1886.
distinguished for the violence of his was a colonel in the Buckinghamshire Militia. On his return to England, after having been outlawed, in 1768, he was committed to the King's Bench Prison, where he was made a Mason by the members of the Lodge at the Jerusalem Tavern, St. John's Gate, in March, The following year he was elected a "General" of 1769. Edward Gibbon, the Hon. Artillery Company of London. the celebrated historian, was appointed a captain in the South Battalion of the Hampshire Militia, in 1759. He " I always exercised the relates in his Autt)biography, The discipline and evolutions of a battalion in the field. modern battalion gave me a clearer notion of the Phalanx and the Legions, and the captain of the Hampshire Grenadiers (the reader may smile) has not been iiseless to the historian of the Roman Empire." Gibbon, who was afterwards successively promoted to the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel commandant, does not, however, always speak in equally high terms of the value of his Militia training, as he permits himself to say with respect to the habits of his brother officers
political conduct,
Of seemms; arms they make a short essay Then hasten to get drunk — the business of the
The famous author
in the
of the " Decline and Fall " was initiated Lodge of Friendship, present No. 6, in December, 1774, and became a Master Mason in March, 1775.
Sir Walter Scott, tlie Wizard of the North, obtained a If commission in the Hoyal Mid-Lothian Cavalry, in 1797. the French had been actnally off the coast, adjutant Scott could not have shown more alertness than he did, in drilling both horses and men. He was a most pleasing companion in the mess room, where his unaffected cheerfulness and boundless store of anecdotes often set the table in a roar. Sir Walter was made a Mason in the Lodge of St. David, Edinburgh, on the 2nd of March, 1801, and the Lodge of St. John, Selkirk, elected him an honorary member on the
occasion of his laying the foundation stone of the Freemasons' Hall, Selkirk, on the -Ith of June, 1816. After his death a monument was erected to his memory at Edinburgh, the first stone of which was laid with Masonic honours by the Grand Master of Scotland, in 1840. " It is to the honour of Freemasonry that a man of Sir Walter Scott's talents and genius had such an affection for the Craft, that he spent, as he himself often testified, many of his most delightful hours within the walls of the Lodge and it is equally to the honour of the Masonic body, that its members were among the foremost to confer posthumous honours on the memory of a Great Light which gladdens mankind by its appearance, only at long and distant
On Fame^s
camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
Glory guards ivith solemn round The bivouac of the dead.
"Travelling" or "Moveable" Lodges were at one time to the armies of most civilized nations, but attained their greatest lustre in connection with the forces of the British Crown. In their general tendency they were supposed to strengthen the bonds of friendship, and to diffuse among the officers commissioned and non-commissioned and the rank and file, a spirit of charity, fraternal kindness, and subordination. No restrictions with respect to the class of persons who might be initiated in a Regimental Lodge were ever imposed by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. But by a law of 1768 the Irish Army Lodges were prohibited from making any townsman a Mason in a place where there was a registered Lodge ; and the town Lodges, in a similar way, from initiating "any man in the Army where there was a warranted Lodge in the regiment, troop, or company, or in The zone of exclusive the quarters " to which he belonged. jurisdiction, or radius within which no military could encroach upon the domain of a town Lodge, was afterwards enlarged, and from the year 1850 no Army Lodge has been allowed to initiate a civilian in any part of the British
dominions, when there is a registered Lodge held within ten miles of the place where he resides, or where such Army Lodge then meets. The powers of the English Regimental Lodges were not interfered with until after the union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813. Two years later a new code of laws was enacted, from which I extract the following
No military Lodge shall, on any pretence, initiate into Masonry any inhabitant or sojourner in any town or place at which its members may be stationed, or through which they may be marching, nor any pei'son who does not at the time belong to
the militarj' profession, nor anj' military person below the rank of a corporal, except as serving brethren, or by dispensation from the Grand Master or some Provincial Grand Master.
There were Lodges in every branch or division of the Roundly speaking, the Infantry of the Line land service. head the list with a total of 2 "JO. Next follow the British and Irish Militia with 68, the Cavalry with 46, and the Royal Artillery with lIS. Smaller numbers now became the rule. here was a solitary Lodge in the Foot Guards, and three only existed in the Royal Engineers. In the Royal Marines there were seven, and a similar number were attached to the Garrison and Veteran Battalions. The Fencible Regiments follow closely with six, and after these came the Auxiliary Corps (foreign) and the Foreign and Colonial Regiments with four and twelve Lodges respec'I
The number
of distinct
to particular regiments
there were no less 28th Foot, while among the other regiments of cavalry and infantry there were four with five, six with four, twenty-one
Lodges attached at different times very noteworthy. For example, than seven in the 52nd and six in the
with three, and forty-six with two Lodges each.
When there were several Lodges existing in a regiment at the same time, this fact will ordinarily coincide with a plurality of battalions, but not invariably. For instance, the 6th Dragoons held at the same time warrants of constitution from both Grand Lodges of England {Moderns and Ancients), together with a third from the Grand Lodge of
sister kingdom. The possibility, moreover, of two Lodges working simultaneously in an infantry battalion of the usual strength is evidenced by the proceedings at the centenary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1836, when the members of Lodges " Hibernia " and " St. Andrew " in the 42nd Foot (or Black Watch) attracted admiration alike for their martial appearance and Masonic behaviour. The examples of a divided, or in some cases a shifting allegiance, might be greatly multipled, but it will be
sufficient to state that English, Irish,
and Scottish Lodges
at various periods attached to the 1st, 17th, 23rd, 51st Foot. On tlie other hand, the Royal Artillery,
its long roll of twenty-eight Lodges, a total which is four times as large as that attained by any other regiment or corps, was unswerving in its fidelity to the " Ancients."
Two Irish warrants were lield at the same time by the 9th Dragoons, and two Scottish by the 31st Foot. The territorial designations of the Militia battalions will in general afford a clue to the |)articular kingdom from which a warrant was supplied. Thus, in the English regiments all the Lodges were, to use the stock phrase which means just the reverse of what the words themselves would seem to convey either "Modern" or "Ancient," except two, one of which (Irish) was in the '* South Lincoln " and the other (Scottish) in the Durham battalion.
None of the Lodges in the any outside (Masonic) power
Irish Militia
owed allegiance to and the same (with a solitary
exception) may be said of those in the Scottish regiments, the only deviator from tlie general rule being the Berwickwarrant from the shire battalion, which obtained a "Ancients," in 1811.
practice of distinguishing Lodges by their numl)ers not become a general one in Scotland, until the beginning of the present century. Hence the military Lodges in that jurisdiction were commonly known by their Numbers as well as names were -used in England, names. Lodge (jWoJerns) periodically and the older Grand closed up the gaps in her roll, and re-numbered the daughter lodges. But the junior body (A7itie7its) was in the habit of selling vacant numbers at the top of the list to the other gaps (of lesser Lodges that were lower down importance) being refilled in a routine way, by allotting them to the petitioners for new Lodges. Examples of the former method are afforded by the cases of Nos. 86 and 213, both in the Royal Artillery, which, on payment of five guineas "to the Charity," became (in 1788) Nos. 7 and 9, respectively, and are now stationary Lodges, one being the " Union Waterloo " No. 13, at Plumstead, Kent; and the Of other the " Albion " No. 2 on the registrv of Quebec.
the way in which the lower numbers on the roll of the " Ancients " were refilled, the earlier history of St. Luke's Lodge, No. '225, Ipswich, will supply an ilhistration. This was originally held in the Westminster Militia, the warrant dating from 1804; but Lodges at the same number (309) had previously existed in the 52nd Foot (1797), and in the 2nd Royal Lancashire Militia (1803).
Lodges were alwaj-s chiefly, and iu many cases their numbers, which were occasionally varied (as occurred under the junior Grand Lodge of England) by assigning vacant places on the roll to Lodges For example, in 1817, that were lower down on the list. the 21st Foot was given 33 (the number of its original and lapsed warrant) in lieu of 936; and the 64th, 130 in the Also in 1823, the 17th Regiment went up place of 686. from the number 921, to that of 258. But the custom which particularly distinguished the A.rmy Lodges of this jurisdiction was that of exchanging, whenever practicable, the numbers of their warrants for of the regiments whereunto such Lodges were those Thus, in the 4th and 12th Dragoons, the 7th attached. Dragoon Guards, the 25th, 26th, 30th, 36th, 42nd and 83rd Foot, the regimental numbers and those of the Lodges The only instances which are known to me were identical. of what may have been a somewhat similar usage in other Masonic jurisdictions, occurred under the " xliacients," in Lower Canada, and Jamaica, respectively. The regiments concerned were the 7th and 18th Foot, and in each case a Lodge attached to the corps, appears at a similar local number on the provincial list.
known by
In their choice of names, the Lodges frequently adopted those of patron saints, such as St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, and in solitary instances, those of St. David and The territorial designations of the regiments St Cuthbert. were also very often selected, or the battles and sieges in which " North Hants," they had been engaged. 'I'here were the " Oxfordshire Light Infantry," " West Norfolk," and " Argyle " Lodges, in the 37th, 52nd, and 54th Inftxntry " Salamanca," 4th Dragoon Guards also " Orthes," Albuhera," and "Waterloo," 6th, 57th, and 79th Foot
together with "Mount Calpe," and "Gibraltar" r2th, and 39tli— and " Minden "— 20th and 51st. Very appropriate designations were the " Queen's " in the 7th (or Queen's Own) Light Dragoons, "Royal Rose," in the Royal Fusiliers, "Fuzilier" in the 21st Regiment, " Cameronians " (which still happily survives) in the 26th, and " Amphibious," in the Roj^al Marines. " White's," " Barry," and " Rainsford," in the 30th, 34th, and 44th, were the names of the Colonels of the battalions to which these Lodges were attached The existing Ambulatory Lodges will be shown in two groups, the first denoting those under the Irish, and the second the lesser number under the English obedience.
In Military Corps,
2Gth Foot, 1758 18% 174, 46th " 1860 " 263, 20th
Not Stationary.
295, 4th Dragoon 322, 29th Foot 570, 5th Dragoon
Guards. 1758
Guards 1780
Foot. 1798
497, 89th 743, 31st Foot, 1858.
Although the numbers formerly attached to the Infantry regiments of the British Army have disappeared, the use of the territorial designations by which they are now known, would be impracticable in the present volume. The old numerical titles, have, therefore, been retained, and under the existing regimental system the identity of any " linkedbattalion " (at a previous period) will, oa reference to an army list, be revealed at a glance. The majority of the existing Irish Regimental Lodges trace their descent from rather a remote date, but in no cases that I have been able to fully investigate, is there
an instance under any jurisdiction of an Army Lodge having been at work continuously for a period of a century. Thus, the warrant of No. 295— 4th Dragoon Guards was returned to the Grand Lodge in 1830, and not again revived until 1877, at which date the only former member of the Lodge (when it ceased to work), was the full Colonel of the Regiment, Lieut.-General Sir Edward Hodge, who,
with great gallantry in the
The warrant
— 29th
retv;rned in 1820, and there was nntil the revival of the Lodge at
Foot was similarly an intermission of labour Thayetmyo (Burmah) in
The "Lodge of Charity," No. 570, in the 5th Dragoon Gnards, became dormant about 1823, and in 1858 sent back its charter, which was re-issued in 1863. The original warrant of the Lodge in the " Cameronians" No. 309 was granted in 1758, but the Deputy Grand Secretar}^ of Ireland informs me that there is no record of its having been at work between 1765 and 1805. Since the year 1810, however, there has been no break of continuity in its career, and under its old regimental number (26), for which that of 309 was exchanged in 1823, let us hope the Lodge may celebrate in due course the century of active life which it will so shortly have completed.
oldest regimental Lodge, until its recent disappearance
from the roll in 1886, was No. 128, established in the 39th Foot by the Grand Lodge of Ireland so far back as 1742. This, the " Gibraltar Lodge," is said to have been ei'ected in the battalion wdien forming a part of the garrison during one of the eventful sieges of the " Rock." The 39th " regiment " Primus in Indis claimed to have made the first Mason in India under a European warrant, in 1757. It subsequently founded numerous Lodges in various parts of There is a stone let into the wall in Fort Hindostan. William, Calcutta, commemorative of the early history of All its working tools and jewels fell into the this Lodge. hands of the enemy during the Peninsular War, but were
subsequently returned to the regiment. The original warrant 128 seems to have lapsed before 1758, as a new one, No. 290, was granted in that year. The Lodge then continued in active existence until 1785, and was dropped from the list in 1813, but six yeai's later was granted a renewal of its original charter. No. 128.
The "Minden" (an Irish) Lodge, No. 63, in the 20th Foot, was founded in 1748, and revived in 1812, at which date "there had been no trace of it for 40 years in the Grand Lodge books." From 1819 it was again dormant luitil a second revival took place at Cannanore in 1824.
slumber, lasting for eight years, was terminated at but a fourth and final one occurred in in 1844 1850, and ultimately the warrant, records, and jewels were all lost in the Indian Mutiny.
Of the English Lodges which still exist, No. 316, " Unity, Peace, and Concord," in the 1st Foot (now "Eoyal Scots "), has probably attained the longest span of uninterrupted life that has ever been accorded to an Army Lodge, and will complete its centenary (having been allotted To the position a vacant warrant of eai'lier date) in 1808 of No. 743, "Meridian," in the 31st regiment, I have previously referred ; but, for reasons that will be sufficiently intelligible, am loath to omit from the list of livingMilitary Lodges one with which I have been so closely and pleasantly associated, until its doom has been officially pronounced by erasure from the roll.
Extinct (or dormant) warrants were sometimes revived l)y the " Ancients," but not, so far as I am aware (in the case of any Military Lodge), by the " Moderns," nor has the usage survived under tiie LTnited Grand Lodge of England, into which these two bodies were happily blended in 1813. The Scottish practice was substantially the same as that observed with regard to the Irish and the " Ancient For example, the warrant, No. 63, granted to the Lodges. 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1751, was "confirmed" in 1767; and that of No. 108, "St. George," issued to the 31st Foot in 1761, was similarly "confirmed " in 1805.
It is, perhaps, not to be greatly wondered at that, with very few exceptions, all the vast array of actual records which would have thrown a much needed light on the There proceedings of the Army Lodges have disappeared. are no minute books of such bodies in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and what is stranger still having regard to the number of military warrants issued their absence is equally to be deplored in those of the Irish A few, indeed, are to be found in the jiirisdiction. muniment room of the Grand Lodge of England, all of which I have diligenth' perused, together with some others But the great bulk of the that have fallen in my way. evidence relatina: to the now almost defunct organizations
— —
whose diffusion of Masonic light in countries beyond the it might have been truly said, in the century immediately preceding our own,
Like mighty Missioners they come,
parti'x I/ijidelhuu,"
in that mausoleum of ungrateful toil, the lost or missing " records " of our fraternity, or lies scattered over the entire surface of the fugitive and ephemeral literature of the Craft.
Regimental Lodges, are referred to as Masonic processions, in the laying of foundation stones, and in other ways, not only in the Britisli Islands, but in all our Colonial dependencies, as well as in We find them working harIndia and the Far East. moniously with the Stationai-y Lodges which are encountered in their tours of service, and the instances are numerous where the presence of an Army Lodge has been of lasting Of this a notew^orthy example benefit to a civil community. occurred in 1 759, when the members of Lodge No. 74, in the "ind Battalion of the 1st Foot, on leaving Albany, granted an exact copy of their Irish warrant to some inIt was changed, in 1765, for a Provincial fluential citizens. now holds the Charter, and the Lodge -Mount Vernon third place on the roll of New York.
))art in
A still earlier patent, and indeed the first Military Wai'rant ever issued, had been previousl}^ granted to the 1st Battalion of the same regiment. The Lodge thus established, in accordance with tlie more general Irish practice, never took a name, and was onl}' distinguished by its number. In 1814 the 1st and 4th Battalions of the " Royals" were stationed at Quebec, and lodges were attached to both, "No. 11 " (Irish), without any other distinctive appellation, and " No. 289 " (Scottish) " Royal Thistle," respectively.
At the same date there was a third Lodge " Unity, existing in the " Royals," which had Peace, and Concord " been established in the 2nd Battalion, then serving on the coast of Coromandel, in 1808, and at the time of applying for it, an officer in the regiment wrote to the Provincial
authorities as follows
Lieut.-Col. Stewart, whom I find to be a Master Mason of the Ancient and Most Hon'ble Order, assures me that there is a warrant in the battalion, but it was unfortunately left in Europe, owing to the sudden order the Regiment got to quit that quarter of the globe, but it may shortly be expected to arrive when our
at home."
referred to, there can hardly be a doubt, was No. 74, originally granted by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1737, and which, thoiigh cancelled in 1801, would almost
The warrant
certainly have been renewed, and in such case probably now figure as older by upwards of half a century, than the charter of any living Military Lodge, had the Masons of the
battalion preserved the same attachment to the old allegiance which they have since evinced for the new. The foundation stone of the North Bridge at Edinburgh w^as laid with Masonic honours in 1762, and "The Military Lodge of the Duke of Norfolk," in the 12th Foot, was among those that walked in the procession. The 25th, now the " King's Own Borderers," obtained an Irish warrant in 1749, and the minutes of an existing " Border " Lodge alone record the fact, that the lodge chest of this regiment having been lost at Munster, in Germany, a new one was " consecrated " at Berwick, in December,
recorded meeting of the Royal Arch Lodge in Boston, New England, in August, 1769, foreign soldiers were chosen as first officers of the Lodge. William Davis, of No. 58 (Ancients), in the 14th Foot, received "four steps," described as those of "Excellent, Super-excellent, Royal Arch, and Knight Templar."
At the
in the
About the same time Royal Arch Lodge, No. 3, Philawas in close commimication with (Irish) No. 351,
18th Regiment, and the two bodies were in the habit Arch furniture to one another.
of lending their Royal
Foot, after first of all receiving an Irish war"lost in the Mississippi " about the year 1759, next applied for a Scottish one, which, with the title of "Moriah," No. 132, was granted in 1769. This, with other
The 22nd
Army Lodges, took part in the formation of what is now the Grand Lodge of New York (1782), but during its earlier career a more remarkable incident occurred, if we are
credit the following, which castle Coui'ant " of January 4th,
appeared 1770
•• This is to acquaint the Public, that on Mondaj' the fii-st instant, being the Lodge (or Monthly meeting) Xight of the Free and Accepted Masons of the 2'Jnd Regiment, held at the Crown near Newgate (Newcastle). Mrs. Bell, the Landlady of the House, broke open a Door (with a Poker) that had not been opened for some years past, bj' which Means she got into an adjacent Room, made two Holes through the wall, and by that Sti'atagem discovered the Secrets of Masonry and she. knowing in the World who ever found out herself to be the first that Secret, is willing to make it known to all her Sex. So anj'
Lady who
is desirous of learning the Secrets of Masonry, bj' applying to that well-learned Woman (Mrs. Bell, that lived fifteen years in and about Newgate), may be instructed in the Secrets of Masonry."
Bell obtained,
would be interesting to know how many pupils Mrs. and why she appealed to her own sex in
In the Province of Lower Canada, in 1772,
committee of the Grand Lodge having examined into the pretensions which a number of Masons in His Majesty's 21st Regiment have, for holding a Lodge in that corps, by the title of No. 32 of the Registry of Ireland record their opinion, that until they produce a better authority than that offered, they cannot be received among v;s, notwithstanding their willingness to submit to our laws."
" ;
The Lodge referred to was evidently No. 33, originally chartered circa 1734, which, after having lapsed, was renewed in 1817, as previously related and the episode of the year 1772, in my opinion, points to the loss of the warrant (which the brethren were clearly unable to produce), having taken place at an earlier date. So far as I am aware, though the plight of the Masons in the 21st Foot, could not, in those stirring times, have been an uncommon one, no other incident of a precisely similar chai'acter has been recorded. Many years afterwards, " Fuzileer Lodge," No. 33, was
again at work in the Royal North British Fuziliers, and accompanying that regiment to Tasmania, was granted a civil warrant, with the old name and number, and became the first Stationary Lodge in that Colony, in 1823.
The minutes
of the Junior
Grand Lodge
of England, or
" Ancients," will supply the next illustration
a letter from No. 148 (Royal Artillery) at Gibraltar, setting forth that a set of people who had then- authority fi'om the Modern Grand Lodge, thought proper to dispute the legality of said warrant No. 148. That in the said garrison there were also held Lodges 11. 244. 290, 359. 420. and 466 (1st, 2nd, 39th. 76th, 56th, and 58th Foot), on the Registry of Ireland, and No. 58 (12th Regiment) on the Registry of Scotland."
15th, 1773
Captain Murray, R.N., for the services rendered by him this occasion to No. 148, " in proving the authenticity of "" their warrant," was voted a gold medal by the " Ancient
Grand Lodge
in 1777.
as we learn from the same official records, the "Ancients" at Gibraltar, were more than holdmg their own in the rivalry which existed with the " Moderns." In a letter to the Grand Master, dated March 20th, 1786, Grand Secretary M'Cormick informed him that the Provincial (irand Lodge of Andalusia, which had been under the government of the " Moderns" for upAvards of 20 years, had applied for a warrant under the " Ancients," and that its members (none of whom were below the degree of an ensign) had refused to act any longer under the authority of the " Moderns," though the Duke of Cumberland was said to be then (irand Master.
A few years later,
As will presently appear, the contest for supremacy between the brethren of the two English systems was in the same year (1786) settled in quite a different manner on the coast of Coromandel. Passing over many years, and coming much nearer to our own times, the members of No. 960, in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, " in token of respect for their uniform Masonic conduct during their stay in Norwich," were fraternally entertained by the " Lodge of Eleusinian Mysteries," at
city, in
Masonic ball, to which visiting brethren were freely invited, was given by the " Cameronian Lodge," No. 26, at In the same Calcutta, on St. John's Day (in winter), 1838. year, a meeting of No. 7, in the 7th Dragoon Guards, then stationed at Edinburgh, was visited by deputations from
in that metropolis. A little later, July, return from India, was quartered at the same capital, and assisted at the ceremonial of laying a foundation stone, the proceedings of which were thus officially recorded
nearlj^ all the
1844, No. 26, on
Amongst the numerous Lodges in attendance, was that of the 26th or Cameronian Regiment, on the Registry of Ireland, which being a visiting Stranger Lodge, under the rule of a Sister Grand Lodge, was placed near the Grand Lodge of Scotland."
wanting, are nevertheless doing more than present the barest sketch of the proceedings, in time of war, of the Army Lodges. According to a ballad of the last century
But the
admit of
alike adore Just at the brink of ruin, not before The danger past, both are alike requited, God is forgotten, and the soldier slighted."
Our God and
Whether, indeed, these ancient lines may admit of modern application, I shall not pretend to determine. Military matters unconnected with Masonry are out of my province, but that the services to our own fi-aternity of Naval and Military Brethren are imperfectly recorded and too little
any apprehension
a proposition which I shall lay down without of its accuracy being regarded as open to
The earliest period at which any large number of Regimental Lodges can be identified as having been present with Armies in the field, was that of the Seven Years' War, which was carried on from 1756 to 1763, by Frederick the Great, in alliance with England, against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Saxony, and most (jf the smaller German
chiefly concern us
There were many "stricken fields," but the battles which were those of Minden and Quebec. The famous battle of Minden was fought on August 1st, 1759, the English Infantry being formed into two brigades, the 1st of which included the 12th, 23rd, and 37th regiments, and the 2nd comprising the 20th, 25th, and 51st. With the possible exception of the last named, the whole of the six battalions are known to have had Lodges attached to
at the time.
While these British regiments (and others) were serving on the Continent, before, after, and during the continuance of the Seven Years' War, the Kite or System called the Strict Observance, was in existence. This was based upon the fiction that at the time of the destruction of the Templars a certain number of Knights took refuge in Scotland, and For various there preserved the due succession of the Order. reasons also, these Knights Avere said to have joined the Guilds of Masons in that Kingdom, and thus to have given The great doctrine laid rise to the Society of Freemasons. down for the followers of the Kite was " that every true Mason is a Knight Templar."
Lodges in British regiments must have constantly worked by side with the Lodges under the Strict Observance which for twenty years, at least, pervaded all Continental During the military operations, moreover, in which Europe. the allied Army was engaged, many prisoners wei'e made on lioth sides, and that the Masons among them fraternised in each case with their captors, mnst be taken as a certainty. It may be stated, also, that wherever there were depots of
— — Lodges
in the British Isles, equally
with all other such detenns, invariably
sprang into existence. The degree of Knight Templar became a very favourite one in the Lodges of the British Army, and by these who must have derived thenmilitary and Masonic bodies knowledge of it from associating with the Lodges and brethren under the Strict Observance the degree was doubtless introduced into England and America.
allied forces
who commanded the
campaigns under
at Minden, served in several
Frederick the Great, and was considered one of the best His initiation took place December, soldiers of his time. 1740 in the Lodge of the " Three Globes," at Berlin. In 1770 he was appointed English Provincial Grand Master for the Duchy of 13runs\vick, but in 1771 he forsook "pure and ancient Freemasonry," and was admitted into the Strict
Observance. Lord (ieorge (afterwards Viscount) Sackville (1716-85) entered the Army at an early age, and was present at the
and Fontenoy. From 1746 to 1749 he 20th Foot, and in 1758, as LieutenantGeneral, succeeded the Duke of Marlborough as commander At of the British forces in the Ai'my of Prince Ferdinand. the battle of Minden he was at the head of all the British and German Horse. The enemy being thrown into disorder
battles of Dettingen
was Colonel
of the
by the
infantry, the connnander-in-chief sent orders
Lord George Sackville to advance.
But the
moment passed
aw^ay, the British cavalry
lost their share in the glory of the action,
retreated in
and the French supposed that had Lord George obeyed the command of Prince Ferdinand, the enemy would have been left without an army in Germany.
it is
For this Lord George was deprived of all his military employments, and upbraided by the public with cowardice but on the accession of George III. he was restored to favour, and became Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1776, a post which he retained up to the conclusion of the Of his Masonic career after disastrous American War. 1748 we only know that he was Grand Master of Ireland in 1751, and that the same position was offered to him by the Schismatic Grand Lodge of England (or " Ancients ") in the
following year. The 20th Foot, to use the numerical title by which it afterwards became (in more senses than one) distinguished, received in December, 1748, a warrant of constitution No. 63^from the Grand Lodge of Ireland. It was granted to Lord George Sackville (Colonel and first Master), Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, and Captain Milburne. The practice of appointing the colonel (or commandino' officer) of a regiment, the first Master was by no means Colonel Edward Huntingford occupied a similar unusual. position in a Lodge established in the 28th Foot, at LouisThe Hon. William (afterwards 6th Lord) iDurg, in 1758. Napier became the Master of " St. Andrew, Roj-al Arch " Scots Greys in 1770; the Hon. Sir Bydges Henniker (Lieutenant-General, 1808) of a Lodge in the 9th Dragoons, at Macclesfield, in 1794; and Colonel George Congreve, C.B., who commanded the 29th Foot at the battfes of
— —
and Goojerat,
one whicli
was revived
in that regiment, after a protracted slumber, in
At the battle of Minden the •20th Foot was on the right of the line in the 2nd brigade, commanded by the colonel regiment, Major-General William Kingsley the of The great mortality siistained by the battalion (p. 26). caused the following general order to be issued V)y Prince
"Minden, 2nd August, British line, from its severe
regiment of the
loss, will
cease to do duty."
But the zeal and esprit de corps which animated the survivors of the 20th is shown by the subsequent general order
request, will
"Minden. 4th August, 1759. Kingsley's regiment, resume its portion of duty in the line."
title of
After the great victory referred to. No. 63 adopted the the "Minden Lodge," vmder which it celebrated the centenary of its warrant in 1848. On March 20th, 1750, Major James Wolfe (^afterwards Major-General and commander of the expedition against Quebec) had been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, 20th Foot, in succession to the Hon. Edward Cornwallis but as there are no records to guide us, we cannot tell whether Wolfe, like the other colonels who were his contemporaries in the regiment, was a Mason and a member of No. 63. The scene will now be shifted to North America, for which country Edward Cornwallis had sailed in 1749, taking with him 1,140 settlers, who were safely landed in Nova Scotia, of which province he became the founder and first Governor. This gallant officer, whose zeal for Masonry was again apparent in his new sphere of action, accepted the MasterA ship of a new Lodge shortly after his arrival at Halifax. Provincial warrant was received in July, 1749, "and on the same evening Captain Lord Colville, and a number of the Navy gentlemen, were entered Apprentices in this Lodge." In 1760, Cornwallis became a Lieutenant-General, and eight years later he was for the third time a founder of a new Lodge. This appeared at the (English) No. 426, in the
list for
1768 as
— "Twenty-fourth Regiment Foot (General Spain — the general at the time
being both colonel of the regiment, and governor of the garrison of which it formed a part.
In the beginning of the present century, another Freemason, Sir David Baird, was colonel of the regiment, and also at the same time of the Westminster Militia, in which Upon the embarkation of troops for the there was a Lodge. Baltic, the " Westminster," being stationed at Harwich, offered to a man to volunteer with " their OAvn general," as they called him, but as this could not be permitted, they testified their smcerity, when the Militia Transfer Bill was passed, for directly afterwards, out of 288 men, the number allowed to volunteer, 223 enrolled themselves in the 24th
Foot, Sir David Baird's regiment.
World, Alexander, 4th Lord by Colonel Cornwallis in 1749, became in the following year Master of the " 2nd Lodge at Boston," which he represented at every meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge, until his appointment as Deputy Grand Master of North America in 1752. He was present at the capture of Louisburg in 1758, and served in the expedition against Quebec in 1759, and in command of the fleet at the re-capture of Newfoundland one of the best conducted, most splendid, and most important successes of the war in 1762, after which he was promoted rear-admiral of
who was
the White.
The siege of Louisburg has a two-fold interest for the military reader ; in relation to the story of the gallant Wolfe, who acted as one of the brigadiers ; and in the fact that this was the last place held by the French against England, on the East Coast of America. For the Masonic or the general reader, the series of joint naval and military operations, beginning with the siege of Louisburg in 1758, and ending with the recapture of Newfoundland in 1762, may likewise possess an interest, in coiuiection with the travelling Lodges of Freemasons which accompanied the British forces. The regiments engaged at Louisburg were the 1st, 15th, 17th, 22nd, 28th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 47th, 48th, and 58th
Foot, two battalions of the 60th (Royal Americans), and Eraser's Highlanders (78th). Six of these are known to have had Lodges attached to them, the 1st, 15th, 17th, Siith, 47th and 48tli. The 28tli received an Irish warrant in 1734, but it had presumably lapsed in 1758, as a ncAv Lodge under a Provincial Charter was formed in tlie regiment, by Richard Gridley, Colonel of infantry and Chief Engineer, in that A' ear. The 40th received a "constitution" in 1759, the 78th in 1760, the 60th in 1764, the 45th in 1766, and both the 22nd and 58th, in 1769. Hence it will appear, that all of the thirteen regiments had Lodges attached to them some years in advance of the commencement of the Revolutionary war. But we must not too hastily conclude from the absence of entries relating to them in the official lists, that the six I have last named, were without Lodges in 1758. The historian of the 43rd Foot, writing in the same year, complains that " the time passes very wearily " at Nova Scotia, and adds, " When the calendar does not fur-
nish us with a loyal excuse for assembling in the evening, we have recourse to a Freemasons' Lodge, where we work so hard that it is inconceivable to think what a quantity of business of great importance is transacted in a very short time." This Lodge I have not succeeded in tracing, and tliere are others in the same category of earlier and later date. A Lodge without any known " constitution " was at work in tlie 6th Foot in 1744, and another in the 12th, in 1747 while so late as December, 1786, a sermon (afterAvards published), on " The Pleasures and Advantages of Brotherly Unity," was preached before the Master, Wardens, and Brethren of the similarly unregistered " 54th Regimental Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, in the parish church, St. John, New Brunswick."
least six
registered Lodges accompanied the British
the expedition against Quebec, and there were probably others, as besides those which may have existed without written " constitutions," the practice of " congregating all Free and Accepted ^lasons " on such occasions, and "forming them into one or more Lodges," Avas of frequent occurrence in the Masonic jurisdiction of North America. Military Lodges Avere formed in this Avay at
Loiiisburg, Lake George, and Crown Point, all of which may have been, and the first and last almost certainly were,
present with the army before Quebec. But there is documentary evidence to show that in the winter of 1759, after the capitulation of what has been " termed the " Gibraltar of America," the " warranted number of eight or Lodges in the regiments there, to the This nine, assembled and elected an acting Grand Master. temporary measure was succeeded in the following year by
one of a more permanent character, in which Thomas Dunckerley, gunner of the Vanguard, took a leading part, and of this worthy, whose long and meritorious services to the Craft have never been excelled, a brief sketch will be interwoven with the general narrative.
Dunckerley, Avho was of humble parentage, having entered the Navy at an early age, attained the position of gunner in 1746, and we find him serving in the same capacity in the Vanguard (which seems to have been his favourite ship) He was present as one of the for a period of six years. crew of this vessel at the reduction of Louisburg and the The ship then returned to Engcapitiilation of Quebec. land, and in January, 1760, Dunckerley, having obtained leave of absence, went to London and attended his mother's The next day a declaration by his mother on her funeral. death-bed that his actual father was the then King, George II., was related to him. The records of the Grand Lodge show that in the same month a Lodge was established in the Vanguard. This vessel, with other ships of war, shortly after sailed for Quebec, arriving just in time to prevent that capital from Ijeing retaken by the enemy.
the 24th of June, 1760 (St. John's day). Colonel Sir Fraser, 78th Foot, was elected to preside over the " Canadian Lodges, and (to use the words of a land " gunner " Bro. Dunckerley, of in a letter to the Grand Secretary) His Majesty's ship the Vaiiguard, who was possessed with a power from the Grand Lodge of England to inspect into the state of the Craft wheresoever he might go, honoured them with his approbation of their conduct, and installed Brother Fraser in his high othce." It is reasonable to suppose that Dunckerley was desired by
the Deputy Grand Master of England to visit and report upon the Lodges at Quebec ; nor were roving commissions, empowering a seafaring brother to exercise the functions of a Provincial Grand Master, " where no other Provincial is to be found," wholly unknown either before or after Dunckerley fulfilled the mission with which his biographer, Mr. Henry Sadler, rightly (as it seems to me) suggests that he Avas entrusted.
During the same year Dunckerley returned to England, but the King's death had just occurred, and his efforts were ineffectual to establish the truth of the strange story which had been revealed to him. The Vanguard sailed for the West Indies in October, 1761, but in the meantime Dunckerley had been appointed to the Prince, a larger ship, in which the second Sea Lodge was established. May 22nd, 1762. The new Lodge appears to have closely followed the fortunes of its founder, for in the second edition of the Engraved List for 1764, No. 279, which in the previous issue was described as " on board the Prince," is now represented as being held " on board the Gaude loupe.'' Both "Sea Lodges" were ultimately revived by Dunckerley on terra Jirma, the one in the Vanguard being now the " London," No. 108, and the other in the Prince and Gaudaloupe, Avhich adopted the title of the " Somerset House," and after amalgamating successively with the " Old Horn Lodge" (p. 28) and the " Koyal Inverness," in a Volunteer corps of which the Duke of Sussex (Earl of Inverness) was the conunander, has become the " Iloyal Somerset House and Inverness," present No. 4.
In 1767, to a great extent through the exertions of General James Adolphus Oughton, who had known him for many years, Dunckerley was granted a pension by the King, which enabled him to devote the whole of his time to the Avelfare of the Masonic Institution. The rank of Past Senior Grand Warden was conferred upon him in 1786, and as a Provincial Grand Master his services were so appreciated that in 1795, when there were thirty-four provinces in all, he had for his share no less than In the Poyal Arch degree he also eight of the number.
took a profound interest, and was the Grand Superintendent over sixteen counties, together with Bristol and the Isle of Wight.
A third "Sea Lodge" was established in 1768 "On board His Majesty's ship Canceaux at Quebec," but notwithstanding the popular tradition which has found expression in an earlier page, there is no evidence to show that Dunckerley was either a party to its formation or interested
in its success.
This Lodge, which was "to be held in the most convenient place adjacent to the said ship," never paid for its "constitution," or returned any list of its members, and was struck off the roll in 1792. A great desire to found Regimental Lodges appears to have existed in the Army at Quebec, and to a lesser extent a corresponding impulse to establish Naval Lodges, might be naturally looked for among the officers of the Fleet. It is important also to recollect that Lord Colville, a former Deputy Grand Master of North America, and most zealous Freemason, who, as a Commodore, had commanded at the re-capture of St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1762, shortly afterwards, as an Admiral, was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Station, a position which he retained until the close of 1768.
Lodge was ever constituted, though a "Naval Kilwinning," to be held "on board H.M. ship Ardent" was received from Lieutenant Crawford, and other naval officers, in 1810. But the Grand Lodge of Scotland, after consulting with the sister
other sea
the applicants,
" notwithstanding the respectable station of felt herself constrained to refuse."
The first Military Lodge which sprang into existence at Quebec, was St. Andrew's, established OctoV^er 20th, 1760— in the 78th Highlanders, by Sir Simon Fraser, Colonel of the Regiment, and Provincial Grand Master. Others soon followed, and the number of
"itinerants" (as they were frequently styled) was still further augmented by the presence of many "sojourning " Military Lodges from the British Isles. The latter, it may be observed, were required to have their warrants registered in the books of the Provincial Grand Lodge, to pay five
shillings at tlie making of every new brother, and to conform to the regulations of the local authority. A similar usage prevailed in other Provincial jurisdictions. As l)eforc remarked, the strife between the two Grand Lodges of England, Avas carried across the Atlantic, and ultimately the " Ancients " Avere victorious all along the but the " AFoderns " held their ground in that line, portion of North America which has now become the and in United States, initil the War of the Revolution Canada, down to the final decade of the last century. For their success in the struggle for supremacy, the victors were mainly indebted to the Army Lodges, of whose hdelity to the cause of the "Ancients" at Boston and New York, in 1768 and 1781-2, examples have been given
in a previous chapter.
Between these dates— in 1775 hostilities commenced between Great Britain and America. At the battle of Bunker's Hill, Lord Rawdon (afterwards 2nd Earl of Moira) fought stoutly on one side, and Major-General .Joseph Warren (who was killed) on the other. Colonel Richard
Gridley, who, for his distinguished services at the sieges of Louisburg and Quebec, had received a pension and grant
of land
from the British Government, planned the works
Warren laid down his life to defend, and was also wounded in the action. The war was carried into Canada, and Major-General Montgomery (also a leading Freemason)
at the assault of Quebec.
The following jear witnessed the British occupation of New York, and the introduction of so-called "Ancient Masonry " into that State.
that while the the jurisdictions of the British Islands, Avith the exception of the original (xrand
may be convenient
Lodges nnder
to explain
Lodge of England, Avere commonly known as "Ancient " Ancient York Masons," and the terms Masons " "Ancient York Masonry" were at first only employed by the English Schismatics, and did not come into common use until the close of the century. in America Pennsylvania was next occupied in force (1777). The American army took post at Valley Forge, twenty-six miles
from Philadelphia, and tradition affirms that Lodges Avere held in this camp, which Washingon often attended. 'Jhere can hardly be a doubt that such was the case, but unfortunately no records of the Continental Field Lodges for the
period are in existence. It was for a long time believed that the founder and first president of the American Republic was made a Mason in the " Lodge of Social and Military Virtues," in the
46th Foot, holding a warrant^ No. 227 from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, granted in 1752. Li the officers' mess of this gallant corps, a Bible is preserved. It reposes in a walnut case, W'ith glass lid, to which the following inscription is attached ' On this f-acred volume Washington received a degree of Masonry. It was twice takfn by the enemy, and both times returned to the regiment with all the honours of war." The 46th Foot formed a part of General Grey's expedition against New Bedford (Mass.) in 1778, and it was by soldiers in its ranks that the family bible of the "Wests" residing in that town, was carried away. At the above date, the march of events seems to entirely jjreclude the possibility of Washington having been a siihsequent visitor to the Lodge in the 46th Foot, while his presence at any earlier period, before the bible had passed out of the possession of the West family, is an hy]>othesis which, unless we throw over the inscription, it would be useless to discuss. Washington, who received the three degrees of
some years before the the 46th Regiment in America, Avas indeed initiated in an English Colony, and in a Lodge working, in a secondary sense, under English aiithority. That the tenets of the Craft obtained a fiim hold on his mind, his after conduct proved, for when war broke out, and he became divided from his brothers of the ]\lother Country,- in feeling, in comnuuiion of soul, he was their brother still. The Masonic chest of the 46th, by the chances of war, fell into the hands of the Ameiicans. The circumstance was reported to General Washington, who directed that a guard of honour should take charge of the chest, with other articles of value belonging to the 46th, and return them to the retjiment.
at Fredericksbiirg, Virginia,
A similar incident occurred at Dominica in 1805, when the 46th was attacked by a Freiich force, which it gallantly repelled, but in the action had again the misfortune to lose its Masonic chest, which the enemy succeeded in securing on board their fleet without knowing its contents. Three years afterwards, the French Government, at the earnest request of the ofhcers who had commanded the expedition, returned the chest with several complimentary presents, offering by that act the acknowledgment and homage of an enlightened nation to the purity, value, and usefulness of Masonry. The " Lodge of Social and Military Virtues," after undergoing many other vicissitudes, was at work in the same regiment at Sydney (N.S.W.) in 1816.
The next year Ave meet with it on the coast of Coromandel, where, retaining its old name, it sought for and oljtained a local charter which afterwards merged into an No. VII. English Warrant (1836) with the number 634. At some time after the year 1822, when the regiment marched from Caunanore to Hj'derabad, a number of the members died, others were invalided, and the Lodge chest was forgotten until accidently re-discovered by a member of the mess committee in 1829. The finder, Captain Lacy, who was a Mason, brought home the chest when the regiment returned to England in 1833.
The Irish warrant was renewed in 1834, there being at the time only one member originally connected with the Lodge, but the torch which had been re-lighted, after burning brightly for a few years, began to flicker, and finally went out, in the sense that the Regimental or Travellingwarrant, which had again accompanied the 46th to the New World, was returned to the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1847, and two days afterwards a new one of a military, though stationary character, at the same mmiber, was issued for the purpose of forming a permanent Garrison Lodge at Montreal. In 1855, No. 227 joined the Grand Lodge of Canada, receiving a civil warrant, and two years later it was " That the Lodge of Social and Military resolved Virtues shall henceforth be called the Lodge of Anticiuity,'
of silver jewels, and take precedence numbered Lodges." In 1869 a Grand Lodge was established for the Province of Quebec, and the first Lodge on its roll is " Antiquity," " originally in the 46th Foot, while the two next " xYlbion and " St. John's " were formerly in the Royal Artillery. It is gratifying to relate that the venerable " Lodge of Antiquity," now No. 1 Quebec, observes with great eclat its Annual "Military Night," at which large numbers of the
wear gold instead
of all
officers of
the Volunteer Force appear in uniform. remark that the 46th was not the only British regiment which, during the revolutionary struggle in America, was afforded an opportunity of witnessing a practical illustration of the beautiful and himianizing
It is w^orthy of
principles of Freemasonry.
In a skii'mish with the enemy, the " constitution " and Lodge attached to the 1 7th Foot fell into the hands of an American general. Actuated, however, by the genuine principles of Masonry, he immediately returned them with the following letter
regalia of a
•'AVest Ji:ksey
23rd July. 1779.
of monarchs. or the jarring interests of contending States, call forth their subjects to war, as Masons we are disarmed of that resentment which stimulates to undistinguished desolation, and, however our political sentiments majr impel us in the public dispute, we are still Brethren, and (our professional duty apart) ought to promote the happiness and advance the Aveal of each other. Accept, therefore, at the hands of a Brother, the Constitution of the Lodge 'Unity, No. 18,' held in the 17th British regiment, which your late misfortunes have put it in my power to restore to you. I am, your Brother and obedient Servant,
—When the ambition
Samuel H. Parsons.
the Master and Wardens of the Registry of England."
Lodge 'Unity, No.
history of this Lodge illustrates very forcibly what be called the "confusion of jurisdiction," which is apparent in the proceedings of so many of the travelling Lodges of that period. Lodge "Unity" in the 17th Foot, was originally chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, as No. 168, in
The regiment landed at Boston in 1776, and was at and 1778. During this latter period the Lodge (which remained on the Scottish roll until 1816) accepted a warrant from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, under the "Ancients," with the local "No.
Piiiladelphia in 1777
A little earlier, Colonel (afterwards General) Samuel H. Parsons, was a founder and the first treasurer of "American Union " (a Military) Lodge, warranted b}' Colonel (afterwards General) Ftichard Gridley, Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Massachussetts, under the " Moderns," on February 15th, 1776. In the following April, the membei'S of the Lodge were on dutj with their regiment in the State of New York, and an application having been made for a confirmation of their warrant, it was denied. A new one, however, was But granted, with the title of " Military Union," No. I. the altered name gave umbrage to the members, who, while they apparently acquiesced in the change, never used the At the time later appellation except lender necessity. referred to, it should 1)6 recollected that the mother country and her American provinces were at war, and that Sir John Johnson, Provincial Grand Master of New York (a military commander of some repute, only son of the more famous Sir William Johnson, also a Freemason), Avas in sympathy with the government of the country from which his Masonic power Pending the provincial conflict, Johnson had emanated. appointed Dr. Peter Middleton his deputy, and by the latter, the confirmation of a Lodge warrant, distinguished by the title of " American Union," must, from the nature of things,
have been deemed un advisable.
The further proceedings of this Lodge before us, but a notice of it in this place, me hope) some idea of the complications among the Army Lodges on both sides
will will
again come
convey (let which occurred during the War
supported by much additional evidence, that the asperities which characterised the rivalry of the two Masonic systems, found no place in the Army Lodges. To quote the words of a somewhat impassioned contest turned to ashes orator, " the Ancient and Modern in the red-hot furnace of liberty "; and as we have already
of Independence.
It could be
seen, the warrant and paraphernalia of an Ancient Lodge in the British Infantry was fraternally restored by a memher (and at that time a past master) of a Modern Lodge in the
After the war, the ITtli Foot proceeded to Nova Scotia, and in 1786, a letter was received by the Provincial (which, later in the same year, became the) Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, from Lodge No. 18, held at Shelburne (N.S.), claiming to have remained under its obedience, " and soliciting the Grand Lodge to address a letter on their behalf to General Persons on the subject of a Lodge warrant, and civilities which they had experienced from him."
This Lodge was apparently left behind on the return from foreign service of the 17th Foot; and it is probable that a majority of the members remained in Nova Scotia
either as military settlers or as volunteers to other corps. The instances, however, of " Kegimental " becoming " Stationary " Lodges, both in ( 'anada and the United States,
are very numerous.
Lodge on the existing roll of Quebec (as already was formerh' held in the 46th Foot, and the two But perhaps the most curious next in the Royal Artillery. case of all has been that of a still surviving Lodge, which was originally constituted in the 60th Foot, then at Detroit, Michigan, in 1764, by the Provincial Grand Master of New
Michigan was French until 1763, British mitil 1796, under a territorial government until 1810, under Indiana for five years, and then " Michigan Territory " until 18-37.
Zion Lodge, No. 1, attached to the 60th, or Royal American Regiment, was thus established by the "Moderns," in 1764, but thirty years later (1794) at the instance of " another Army Lodge— then in the Artillery, now "Albion Quebec it went over to the " Ancients," becoming No. 2, Zion Lodge, No. 10, on the (Provincial) roll of Lower Canada. This warrant was granted two years before the surrender of the territory of Michigan to the L^nited States, but the Lodge, which was evidently " left behind " b}' the 60th, at
earlier date, experienced
British was succeeded
a similar fate when the by an American garrison at Detroit in
In 1806, the Quebec warrant was surrendered, and a from the Grand Lodge of New York. In 1819, it became No. 3, and in 1826 united in the formation of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, on the roll of which body, this old "Travelling Lodge," formerly attached to the Royal American Kegiment, noAv holds the first place, under its original title of " Zion," No. 1.
one, at the No. 62, obtained
In this connection, although slightly anticipating the sequence of the narrative, the later fortunes of " Amei'ican LTnion " may be briefly adverted to. It met for the last time as an Army Lodge, April 23, 1783, and was ordered "to stand closed until the W.M. should call them together." This occurred in 1790, when a colony from New England having become established north-west of the Ohio, the Lodge was re-opened at Marietta by Jonathan Heart, the
Master, with Benjamin Tupper and Rufus Putman officiating as wardens. Heart continued in the chair luitil the following year, when he joined the Army of St. Clair, and was killed at the battle of Fort Recovery. The Lodge united with others at the formation of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, of which General Rufus Putman was the first Grand Master, in 1808, and under its old title of "American Union" retains the place of No. 1 in the Masonic jurisdiction of that
Many and great were the vicissitudes of good and bad fortune experienced by the Lodges in British regiments in the course of the war with France, which, commencing in A 1793, continued almost without intermission until 1815. duplicate of its Irish warrant (No. 441) was granted to the 38th Foot in August, 1795, "the original having been taken by the French " and a precisely similar order in the case of the 5th Dragoon Guards, whose Masonic chest, with warrant (No. 570) and jewels, had also fallen into the hands of the enemy, was made by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in September of the same year.
Lodge was established in the 11th Foot, then stationed by the "Ancients" in February, 1798, and in the May following, while serving in Flanders under Sir Eyre From Coote, the entire regiment became prisoners of war. Ostend the officers and soldiers were marched to Douay and
at Norwich,
Fort L'Escarpe, and they remained in Francs until 1799, Wiiether, indeed, the work of Avhen they were exchanged. the Lodge was suspended during the period of their captivity cannot be absohitely determined, but the probabilit}' is quite the other way, as the Lodge was certainly in existence as late as the xeav 1807, and the custom of meeting as Masons has always prevailed to a very large extent wherever there have been prisoners of war.
Happily, indeed, the records of a few Regimental Lodges escaped the general doom, and among them are those of No. 183, established in the 9th Foot by the Junior Grand Lodge of England, or "Ancients," in February, 1803.
In November, 1805, the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment embarked at the cove of Cork, in three transports, with the expectation of taking part in the war on the Continent. Two of the transports were, however, driven by contrary winds to the Downs, while the third, the Ariadne, having the head-quarters on board, was wrecked on the coast
near Calais,
when the
soldiers were
prisoners of war.
of the Lodge appear to have gone a sutficieot number of its members
Though the archives down with the Ariadne,
weathered the storm, and seem to have lost no time, after involuntary descent upon French soil, in resuming their Masonic labours. The regiment remained at Valenciennes until after the first abdication of Napoleon, and the proceedings of this "Captive Lodge" extend over a period of eight years, namely, from January 30th, 1806, until January 20th, IS 14, under which latter date there appears " The Lodge having heard the reports of the Different Brethren, closed, n\ perfect harmony and Brotherly Love, with 21 members present, and adjourned until the fate of War shall have decided the contents of Europe. On the 25th January, 1814, the hrethren were all disjyersed. IViese affairs were decided on 3lst March, 1814, hy the triumphal Entry of the Allies in Paris and the overthroiv of Bonaparte. The Ark was at Riom, in the province of Auvergne, with only
Brs. Butler and Ware present, who Butler brought the Lodge to England."
The above is a literal transcript of what purports to be the last entry in the minute-book of the Lodge during the captivity of the battalion to which it was attached, but the words italicized must evidently have been interpolated by the Master, Sergeant Edward Butler, at some later period.
Few minute-books
Regimental Lodges, as
have already
more than once remarked, are
think, however,
available for examination.
records of the kind were more numerous, the generality of instances, the honour, reputation, and well-being of each Lodge to have been mainly dependent upon the enthiisiasm and assiduity of one
we should
find, in
Edward prominent non-commissioned otficers. life and soul of the Lodge in the 9th Foot, and it fell to pieces directly this worthy sergeant obtained bis discharge from the service.
Butler was the
The 96th Foot received a warrant (No. 170) from the "Ancients" in 1804, the fortiuies of which are very curtly, though exj^ressively, recorded in the following memorandum by the Grand Secretary
170. Box and furniture lost at St. Croix. Members all lost or dead or disposed of, but Bro. Geo. Baxter. Quarter-Master."
"6th Jan. 1809: Warrt.
of the Peninsular war furnish many Masonic and those of the Sixth Dragoon Guards, in which there w^as an Irish Lodge (No. 557), an especial one.
The annals
The regiment,
after a severe engagement, lost its baggage,
among which was
the chest containing the Lodge furniture,
The commander -of the capturing warrant and jewels. party, when he saw the Masonic emblems on the chest, immediately sent for one of the prisoners, and demanded the meaning of the marks, which the soldier, as far as was The French officer, on finding the prudent, explained. chest belonged to a Freemasons' Lodge, directed it to be returned to the English regiment, with a flag of triice, and a guard of honour, forwarding at the same time a letter, stating that, although not a Freemason himself, he respected the Society, and that his brother officers would never forgive him if he did not treat the misfortunes of their Masonic Brethren with consideration.
further anecdote, of the same eventful period,
nected with the 42nd Foot, but whether the writer who relates it was member of the Irish Lodge " Hibernia " (No. 42), or the Scottish Lodge " St. Andrew" (No. 310), both of which existed in the regiment at the time, is not revealed James in the narrative from which I am about to quote. Auton, " late Quarter-Master Sergeant, 42nd or Royal Highlanders," in his Retrospect of a Military Life (1841) tells us I was General Park's orderly this night, and had a good roof over my head, and the dry floor of a cart-shed, with plenty of dry straw for a bed but my poor wife was absent, for the first time since we left home. She was detained, along with several other women, on the right bank of the Adour. until the bridge was repaii'ed. While this was doing, one of the women belonging to the regiment begged her to take care of a little ass colt, with a couple of bundles, until she should get back to St. Severe to make some purchases she complied, and before the other returned the bridge was repaired. Our regiment had passed, and she followed, driving the colt before her but before she got to the further end. the stubborn animal stood still and would not move a foot. Another regiment was advancing, the passage was impeded, and what to do she knew not. She was in the act of removing the woman's bundles from the beast's back, and struggling to get out of the way, determined to leave the animal, when a grenadier of the advancing regiment, casting his eye on a finely polished horn with the Masonic arms cut on it, and slung over her shoulder, stepped aside, saying Poor creature, I shall not see you left struggling here for the sake of what is slung by your side at the same time handing his musket to one of his comrades, he lifted the colt in his arms and carried it to the end of the bridge. My poor wife thanked him with the tear in her eye, the only acknowledgment she could make for his kindness but she has often thought of it since, and congratulated herself on having the good fortune to have that horn, empty as it was, with its talismanic hieroglyphic, slung by her side on that occasion and thus to raise up a friend when she was so much in need of
In another popular work, AdventMres of a Soldier, which appeared in the same year (1841), the author, Edward Costello, who also describes his experiences as one of the " rank and file " during the Peninsular war, observes " At Castle Sarazin (between Toulouse and Bordeaux), we used to be on our usual excellent terms with the French
quartered in the neighbourhood. I got acquainted here with a very smart fellow a French sergeant belonging to the 83rd Regiment. friendship was cemented betw^een us, naturally enough, by our both being Freemasons." G 2
Tu the testimonies of these private soldiers, as they both were when the incidents occurred which they afterwards described at a niucli hvter date in their books, I shall add the corroborative evidence of a commissioned ofticer who served in the same series of canijjaigns, and was the recipient of much fraternal attention when taken prisoner by the French.
Lieutenant-Ceneral Sir Chai'les James Nnpier, one of the most gallant soldiers of his time, entered the army at an early age, and in 1806, obtained a majority in the 50th Foot, which he commanded at Corunna, where he was made prisoner, after receiving five wounds. He also served in the
Peninsula during later campaigns, in a floating expedition the coast of America, and accompanied the English Army to Paris in 1815. In 1842, while commanding the forces in Bombay, he \vas sent to Scincle, where, in 1843, he fought and won the decisive battles of Meeanee and Hyderabad. In the spring of 1849, when the disasters of the Sikh campaign had awakened the anxieties of the people of England, all eyes were directed to the hero of Scinde, and he was appointed to the command of the Indian Army. But on his arrival in India the object of the war had been attained. He exerted himself, however, in reforming abuses which had grown up in the army, especially among the officers. A large nimiber of courts-martial were held, on account of the laxity of discipline which had crept into the Indian Army, and one unfortunate officer, the sole support That p.arent, having no of his aged mother, was cashiered. other means of saving herself and son from ruin, applied to Sir Charles to allow her son to retire from the service by the sale of his commission. But the commander-in-chief was true to his duty as an officer and a Mason. With his right hand he confirmed the sentence of the court-martial, and with his left he sent to the distressed parent the value of her son's forfeited commission
In Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey, there is a portrait of the general, and the minute-book records under
Major Charles James June 16th, 1807: "Emergency. Napier was entered, passed, and raised, he being about to In April, 1841, a letter was received leave the Island."
from him, then in command at Chester, asking the date of his initiation, as he had lost all his papers when shipwrecked; and a second, later in the same year, thanking the brethren of his mother Lodge for having elected him an honorary member.
Tn September, 1845,
invitation of the
when Governor
Scinde, at the
Hope, Kurrachee, he laid the foundation stone of a Masonic Hall, and afterAvards delivered a most interesting address, premising that his position was a diflficult one, owing to the suddenness of the call that his attention having been diverted to other objects for many years, he was probably one of the worst Masons present, but as there miglit be some less acquainted with the subject even than himself, he would endeavour to give a sketch of the history of Masonry from the earliest
On his return from Lidia, Sir Charles was entertained at dinner by the Meridian Lodge, Dublin, and elected an honorary member of the Union Lodge, Limerick, in November, 18-t8.
The next year he was again in Lidia, and a grand Masonic banquet was given in his honour at Simla on the 1st of The commander-in-chief, as he then was, apOctober. peai-ed in full uniform, wearing the apron and insignia of the Koyal Arch degree, and in response to the toast of his
health expressed himself as follows
Few Masons can say that they owe so much to Masonry as I I have I am an old and, I fear, a good-for-nothing Mason.
been forty years a Royal Arch Mason, and yet I fear I could not work myself into a chaptei' of that high degree but with the aid of my friend, Colonel Curtis, I hope to rub off the rust, and be able lo do so. for, as 1 said Ijefore. probablj' no man present can say that he is under the same oldigation to Masonry that I am, and I am always glad of an opportunity of acknowdedging the same to the Craft. I was once a prisoner, without hope of ever being exchanged, and ex])ected to be sent to Verdun, to which place in France all prisoners were consigned, for, at this time, the two governments of France and England were so exasperated against each other that their anger fell on individuals, and there was no exchange of prisoners. A man who was taken lost all chance of promotion, or of ever seeing his friends again. In this state of despair and misery, knowing that my family must have believed me to have been kdled, I was casting about in my
for some way in which I could communicate with came into my head that I was a Mason, and I contrived to poke out a brother. He was a French officer of the name of Bontemps, I think, and a very good name it was, for, like a good and honourable brother, he managed to send a letter for me to England, by no means an easy matter in those days, for
own thoughts
there were no railroads, or steam vessels, or steam engines then Besides, it was at to carry letters like lightning everywhere. this time an extremely dangerous and hazardous undertaking for a French officer. But my honest and good brother did it for me, and within three months my family knew I was alive.''
Masonic banquets in honour of Sir Charles Napier were given on his final return from India by the brethren of the Rugby district, in 1851, and later in the same year (Trafalgar Day) by the Portsmouth Lodges, from whose address I extract the following " We hail you with a hearty welcome to the land of your birth as a Citizen you have our esteem, as a Soldier our admiration, as a Brother our honour and love."
Two years afterwards, with Military and Masonic honours, the departed warrior Avas laid in his tomb. "I meant to say," are the words of his younger brother, the historian of the Peninsular War, but to which he vainly attempted to give iitterance at the time, " that a great and good soldier was in his grave ; that in his old age he commanded armies and led them always to victory. Neither in youth, nor in manhood, nor in his aged year's, did he ever cease to love, and cherish, and confide in soldiers. And now they thronged round his grave, to do honour to the dead man whom, when living, they had by their courage, devotion, and discipline, raised to renown."
It was stated by Dr. Edward J. Scott, of Southsea, a past master of the Phoenix Lodge, one of the medical attendants of the deceased, that an hour or so before his death the hand of the great general was laid in his own, and that shortly before that event Sir Charles gave him the grip of a Master Mason, and thus died, evincing in his last moments an unfaltering sympathy with his brethren of the
Major Napier was made a prisoner, was fought on the 16th of January, 1809 and later, in the same year, a similar fate was experienced by
battle of Corunna, at which
another British
otficer, the story of whose capture was by Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Wantage, V.C. (who served throughout the war in the Crimea), on the occasion of his installation as Provincial Grand Master of Berkshire,
that it was his lot in early life to be first interested Masonry by an event that happened to his father, the late Lieutenant-General James Lindsay, when serving in the Walcheren campaign, in IWJ. He was shot through the leg, and being quite disabled, fell into the hands of the enemy but no sooner was he carried from the field of battle, than he discovered that his captor was a brother Freemason, who. true to
189S:— He stated
the traditions of the Craft, like the Good Samaritan, dressed his wounds, brought him into his OAvn house, and took charge of him until the time of release, defraying all costs, without any security for payment."
At the close of the Peninsular War, peace was signed with France, but hostilities were soon resumed. Napoleon escaped from Elba, then followed the Hundred Days, and finally the battle of Waterloo, during which momentous conflict the influence of Masonry was brought into play on both sides, with very happy results, as the reader will have already gleaned from an earlier chapter. With the downfall of Napoleon came the reduction of the British Army from a war to a peace footing. This led not only to the disembodiment of the entire force of Militia, which had taken the place of the regular troops in the United Kingdom, but also to the " mustering out " (or disbandment) of all the veteran and garrison battalions, of many of the regiments of cavalry and infantry, and the reduction of such as were retained on the fixed establishment to a much lower strength than had previously
Military Lodges passed out of existence, but others, in itinerant, assumed (and retained) a stationary character. Nor should it be forgotten that other causes were in operation, notably the frequent changes of regiments from one station to another, which conduced to the same end, namely, a reduction in niunber of the moveable and their conversion in other instances into irremovable Lodges. To the examples already given of Lodges in foreign jurisdictions which were formerly held in regiments of the
lieu of
add one more.
"Virgin Lodge," at
Halifax, N.S., wliich, in 1786, became "Artillery Lodge," and, in 1800, "Virgin" again, is now No. 3 on the roll of Nova Scotia. Other existing Lodges formerly in the Royal,
Bengal, and P)ombay Artillery, are "Union Waterloo," Kent " St. John's," Gibraltar ; " Hnmility with Fortitude " and " Courage with Humanity," Calcutta and " Orion in the
West," Poona.
The "Amphibious Lodge," originally in the Royal Marines, now peacefully moored in the inland town of Heckmoud-
wike, Yorkshire.
The " Royal York Lodge of Perseverance," London, established in 1776, only began its military career in 1793, when its fortunes were associated with those of the Coldstream Guards, in which regiment it continued at work until 1821, when it resumed its civil character. " Mount Olive," in the 67th Foot, was transferred to the
Royal Regiment of Cornish Miners in 1807, but the military was afterwards exchanged for a civil warrant, and it is now the " Lodge of Fortitude," Truro. "Euphrates," London; "Unanimity," Preston; and "One and All," Bodmin were held in the West London, 3rd Lancashire, and 1st Cornwall Militia, respectively.
" St. Cuthbert's," in the Durham Militia, was a Scottish Lodge, and in 1813, when the regiment was disembodied, continued to meet at Barnard Castle under the Scottish warrant imtil 1825, Avhen an English one was applied for and received. This served the piirpose of the members for eleven j-ears, but in 1836 they made an effort to resume their old allegiance, in which, it is needless to say, they were
These illustrations might be largely extended, but I shall content myself with adducing the case of the " Shakespeare Lodge," Warwick, which is the most singular of the series. Examples of Lodges having been " left behind them " by the military on a change of station are not uncommon, but those of Stationary being converted into Ambulatory Lodges by the simple process of regiments marching away with them, if not entirely unknown, are, nevertheless, of comparatively rare occurrence. Such an event happened in 1796, when
members of a Lodge at Norwich sold their furniture to some brethren in the Warwieksliire Militia, making them, at On the the same time, a present of the "Constitution." removal of the regiment in the following year, the "Shakespeare Lodge," to iise the title adopted in 1797, accompanied it, and was brought to Warwick in 1802. The next year the battalion was again ordered on service, but the Lodge remained at Warwick. The regiment returned in 1805, and three A'ears later was quartered at Snnderland, when a resohition was carried in the Lodge at Warwick that it should be made stationary at that town. A protest was lodged by the members at Sunderland, and a counter-protest by those at Warwick. The latter had thirty-one signatures, the former only ten, so when the matter came before a committee of the Grand Lodge they decided in favour of the majority, and the removal of the " Shakespeare Lodge" from the Warwickshire Militia to the guardianship of non-military brethren at Warwick was recognised and
It has already been suggested that the degree of Knight Templar penetrated into our British Military Lodges during (or before) the Seven Years' War. Whether derived from the Clermont or the Strict Observance systems is immaterial, though the traditions of both may be referred to as possessing attractions which, at least to Scotsmen, may have been
Thus, passing over the alleged reception of a former Grand Master of Scotland Lord Kilmarnock the sixth of the Clermont degrees and the whole fabric of the Strict Observance were based on the legend that Pierre d'Aumont was elected Graiid Master of the Templars in Scotland, a.d. 1313, and that to avoid persecution the Knights became Freemasons.
Von Hund by
It was, however, to their intercourse with brethren belonging to regiments which served in Ireland towards the end of the last century, that the Scottish Lodges owed their acquaintance with Knight Templarism. This Order, tlien known as Black Masonry, was propagated, to a lai'ge extent, through charters issued by a Lodge of Freemasons at Dublin, which had been constituted by "Mother Kilwinning," for the practice of the Craft
The action of her daughter Lodge, encouraged, degrees. not unnaturally, the belief in Kilwinning being a centre of the so-called " High degrees," and in 1813 application was
to the Mother Lodge to authorise the transfer of a Black Warrant " from Knights of the Temple, and of Malta, in the Westmeath, to brethren of the same degree But the Lodge of Kilserving in the Shropshire Militia. winning, in reply to the " Sir Knights " of the latter regiment, strongly repudiated the existence of a maternal tie between herself and any Society of Masonic Knighthood, and expressed her inability to regard as Masonry anything beyond the three regular steps. The Westmeath Militia cancelled in held at the time an Irish Warrant, No. 791 1826 and the Shropshii-e Regiment an Engli-sh one, which
was made " Civil " and "Stationary" in 1820, and is now the authority to assemble as Masons of the "Salopian Lodge of Charity," at Shrewsbury. It is probable that all the degrees, additional to the "three regular steps," obtained a footing in the British Islands through the medium of the Army Lodges. In Scotland these additional degrees were, in the first instance, wrought by the Lodges, and afterwards more often "Aboyne" was formed in the in Encampments. A Lodge Aberdeen Militia, in 1799, and an Encampment in 1812. Both moved with the regiment, being at Dover, 1812 ; London, 1814 and retui-ning to AberLiverpool, 1813 deen in 1815. At the last named date, the degrees practised in the "St. George Aboyne Encampment," were arranged in seven groups
I.— Master past the Cha-r. Excellent and Super-Excellent, III.— II.— Ark, Black Mark. Link and Chain Royal Arch Km<?ht Templar. Kniorht of St. John of Jerusalem. MediterIV.— Jordan Pass. Babylon ranean Pass. Knight of Malta Pass v.— Knight of the Red Cross VI.— High Priest VII.—
Prussian Blue.
Both Master Masons
and Royal
if the former, they received indiscriminately as candidates if the received first the Group I. of Royal Arch degrees When the Royal Arch latter, they began with (^roup II. degrees were conferred, the meeting was called a Chapter for all the others an Encampment.
In the English Lodges belonging to the regular establishment, the only degrees worked (with othcial sanction) were the first three, down to 1813; and the price they paid for the Union of that 3'ear, consisted in part of the acceptance
of the Ro^'al
to the pure
Arch and Installed Masters' degrees, as additions and ancient Masonry which had been bequeathed
other section of the
them With
in 1717.
Under the "Ancient"
English Craft Schismatic)
l^odge, both degrees were essential features of their system. There can hardly be a doubt, unless indeed it is a wholly gratuitous one, that the communication of the secrets of the Royal Arch, was the earliest form in which any mystical teaching was associated with the incident of a Master being placed in the chair of his Lodge. Out of this was ultimately evolved the degree of Installed Master, a ceremony unknown (except as a bye or side degree) in the " Modern " system until the first decade of the present century, and of which I can trace no sign among the " Ancients " until the growing practice of conferring the " Arch " upon brethren not properly entitled to receive it, brought about a constructive passing through the chair, which, by qualifying candidates not otherwise eligible, naturally entailed the introduction of a ceremony, additional to the simple forms inherited by the
earliest of
Grand Lodges. The records of No. 441,
the 38th
illustration of the Irish practice.
The working
Foot, aflford an of the Royal
Ai'ch degree was
resumed in the Lodge, in 1822, when a letter was read from the Deputy Grand Secretary, of which the following passage appears in the minutes
not any warrant issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland other than that you hold it has therefore always been the practice of Irish Lodges to confer the Higher Degrees under
that authority."
The Minden Lodge, No. 63, in the 20th Regiment, also continued the work of the Royal Arch under its original (Craft) warrant until 1838, when a separate charter was issued by the Grand Chapter of Ireland.
The Scottish custom nnist next be referred to, of the issuing by private Lodges of commissions or, as they were
" dispensations " afterwards termed, an evil of great magnitude, which led to frequent con:iplaints with regard to the pi'actice of bi-ethren traversing the country and picking up what members they could for their own Lodges, to the detriment of those "locally situated."
The erectionof branch Lodges by "dispensation" became very popular in Ayrshire, and one of the kind remained in active operation for eight years in the County Militia, with
the Mother
— Renfrew
Paul —as to justify the holders of the " dispensation " being at that Lodge's expense "treated to two bowls of toddy " on the occasion of their surrendering it. In December, 1808, a letter was read from the confidential agent of the Mother Lodge in the Ayrshire Militia, requesting that the members in that regiment might be granted a dispensation, which was agreed to, with the proviso
That no Mason can be initiated, or become a member of the dispensation, nor no man can be made a Mason under it, who has been found guilty of any of the following crimes by a General or Segimental Court-martial, rh. : cowardice, theft, mutiny, or
It seems to have been usual on the part of Lodges granting dispensations, to exact a tribute of one-half of the amount received as entrance fees, but the Mother Lodge, " from a
wish to indulge her brethren in the A^-rshire Militia," asked "no more than 3s. for each entrant, 2s. 9d. of which was to be retained to defray any necessaiy expenses."
The records of the Irish daughter of the Lodge of Kilwinning show, that not only members of the Militia or Volunteers, but also (in certainly one instance) brethren of the regular forces were empowered to form branch Lodges and make Masons during their absence from the seat of their Mother Lodge.
July 22nd. Took into consideration several communifrom our Bror.Lieut.-Col. Heath relative to a Warrant du Dispensation fi'om us to hold a Lodge in the 1st or Royal Regt. Resolved that a Dispensation be granted by us to Bror. Lieut Col. Heath. Capts. Trail and O'Brien, to convene a Lodge and act as Masons while absent from Dublin."'
" 1783.
That dispensations were granted as well as held by the Lodges, has been shown in the present chapter, and
the subject will again claim our attention, but the suggestion may be at once thrown out, that the origin of the custom can be traced to a Scottish source. Returning for a moment to tlie Militia: in 1854, the 4th Middlesex and the 1st Lancashire Regiments were stationed at Portsmouth, and the records of the " Phoenix Lodge " inform us, that the whole of the officers of the two battalions were either initiated or admitted as joining members. To account for the decay of "Military" Masonry," or to vary the expression, the falling oft' in the number of Regimental Lodges, is by no means an easy task.
a war to a peace footing, not have exercised nearly as much influence as people have commonly Nor will the fusion of the two Grand Lodges of supposed. England, in 1813, altogether suffice to clear up what is otherwise left unexplained with regard to the disappearance .Statistics, indeed, reveal that fifty of the Army Lodges. Regimental Lodges were carried over at the L^nion, all of which, with only six exceptions, were working under " Ancient " warrants. It might, therefore, at first sight appear, that the prevalence of Lodges in the British Army was very seriously aftected by the junior Grand Lodge of England ceasing to exist as an independent institution. The proportion of Military to Civil Lodges (on the English list), which, in 1814, was one in twelve, had fallen to one in three hundred in 1878; and has sunk to one in eleven hundred (or rather less) in 1899.
The reduction
of the
Army from
though one
of the factors in the case, could
laws, too, that were enacted in 1815, forbidding the
initiation of civilians, or of military persons
of corporal, were great innovations
below the rank on the established usage.
in the Irish and Scottish jurisdictions, in neither of which was there any similar amalgamation of Grand Lodges, nor any restrictive legislation with respect to the initiation of private soldiers and the customs of both continued to conform to what had been the practice of the " Ancients," there was also, in each case, a decided falling off (after
Waterloo) in the number of Military Lodges.
Of these associations no very early records have been preserved ; but, so far as there is evidence to guide us, the
Regimental Lodges of the last century would appear in nearly every case to have originated in the zeal of the rank and file, and in the few instances where a Masonic spirit has pervaded an entire regiment, the love for the Craft seems not to have spread downwards, but upwards, namely, from the soldiers' barrack -room to the officers' mess.
Towards the
close of the century, however, signs are not
wanting that a custom was springing up of Lodges being held in regiments, the membership of whicn was confined
to the couunissioned ranks.
" Officers' Lodge
" (of
which there
any known
record) was established, by the Grand Lodge of h-eland, in The warrant. No. 617, was issued in 1783, the 32nd Foot. and subsequently " erased for neglect " at some time after 1785 and before 1792 (p. 52). Before, after, and during the whole of this period there was a Scottish Lodge, No. 73 presumably the resort of the non-commissioned officers
and privates in the same battalion. The annals of the Grand Lodge of Scotland supply the next illustration. A charter (No. 274) for the " Orange Lodge" was granted to the officers of the 51st Kegiment in 1801; there being at the time two otiier Lodges in the corps of the same name, under Irish and "Ancient" warrants, each of which, it is somewhat singular to relate,
bearing the
Whether, indeed, the symptorns point to a gradual loosening of the Masonic bond uniting the British soldier with his officer, is more than I am compe,tent to determine.
soldier who has seen service is certainly, in one sense, As for the rehighly educated, and always good company. quirements of discipline, and the necessity which is supposed to exist for officers to keep at a distance from privates in order to preserve their dignity, they recall a familiar saying of the sagacious Goethe, that the true reason why so many people are afraid to go among those whom they regard as their social inferiors is the vague dread that, if they should thus abandon the advantages of privilege, they might not be able to hold their own by their personal merit. An officer has reason to fear the familiar society of a private, when the latter is truly his superior in character and
fact that the
moreover, a curious though taken from the humblest classes of society, and few in number when compared to the hundreds of thousands foi'ced into the ranks oi Continental Armies, have 3'et surpassed all
but not otherwise.
of England,
foreigners (of their
station in
in letters
have several highly interesting books of as in arms. military adventure written by private soldiers, and conveying vivid pictures of their habits, feelings, and opinions, as well
as the hardships to which they were exposed in the field. Three works of this kind were written Ijy military brethren
who have been referred to Autun, and Edward Costello
— Privates
John Shipp, John
But, as we have already seen, from the year 1815 the practice of admitting private soldiers, except as serving brethren, was absolutely forbidden by the (irand Lodge of England ; and, while under the Irish obedience there is no actual law on the subject, there is every reason to suppose
that fi'om much about the same date the regulations of all regimental or garrison the Military Lodges have contained a clause to a similar effect.
have been merely a singular coincithat subsequently to the Masonic Union of 1813, when private soldiers were disqualified for membership, the practice by commissioned officers of meeting as brethren without the companionship of the lower ranks attained a There were " Officers' Lodges " in Bengal, great vogue. Madras, and Bombay, and the proceedings of these bodies, together with some collateral evidence bearing on the same topic, derived from the minutes of a Cavalry Lodge, will claim our attention in the next chapter.
may, indeed,
The English law
1815, forbidding the admission of
was probably obeyed by the regiments on home but by those abroad, more especially in the East,
years totally disregarded.
The " Lodge of Hope," Poona, was formed by civilian members of " Orion in the West," Bombay Artillery, in 1825, and in the same year " Humanit}" with Courage," an offshoot
of "
Courage with Humanity," Bengal Artillery, was flourishing so greatly at Penang, in the Malay Peninsula, that everv
civilian of respectability
was ranged beneath
Union Lodge,"
in the 14th Foot, then stationed at
Meerut, returned as a member, A. J. Colviii judge and magistrate — in 1826. The Irish practice of only curtailing the freedom of their Military, when calculated to be prejudicial to the interests of their Stationary Lodges, appears to have always prevented any friction between the two bodies, and has enabled the former, on several occasions, to be the means of establishing local (or civil) Lodges in continents or islands where the regiments to which they were attached hapi)ened to be sent on duty. The 1st Royals (as mentioned in the present chapter) constitiited a new and stationary Lodge at Albany (\e\v York) in 1759; and, possibly at a still earlier date, many were formed by the 39th Foot in Hindostan. Within moi'e recent times (1857) the 4th, or " King's Own," was serving at the Mauritius, and twenty-eight gentlemen of Port Louis were initiated in, or affiliated to the regimental Lodge. The "King's Own" left the island in 185S, but before its departure the brethren of the Military installed the officers of a Civil Lodge, consisting of nineteen members of the parent body, who remained behind in the Mauritius.
In the same way, the " Lodge of Yokohama," the earliest Japan, was an oflTshoot of the "Sphinx Lodge " in the 2nd l>attalion of the 20th Fool, which initiated a sufficient number of civilian members to enable the work of Masonry to be carried on at the departure of the regiment from that country in 1866. iMany of the vicissitudes experienced by the Army Lodges have already been laid before the reader. Some of these bodies ceased to work owing to the loss of their warrants, others through the regiments to which they were attached being ordered on foreign service, and perhaps the greatest number from sheer inability to continue their labours with an insufficiency of members. But there was a further reason why certain of the Lodges came to an untimely end.
The consent of the commanding officer to their original formation appears to have been always essential, and at any moment afterwards, as it woiild seem from the evidence at my command, at tlie flat of the colonel for the time
Between the years being, the permission could be revoked. 180b and 1846 Lodges were closed in this summary way in the 3rd and 11th Dragoons, the 13th, 18th, and 85th Foot,
1st Lancashire Militia. Of a "closure" by even higher authority there are a few examples. The warrant, No. 295, in the 4th Dragoons, now revived, was returned to the Grand Lodge, " owing to the
and the
The case disapproval of the military authorities," in 1830. An Irish Lodge, of the 38th Foot was a very singular one. No. 441, in this regiment, after many periods of dormancy, -was revived at Limerick in 1840, iDut the Commander inCliief in Ireland, Sir Edward Blakeney, set in motion by the Lord-Lieutenant, peremptorily ordered the meetings to cease, and " all documents connected with the institution The -warto be forthwith returned to the parent society." rant was, therefore, sent to the Grand [^odge, from which body, however, a hint was received in 1842, the 38th being then at Corfu, that it was as much at the disposal of the members as wdien in their own possession and the same year the box containing it, which had not been opened, was returned to the regiment, in whose custody (though the Lodge has apparently drawn its last breath) it still remains.
A Lodge was established in the 37th Company of the Royal Engineers in 1863, but the warrant was withdrawn, and the fee returned, by order of the Grand Master of England in 1864. Of the Lodges formed in Volunteer regiments, two of the most famous are the " Edinburgh Defensive Band," erected in 1782, and the "First Volunteer Lodge of Ireland," which came into existence in the following year. The " Edinburgh Defensive Band " was raised towards the close of the American War of Independence, and about fifty of the members, in anticipation of its being disbanded, formed a Lodge of the same name under the Mastership of the
colonel of the regiment,
Andrew Crosbie, who figures in the pages of Sir Walter Scott as Plydell, the advocate of Bertram in Guy Mannering. The "First Volunteer Lodge of Ireland" was established in 1783, and Henry Grattan, the famed Orator and Statesman, The members wore Avas balloted for, and elected in 1784.
the rej^imeulal uniform fur nearly sixty-one years, when it was resolved that " the dress be black trousers and coat, The " satui satin faced, and velvet collar, with white vest." facings " were of the same colour as the uniform. The Lodges existing at the present time in the Volunteer forces, both at home and abroad, are very numerous, but to the examples already given, I shall onh' add a third, namely, the " Fitzroy," in the Hon. Artillery Company of London. The exact rank, indeed, of this ancient and distinguished According to its corps, has never been definitely settled. historian, "the members are usually classed with the Volunteers, which, properly speaking, they are not and it is still an open question whether the officers would rank before or after those of the Militia, or with them according to tiie dates of their commissions." A list of the Lodges in garrison towns or fortified places, which are (or were) of a Militar}', though Stationary character, would carry me too far. It will be sufficient to say that wiierever members of the Sea or Land Services were ])ermanently stationed, there Masonry flourished. The names of the " Friendship " and " Inhabitants " Lodges, Gibraltar "St. John and St. Paul," Malta; and "Pythagoras," Corfu, will be associated with very pleasant memories by those Xor will brethren who have served in the Mediterranean. the recollections of Lodges in other portions of the empire be less fondly cherished by the commissioned, non-commissioned, and warrant officers, who, during their tours of duty, liave enjoyed the benefit of Masonic fellowship in the
East and West Indies, Australasia, North and South Africa,
the Far East, and in the several provinces which are now collectively known as the Dominion of Canada. A remarkable feature of the Masonry of our own times, has been the extraordinary increase in the number of what Graduates of are commonly described as " Class Lodges." practitioners, and the Universities, Lawyers, Medical members of nearly every other calling or profession, aie
accustomed, at stated periods,
" To meet upon the Level, and part upon the Square."' Nor will it be supposed that such a prevailing custom
one which has been more honoured bv brethren of the two
(regular) services "in the breach than the observance." the " Class Lodges " in the London district, are the " Nav}- " and " Household Brigade," of both of which the
Prince of AVales (Admiral of the Fleet and Field Marshal) was the first Master Nil Sine Lahore (Army Service Corps)
Army and Navy "
" Comrades " (Warrant and non-commissioned pensioners) officers in the Household Cavalry and Brigade of Guards)
(Royal Artillery). The " Aldershot Army and Xavy " and " Camp " Lodges, are examples of similar associations in the province (and county) of Hampshii'e.
Some usages
of earlier date,
remain to be
and among them the habit of congregating Lodges, which was practised by prisoners of war in
The detenus militaires in Great countries of Europe. Britain and Ireland often visited the regular Lodges. A great many French officers who were interned at Bandon in 1746 and 1747 were admitted members of the "Ancient Boyne Lodge " in that Irish town. Captives of the same nationality experienced fraternal kindness at the hands of their British brethren at Leeds in 1761, at Kelso in 1810, and at Selkirk where 23 of their number were enrolled as honorary members of the Lodge of St. John in 1812.
prisoners of war at Basingstoke, in 1756, "finding themselves a competent number," formed a Lodge, making, at the same time, their due submission to the (older) Grand Lodge of England, and a warrant was placed at their disposal, which, for pecuniary reasons, they were obliged to decline. After this a portion of the captives were removed to Petersfield, where, in 1758, they formed a second Lodge, and again made "due submission" to the Grand Lodge. On this occasion, however, no notice was taken of their proceedings by the latter, but the French brethren, takmg silence for approval, "continued working and making Masons imtil the middle of 1759," when there was a further change of quarters, and some of the prisoners who had been
removed from Basingstoke and Petersfield iniited in forming a third Lodge at Leeds, which still existed in 1761. In the following year (1762) "a constitution or warrant" was granted by the Grand Lodge of York to similar captives
" on their parole " to hold a Lodge at the " Punch Bowl," " prohibiting them, nevertheless, from making anyone a Brother who shall be a siibject of Great Britain or Ireland." In Scotland also the French prisoners of war held Lodges of their own, one of which, "St. John of Benevolence," was constituted, it would appear, by leave and warrant of the Lodge of ^lelrose ; while the other must have met, if not by the direct, at least by the tacit, permission of " St. John's," Selkirk, the minutes of which body record that the prisoners there held a Lodge from time to time, the proceedings of which were conducted by themselves in their own language. A similar Lodge, under the Grand Orient of Marseilles, was established at Malta after its occupation by the British. This subsequently shifted its allegiance and became Les Amis en Captivite on the English roll, but its life was a short one, and it disappeared without ever having made any return to the Grand Lodge. In parting with the subject it may be observed that considerable sums were voted on various occasions by the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland for the relief of French prisoners of war confined in Great Britain who, on
in that city,
were ascertained to be deserving Masons, and It is very consequently considered worthy of assistance. greatly to their credit that the recipients of this benevolence, in all cases, faithfully promised, if opportunities should occur, to perform equally kind offices towards their British
brethren, prisoners in France. In bringing the chapter to a close two comparatively recent examples of Masonry in warfare may be recorded. The first, that Colonel William Fordyce and Lieutenant Hirzel Carey, of the 74th Highlanders, killed in action during the Kaffir War, were buried with Masonic honom-s by the " Alliany Lodge," Grahamstown, on the 9th of May, 1852 and the last, that the " Lodge of Integrity," which accompanied the 14th Foot to the Crimea, continued to work during the war and in the depth of winter. Many distinguished officers first saw the light of Masonry in this Lodge, amid the booming of guns, and among the number, Lord Eustace Brownlow Cecil, who was initiated in the camp before Sebastopol, on the £4th of May, 1855.
Parent of Ganges, hear and smile ! Soon from the West's Elysian Isle A ivarrior comes, \vhose mighty voice
Shall bid thy hundred realms rejoice
Far as Imperial Indus flows, His hand shall stretch the sacred
(see p. 180).
— Anox
earliest Stationary Lodges in India, which must have partaken more or less of a military character, were established at Calcutta in 1730, at Madi-as in 1752, and at Bombay in 1758. But the records now existing do not permit of our going back with any certainty beyond the year 1774, at which date there were Lodges at the principal seats of civil Government, and also at some of the military stations, or with the army brigades. Shortly afterwards
came the war
in the Carnatic, and Masonry in India was very nearly swept away by it. In the beginning of 1787, there was a Lodge consisting of non-commissioned officers and privates in the 3rd Brigade, and another of a similar character at Fort William, Calcutta, while what was apparently an " Officers' Lodge," had been recently established in the 4th Brigade. At the close of the same year there were two Lodges " amongst the lower military " at Calcutta, and in 1788 a letter was addressed by the Provincial authorities to the (Regular) Grand Lodge of England, from which I extract the following
'"With respect to the brigades, they have been divided into six of Infantry and three of Artillery. This regulation has lessened the number of officers in each, and they will be more liable to removals than formerly. The first circumstance will be a great discouragement to the formation of Lodges in the brigades, and the second would sometimes expose such Lodges to the risk of being annihilated."
About the same time, or, to be more precise, in 1784, an equally important "revival" of Masonry had taken place in Madras. It is worthy of recollection that for a short period this Presidency was predominant over all the other English Settlements in India ; and during the latter half of the eighteenth century the continuous wars with the French, and afterwards with Hyder Ali and his son, cause the Carnatic to figure largely in Indian history.
Major (afterwards Brigadier-General) Matthew Home, of the Coast Army, was Provincial Grand Master of Madras (under the Moderns) in 17 76, daring which A-ear the governor, Party spirit Lord Pigot, was deposed l)y the Council. seems to have run high, and Major Home closed the Lodges. Meanwhile "Ancient" or "Atholl" Masonry, so largely practised in the Army, had been introduced into Madras, and a Lodge under that banner was established at Fort St. Towards the close of 1784, however, the dissensions George. among the "Ptegular" Masons had subsided, and a new Lodge, under the older sanction, " Carnatic Military," was established at Arcot, with the idea of its taking the position on the English roll of No. 355, at Trinchinopoly, the warrant of which, accompanying the Master, Dr. Terence Gahagan, a surgeon of the Coast Ai'my on field service, in 1781, had been captured with his baggage in the action betAveen Colonel Owen and Hyder Ali.
the founders of this Lodge, as previously related
103), were Brigadier-General Home and Captain (afterwards Sir David) Baird. The latter, who entered the army
in 1772, had been selected by Lord Macleod (sou of the second Grand Master of Scotland), in 1778, to be captain of the Grenadier Company in the Scottish regiment just raised by him, and at first called the 73rd, but afterwards famous The battalion reached India in 1780, and as the 71st L.I. shortly after a small detachment (of all arms), including the (irenadier Company of Lord Macleod's regiment under Captain Baird, was sent to assist Colonel Baillie, who was in danger of being surrounded by the enemy, but the whole force was cut to pieces by Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo Baird had been severely wounded and left for dead, Sahib. but managed to find his way into the French Camp, from
which, however, he soon passed with his companions into the power of Hyder Ali, who treated the captives with The unfortunate officers lived for three oriental Ijarbarity. years and eight months in most terrible agony, knowing that many of them were taken from prison only to be poisoned That there were other Masons besides or tortured to death. Baird among the captives might be naturally' inferred, but the circumstance is placed beyond doubt by such words as " Prisoner with Tippoo "; which are appended to the names of members in the records of some of the Coast Lodges. The inhuman treatment they experienced at the hands of Tippoo Sahib, who succeeded his father as Sultan of Mysore, in 1782, would seem, indeed, to be quite irreconcilalDle with the alleged fact, that the son of Hyder Ali was himself a member of our fraternity. The statement has been very positively made, and is said to be supported by documentary evidence which leaves no room for dispute, but as the story itself has a fabulous ring, it will be safest to relegate the supposition of Tippoo being a " brothei'," into the limbo of fancy, until at least some proof is forthcoming, upon which our judgment can be emplo^'ed. The prisoner of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sahib (who was released in March, 1784), the stormer of Seringapatam, the General of the march across the desert, and the Commander at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope, will always deservedly remain a popular hero. There was a chivalrous gallantry in his nature which made the jeu d'exprit " not
but 'Bayard,'" particularly applicable to him. General Home had also been a prisoner of war, though
his captivity
was unattended by any similar hardships, and, very pleasing recollections behind it, as he experienced the most fraternal kindness from French Lodges at Bourbon and the Isle of France, which is gracefully referred to at the close of a letter addressed by him to tlie officers of the Grand Lodge of Fngland, on January 16th,
"Before I conclude, I beg leave to observe, in Justice to a very respectable French Lodge at the Island of Bourbon. That many of our distress"d countrymen who had been made Prisoners and carrj'"d to that Island, and who proved themselves to be Brothers, receiv'd from them very handsome relief and assist-
and those of us who did not stand in need of any in the Pecuniary Way, Met with great attention and every endeavour by the Principal Members to render our Situation on the Island pleasant and agreeable. Some of the Gentlemen knowing I had presided in the Madras Lodge, it was on their first meeting, resolv'd that the Officers of the Lodge should pay me a visit, and give me an invitation, and on my visit they complemented me with a General One and the freedom of the Lodge, which I found conducted with the True principles of Masonry, although some
of their rules are different
I'evival of
"Regular" Mtisonry by the formation
" Carnatic
Military," in 1784, led to a unioti, which took 1786, between the "Atholl" or "Ancient"
Moorhouse, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph the Provincial Grand Committee and the Regular Masons or titular " Moderns," under General Home, Provincial Grand Master the immediate result being the opening of a new Lodge, " Perfect Unanimity," the history of which, from 1786 to the present date, is, in effect, a history of Freemasonry on the coast of Coromandel. Of this Lodge, Major David Baird was a member, and Lieutenant-Colonel Moorhouse the Master, in 1789. In the following year the latter, an officer in the Coast Artillery, being ordered on service, resigned the chair, and was killed at the gallant assault of the Pettah Gate of Bangalore, in March, 1791. It will be seen that the Freemasons of Madras, in a very happy manner, anticipated the " Union " in England l)y twenty-eight years. But a great man} cases occurred after the healing of the schism, in which the Madras Lodges were " erroneously supposed to be at work under an " AthoU
banner. This arose from the fact that the Madras brethren, though in full communion with the " Moderns," nevertheless conducted their ceremonies according to the practice of
the " Ancients."
A "moveable" warrant. No. VII. " Unity and Friendship" was granted to the 33rd Foot in 1802. There had been an "Atholl" Lodge in this regiment, "No. 90," but the warrant was lost at Helvoitsluys, in 1795, and the
brethren of the 33rd, in applying for a Provincial Charter, seem to have been quite under the impression that thej' were communicating; with " Atholl " or " Ancient " Masons.
England they appear to have reverted and resumed Avork under the No. 90, which had been re-granted and sent to Fort William, Calcutta (though evidently lost en route), by the Junior Grand Lodge of England, in 1798. In 1799, "St. Andrew's Union" was established in the The 19th Foot, at Madras, and numbered X. on the Coast. regiment shortly after was transferred to Ceylon, and the troubles of the Lodge began by the master and nine of the members being massacred by the King of Candia, in 1804. After this, the regularity of the warrant was impugned, as not being "Ancient," by the "Atholl" Lodge, No 329 in the Royal Artillery, which had been working at Colombo since 1802. At first the two Lodges had fraternized, owing to the similarity of their working, but subsequently they ceased to have any dealings with one another, and deserters from the enemy were eagerly welcomed on either side. The Lodges in two other i-egiments, in 1809, while freely admitting that the work was " strictly Antient," nevertheless " declared the warrant to be Modern," and for that
their return to
to their old allegiance,
"would not sojourn" with the brethren of the 19th Foot. These were (Irish) No. 863, in the 89th, and one of the two "Orange" Lodges ("Ancient" and " Irish "),
bearing the No. 94, in the 51st regiment.
In the following year (1810), the brethren of No. 863 asked " Carnatic Military " to initiate two candidates for them, and as the ceremony was commencing, a member of No. 863 ordered the brethren instantly to desist, " that they were working with Modern Masons, and that he would upset the Lodge in ten minutes if they proceeded any further." After this, it savours of paradox to record that in June, 181 1, a new member of " (Jarnatic Military, being a Modern Mason, was put over the old ground." Three years later, in the same Lodge, two Captains, described as " modern brothers," were " conducted over the antient ground as far as Master Mason"; and to crown the whole. Lodge No. 863, in 1822, relinquished its Irish warrant, becoming in the first instance " Hibernia and Union," No. XL, on the coast of Coromandel, and in due sequence, No. 633 on the register of the United
Grand Lodge
of Enjiland.
A Military Lodge, " Strength and Beauty," No. VIII., was constituted at Vellore, in 1802, but it came to an untimely end, in 1806, when the warrant was found in the Fort, after the mutiny.
" travelling " bodies established on the Coast often if not quite identical fate ; for example, the " Lodge of Philanthropists," in the Scotch Brigade, a regiment which, after being in the Dutch service from 58ti to 1793, was incorporated with the English Army and became the 94th Foot in 1802. From this Lodge warranted in December, 1801 the following information was received by the Provincial Authorities in March, 1806
shared a similar
The regiment being so long on field service. Lodge No. XI. has been subjected to various distresses, particularly that of losing two-thirds of its members, amongst whom were some of its best and brightest ornaments."
There is no mention of the Lodge after 1807, and at the union of 1813 it was erased from the roll.
In 1808, a petition for a warrant was sent in " by some in His Majesty's Regiment of 'J'he application was granted, and the "Lodge of Unity, Peace, and Concord," which still survives, was established in the 2nd Battalion of what was then the 1st or the Royal Regiment, and is now the Royal Scots The ^petitioners, however, were not all private soldiers, but included a large number of non-commissioned officers ; and in the following year the officers of the battalion sought permission to form a second Lodge in the same corps, to be styled " The Officers' Lodge." The result of this petition has not been recorded, but the examples are numerous, especially in India, of Lodges being formed in regiments, the membership of which was restricted to commissioned officers. The " Lodge of United Friendship," No. v., Avas formed at Madras in 1812 by officers of the 16rh Native Infantry; " Orion in the West," No. XV., at Poona, by those of the Bombay Artillery in 1823; and the " Corinthian Lodge," No. XIV., at Cannanore, by noncommissioned officers of the 7th N.I. in the same year. The "lower military" also figure as the exclusive petitioners for a Charter, as we find that in September, 1818, an
Master Masons, privates Royals at Wallahjabad."
application (forwarded by "St. Andrew's Union," No. X., the 19tli Foot) was received from three brethren, in " Privates in H.M. 73rd Regiment, praying for a warrant of constitution for the establishment of a regular Lodge in that
regiment under the distinctive denomination of St. John's Lodge." The petition was not granted at once, but merely because the Provincial Grand Master thought Ceylon was beyond his jurisdiction. A reply, therefore, was sent to No. X. (in the 19th Foot) "that the matter was to be laid over for the
In Bengal, at the close of the last centur}-, there was an almost general defection from the Provincial Grand Lodge, and consequently from the older or legitimate Grand Lodge of England. Lodges " True Friendship " and "Humility with Fortitude" (composed of non-commissioned officers and privates), were the first who transferred their allegiance to the " Ancients," and the " Marine Lodge (consisting of persons employed in the marine service of the government) soon followed their example.
(in Christmas),
1809, these Lodges,
accompanied by No. 338 {Ancients) in the 14th Foot, and a " Dispensation Lodge " working under a warrant granted by No. 338, walked in procession to St. John's Church, Calcutta, when a Masonic sermon was delivered by the Rev. James Ward. This appears to have stirred up the zeal of the " Moderns." Two of the old Lodges were revived, and these, on St. John's Day (in winter) 1812, accompanied by " Humility with Fortitude " and the "Officers" (formerly the " Dispensation" ) Lodge, No. 347 in the 14th Foot, also walked in procession to the same church, and benefited by a like sermon from Dr. Ward. The spectacle of two Lodges under each of the rival (English) Societies, being thus united in Masonic fellowship, must have afforded, no doubt, a presage of what was about to happen in the following year, with respect to the yet smouldering animosities between the " Moderns " and the
"Ancients." But the time was now at hand when Masonry in Bengal would take root in the land and flourish as it never
had done before. This em is inseparably connected with the memory of a great ruler of India, an outline of whose general will precede that of his Masonic career.
as Lord Rawdon, Eaid Moira, and finalh- as Marquess of Hastings, was the eldest sou of the first Earl of Moira. He was born on the 7th of December, 175-t, and received a commission of this sketch,
The subject
The Earl of Moira. known successively
as Ensign in the loth Foot in 1771. Two years later he became a Lieutenant in the 5th Regiment and embarked for
America to take part in the War of Independence. For his gallantry at Bunker's Hill he was especially complimented by General Burgoyne, who stat-ed in his despatch " Lord Rawdon has this day stamped his fame for life." A month later he was promoted Captain in the 63rd Foot, and shortly afterwards appointed Aide-de-( 'amp to Sir Henry
Having greatly distinguished himself in numerous engagements with the enemy, he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and appointed Adjiitaut-General to the British Forces in America in 1778. For his services in this cajjacity he was entrusted with a separate command in South Carolina, gaining fresh laurels at the battles of Camden where he commanded a wing of the Army and of Hobkirk Hill where he directed the whole of the operations, and defeated General Greene, one of the ablest of the American Generals. His health now compelled him to returji to England, and the vessel he sailed in was captured by the Glorieuse and taken to Brest, but he was soon exchanged, and in 1782 received promotion to the rank of Colonel and becanie Aide-de-Camp to the King.
When a man has greatly distinguished himself in his youth, and again in his old age, it is not often that his middle life should be a blank. Yet this, in the opinion of his latest biographer, is what happened in the case of Lord Rawdon, who, he tells us, never rose above mediocrity between 1781 and 1812. The point, indeed, is one upon which some differences of opinion Avill bo found to exist, though not among English
Freemasons but it will be convenient to give in the first instance the remainder of the personal history of Lord Kawdon as a Soldier, a Statesman, and a Viceroy in the East, after which I shall conclude with a recital of those services which entitle him to rank as one of the brightest characters in the annals of our Fraternity. On the death of his maternal uncle, the Earl of Huntingdon, in 1789, he succeeded to the estates of that ancient and noble family, and in the same year he acted as second to the Duke of York in his duel with Colonel Lennox, afterwards Duke of llichmond and Provincial Grand Master of Sussex. By the death of his father, in June, 1793, Lord Rawdon became the second Earl of Moira, and in the following October was promoted Major-General, and entrusted with the command of a force intended to co-operate with the French Royalists in La Vendee. The expedition, however, proved a failure, and the troops did not even land. The next year the Army in Flanders, under the Duke of York, was in difficulties, and the battle of Fleurus made the position of the allies desperate. Lord Moira was at this
time encamped near Southampton with 10,000 men. At their head he sailed for Flanders, and succeeded in effecting a junction with the Duke of York, then nearly surrounded by hostile forces much supei-ior in number. This was one of the most extraordinary marches of which military history affords an example. After the Earl had cleared the French armies and was passing the Austrian Corps, under FieldMarshal Clarfayt, the latter greeted him with the words " My lord, you have done what was impossible." The march from Ostend was the last active service in which the Earl was engaged until he went to India. He was promoted Lieutenant-General in 1798, and General in 1803. About the same time he became Commander of the Forces in Scotland. In 1804 he was appointed Colonel of the 27th Foot, and, in 1806, Constable of the Tower. Of his character as a high military officer, General Sir John Doyle, who knew him well, observed " No man possessed in a higher degree the happy but rare
: :
faculty of attaching to him all who came within the sphere of his command. When they saw their general take upon himself
the blame of any failure in the execution of his plans (provided it did not arise from want of zeal or courage), and when it succeeded giving the whole credit to those he employed, every man found himself safe an unlimited confidence infused itself into all ranks, and his army became irresistible. Never was there a man of whom it could be more truly said " Self was the only being seemed forgot.'
: '
His sagacity as a statesman was not inferior to his intreIn the House of Lords he proved pidity as a soldier. himself a clear and able orator, and a judicious man of business. His benevolent and persevering exertions in 1801, resulting in a law being passed to relieve the distresses of persons imprisoned for small debts, will remain a monument of philanthropy upon our Parliamentary records.
Lord Moira married, in 1804, Flora, Countess of Loudoun He her own right, by whom he had six children. was created a Privy Councillor and appointed Master of the His mother died in 1808, and upon Oi-dnance in 1806.
that event he succeeded to the ancient baronies of Hastings, Hungerford, &c., which were vested in the Hastings' family. In 1812, on the fiiilure of Lord Wellesley to form an administration, he was sent for and empowered to proceed with the delicate task of establishing a Coalition Government At first it seemed of which he would have been the head. as if success was likely to crown his efforts, but the arrangeLord Liverpool was ments ultimately fell through. appointed Prime Minister, and the crisis ended.
Soon afterwards he was created a ^.G., and on the resignation of the Earl of Minto, was appointed Governor-
He sailed from General and Commander-in-Chief in India. Portsmouth on the 14th of April, and landed at Calcutta on the 4th of October, 1813. " On his acceding to the Government of India," to use his own words, " there were made over to him no less than six hostile discussions with native powers, each capable of entailing a resort to arms, and the independent Princes of India were so numerous and strong as to conBut at the ceive themselves equal to expel the British." during which period he termination of Lord Moira's rule brouoht two wars of the greatest magnitude to a successful issue— every native state in that vast region was in either
acknowledged or essential subjugation to our Government. James Mill, the historian of British India, remarks
administration of the Marquess of Hastings may be regarded as the completion of the great scheme of which Clive laid the foundation, and Warren Hastings and the Marquess of Wellesley had reared the superstructure. The crowning pinnacle was the work of Lord Hastings, and by him was the supremacy of the British Empu'e in India finally established."
The subject of this memoir, who for his public services had been created Marquess of Hastings, Earl of Rawdon, and Viscount Loudoun, in 1817, returned to England in 1823, where, however, in spite of increasing age and
infirmities, he found himself unable to enjoy that repose to which his long and brilliant career in the service of his country had justly entitled him. It was said of him that his ample fortune absolutely sank under the benevolence of his nature, and his libei-ality was declared by a judge from the bench, "absolutely to exceed all bounds." While he commanded at Southampton (1793-4), his private expenditure exceeded £30,000, yet such was his delicacy, that he would not accept either j)ay, emolument, or patronage, while the troops in his camp were kept in that state of indecision which did not promise real service, and this rule was strictly carried out during the whole time that his commission was in force. It has been suggested by Major Ross, of Bladensburg (in the Rulers of India series), that his extraordinary attachment to the Prince of Wales greatly contributed to the ruin of his " Moira and I," the Prince would sometimes say, affairs. " are like two brothers, when one wants money he puts his hand in the other's pocket " and to help his illustrious friend, he sold his estates in Ireland and much valuable property in England. Also, according to the same biographer, on the exile of the Bourbon princes during the Frencli Revolution, he placed Donnington Park at their disposal. There they remained for several years, and to fully supply their wants, he left in each bedroom a signed cheque book, which the occupant could fill up at pleasure, without having to undergo the humiliation of asking for pecuniar}- assistance. It is satisfactory to state that the Royal objects of his bounty availed themselves but sparingly of this generosity. His
expenditure in India was conducted on a very lavish scale, and when he returned to England, he declared himself to be, after nine years' unceasing toil in the East, a poorer man than when he went out. He was obliged, therefore, to seek
further employment, and in 1824 became Governor of Malta. yeai's later, his health gave way, and he sustained a serious injury through a fall from his horse. A cruise in the Mediterranean was prescribed for him, but he never rallied, and died on board H.M.S. Revetige, in Baia Ba}^, near Naples, November 28tli, 1826. His body was brought to Malta and buried on the ramparts.
pound where
heroes sleep
'Tis not the sculptured piles
you heap
He left a letter, in which, among other requests, he desired that his right hand might be cut off, and buried (at The wish was complied with, her death) with his wife. and it now rests clasped with her's in the family vault at
the old Kirk of Loudoun When, or where, the eminent man whose Masonic career it will become my next task to unfold, was received into the It has always been Society, cannot be positively affirmed. supposed that he was initiated in an Army Lodge, and if so his admission probably took place either in No. 86, attached to the 5th Foot, in which he served as a subaltern from 1773 or in No. 512, in the 63rd regiment, to which he to 1775 was transferred as captain after the sanguinary engagement at Bunker's Hill. These were both Irish Lodges, but it is with the annals of English Masonry in which for many eventful years the Earl of Moira (as he will always be best known by students of the Craft), forms the central figure, that we are chiefly concerned, and to these I now pass. At the annual Feast of the Society in 1790, Lord Rawdon was ap[)ointed Acting Grand Master, and retained that position under the Prince of Wales, who, on the death of his uncle, the Dnke of Ciimberland, was elected Grand Master, and installed in 1792. At this time the French Revolution had given rise to many unhappy dissensions in Great Britain, and to check them, addresses to tlie Throne were presented by most of the corporate bodies in the kingdom and all the true friends of
It was deemed proper that the Society the Constitution. Masons, by adding their mite to the number, should evince that attachment to the King and Constitution Avhich the laws of the institution enjoined. Accordingly, on the 6th of February, 1793, the Grand Lodge unaniluonsly resolved that an address which had been drawn up by Lord Moira should be presented to His Majesty.
The following
Masonic principles
when the
from this powerful exposition of be read with interest at tlie jiresent eldest son of the Sovereign once more
" It
over the destinies of the Freemasons of England
may be thought, perhaps, that being what Ave are. a private society of men connected by invisible ties — professing secrecy
mysterious in our meetings stamped by no act of prerogative and acknowledged by no law. we assume a part and hold a langv^age upon this occasion to which we can urge no legal or a Imitted right. We are the Free Citizens of a Free State, and number raanj' thousands of our body. The Heir Apparrid of the Empire is our Chief. We fraternize for the purj)oxe>i of social
intercourse, of i/iiitual assi.stanre, of charity to the distressed, a7id i/ood-irill to all ; and fidelity to a truxt, rererem-e to the mar/istrate, and obedience to the l((nis, are sculptured in eapitals upon the pediment of our Institution."
grand feast was held at Freemasons' Hall on the 13th May, 1795, the (Jrand Master in the chair. The Prince of Wales was accompanied by the Duke of Clarence, and I'rince William (afterwards Duke) of Cloacester, who had been initiated in the Jh'itannic Lodge by the Acting Grand Master on the preceding evening. As a final toast the Grand Master gave "the Earl of Moira," whom he styled " the man of my heart and the friend I admire," and sincerely hoped that the Acting (jtrand Master might lon<>" live to superintend the government of the Craft, and to
extend the principles of the Art. The Prince of Wales again presided at the grand festival of the Society in 1796, and was supported by Prince Ernest Augustus, afterwards Duke of Cumberland, and still later King of Hanover, whose initiation, he informed the brethren, had taken place the same day, at a special Lodge held for that purpose, in the house of the Earl of Moira. Two works were published in 1797, which, though now seldom read, produced an inunense sensation at the time.
They were written by the Al>be Barruel and Professor Robison, in the same year and without mutual consultation.
It was the object of both to prove that a secret association had been formed and carried on for rooting out all the religious establishments and overturning all the existing and that this association had governments of Europe employed as its chief instruments the Lodges of Freemasons. These works were not without influence in inspiring a portion of the legislation in 1799, when an Act of Parliament was passed " for the more eftectiial suppression of societies established fur seditious and treasonable purposes, and for preventing treasonable and seditious practices." By this Statute 39, George III., c. 79 it was enacted
the members whereof are required to take any oath not authorised by law, should be deemed unlawful combinations. Ultimately, however, societies held imder the denomination of Lodges of Freemasons, were, under certain conditions, exempted from the operation of the Act. This was mainly due to the tact and address of the Earl of Moira, by whose efforts English Freemasonry was saved from extinction, or at the very least from temporary obliteration. On the 15th of May, 1800, the King was fired at from the pit of Drury Lane Theatre, and at a Special Gi-and Lodge held in June, the Acting Grand Master stated that it had been convened for the purpose of considering a suitable address to be presented to his majesty. In the course of his speech, and evidently referring to the w^orks of Barruel and Robison, he " took occasion to allude to certain modern publications holding forth the Society of Masons as a league against constituted authorities " ; and while admitting " that in countries where impolitic prohibitions restrict the communication of sentiment, the activity of the human mind might, among other means of baffling' the control, have resorted to the artifice of borrowing the denomination of Freemasons to cover meetings for seditious purposes," he boldly affirmed, "not onl}' that such a subterfuge had no sort of connection with the tenets of Masonry, but was diametrically opposite to the junction regarded as the foundation of the Lodge, namely Fear that
all societies,
God, and
Honour the King."
In 1805, the Earl of Moira, who then combined the functions of Acting Grand Master of English Freemasons with those of Commander of the Forces in Scotland, became the happy medium through which his own and the Gi'and Lodge of the Northern Kingdom were brought into fraternal union. In the same year, November 27, and through the same channel, a correspondence in terms of amity, and brotherly communication was arranged with the Grand Lodge of Prussia. At this meeting of the Grand Lodge, the brethren, to mark their sense of the services rendered to Masonry by the acting Grand Master, "agreed that the fraternity should dine together on December 7th, it being the birthday of Earl Moira." The practice continued to be observed by a large number of the Metropolitan Lodges until his lordship's departure for India, and a survival of it still exists in the Moira Lodge, No. 92, which holds its annual festival on December 7, when the toast of the evening is, " The memory of Earl Moira, the patron of the
friendly alliance with the Grand Lodge of Ireland, similar to that established with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, was effected throvigh the same instrumentality, in 1808. The previous Masonic intercourse of both these Grand
Lodges had been confined to the Schismatic Grand Lodge of " Ancient Masons," seceders from the Grand Lodge of England about the middle of the last century. The Earl of Moira, who was acting (or virtual) Grand Master of Scotland in 1806 and 1807, twice discharged the
On ceremonial duties incidental to that office in 1809. October 25th, he laid the foundation stone of George the Third's Bastion at Leith, and on November 21st, the "Freemason's Hall " of Scotland was consecrated by him, and in On each the most solemn manner dedicated to Masonry. of these occasions the Earl delivered one of those eloquent addresses for which he was so justly famed.
Towards the close of the year 1812, Lord Moira having been appointed Governor-General of India, it was considered by the Fraternity as only due to his exalted merit to entertain him at a farewell banquet, and to present him with a valuable Masonic jewel, as a memorial of their regard.
On the day appointed January 27th, 1813 the Duke of Sussex, as Deputy Grand Master (in which office he had succeeded Sir Peter Parker, Admiral of the Fleet, who died in December, 1811), took the chair, and was supported by above five hundred brethren, the coraimny including six royal dukes.
In happy terms the Chairman characterised the services twenty years he had tlie Earl during the one and ])resided over the interests of the fraternity, as having shed splendour upon the Oraft, and saved the society from total while in terms still happier, the guest of the destruction evening acknowledged the compliment
I hold here," replied Lord concentrates all the rays of the Craft upon my person, as person of any other placed in the same it would upon the and the illustrious Deputy Grand Master makes an elevation effort to persuade himself that the lunar brilliancy is the genuine real relation to you may Ije best irradiation of the sun. explained by an Asiatic apologue. In the baths of the East, poet is introduced, perfumed clay is used instead of soap. who breaks out into an enthusiastic flow of admiration at the Alas answers the clay, odour of a lump of clay of this sort. 'I am only a piece of ordinary earth, but I happened to come in contact with the rose, and I have borrowed some of its fragrance.' I have borrowed the character of the virtues inherent in this and my best hope is, that however minute be the Institution' ])ortion with which I have been thus imbued, at least. I am not likely to lose what has been so forfuitouslj^ acquired. Gratitude holds a high rank among those virtues and. if I can be confident of anything, it must be of this, that earnest gratitude towards you cannot depart from my breast, but with the last pulse of
The prominent staUon which
The Mason's Widow.
Lord Moira was on the eve of starting for the seat of Government in India. Thousands of miles were soon to Was interpose between him and the home of his ancestors. he ever to return to its shades a free, unembarassed, independent man 1 In his splendid library at Donniugton Park he was busily engaged in sorting papers, destroying letters, and signing certain lengthy parchments, prior to a long absence from England. While so employed a servant entered and said that a woman wished to see him.
" " "
Her business
" ]\lilitary business, inx lord, so she says."
cannot see her, be lier errand whit it may." told her so, m}' lord, b\it she will take no denial." "The shortest way to end this matter," said Lord Moira kindly, " will be for me to see her at once. Let her enter.''
" What may you want from me 1 " said the Earl, coldly, on her admittance to the library. She explained that her second son, who supported the entire family, had been drawn for a soldier, and she wanted Lord Moira to get him off. "I cannot help you," was the Earl's rejoinder; "if your son has been regularly balloted for and drawn in the
he must serve." exclaimed the poor woman bitterly and " vehemently, as if her grief was getting the better of both reason and prudence. "Yes, that's the word 'serve.' My three brothers did so, and fell on the field of battle. My father did so, and his bones lie in the sands of Egypt. My husband did so, and fell in action at Corunna."
" Serve
widow," said his lordship, musinglj-.
was your husband's name
" Isaac Wardroper." " Did he ever serve in the 63rd ?" " He did, and volunteered out of it for foreign service." "The 63rd! I should know something about that regi" I had a company in ment," returned the Earl quickly. Then in more measured tones " I think I recollect it." your husband, what was his rank ?"
remember him, a steady, well-conducted man." Then turning to the lawyer by his side, he asked in a low tone, " '\Vhat would a substitute
" Pay-Corporal," was the reply. " I "Right," said liis lordship.
The legal gentleman made no reply, biit his look at the parchments lying before them seemed to say, "How can you, with s\ich a heavy mortgage as the one you are about to execute, think, even for a passing instant, of incurring
the cost of a substitute 1 Lord Moira coloured and turned away.
" I cannot inter-
fere," he said at last, " the law is peremptory and must be obeyed." The tone of the Earl's voice, or the energy of despair may have suggested the movement, but again advancing, the woman said faintly, " About a week before he went into action for tlie fifth time, my poor fellow gave these into my hands, and told me, that should he fall, and I be ever able to reach England, they might, perhaps, be useful to me."
She handed to his lordship, as she spoke, a certificate, drawn up on vellum, together with certain insignia, and waited in bent and hopeless attitude the result. He to whom Masonry was so dear, whose devotion to its interests never varied, who held so high a place in the Craft, and in the affections of the Brethren, extended his hand, and examined narrowly and deliberately the various insigThe scrutiny, it nia the vellum, its tenor, its signatures.
would seem,
left no suspicions behind it, for the Earl, with a smile, said firmly and cheeringly, " Your husband, it appears, was a Mason. Of that I am satisfied. He belonged, unqiiestionably, to a Military Lodge. There are such in the army, not many, nor perhaps much countenanced by the authorities but they do exist. For you it is well. Go, and with a light heart. So good a son had best remain where he is. He will not be torn from you. I can listen to nothing further ; go, I require no thanks. and have no fears about the future." A substitute for Stephen Wardroper was procured who provided him? who sought him? who paid for him? and who, before the week's end, sent a .£10 note by post to the Mason's widow ? The poor woman accurately conjectured, and so without a doubt will the reader.
On Lord Moira's passage to India, the vessel in which he had embarked, calling at the Mauritius, at the head of the Masons of that island, he laid the foundation stone of the
Catholic Cathedral of Port Louis. who was not only Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, but also Acting-Grand Master of India, His first Masonic arrived in Calcutta on October 4th, 1813. act was to constitute a new Lodge, which was named after
The " Moira Lodge, Freedom and FideHty," to which he granted a warrant of constitution on November 8th in the same year.
Master was Major-General Sir William Keir the Wardens, Colonel C. J. Doyle and Commodore John Hayes and one of the Founders (or earliest members) Major-General Sir Rollo Gillespie.
The Acting Grand Master, who was presented
11th, 1813
arrival in
December an address of congratuUxtion on his safe India, made a most eloquent speech to the brethren
— with
of Calcutta in reply, declaring " the diffusion of a spirit of
benevolence and charity to be the object of their labours, and that the true work of Masons was the adoration of the Most High."
An address to the Countess of Moira w^as presented on the same occasion. This lady the grand-daughter of John, 4th Earl of Loudoun, Grand Master of England, 1736 was also Countess of Loudoun in her own right, and succeeded to the family honours in 1786. The brethren expressed to her ladyship that they were unable to deny themselves the gratification of blending with their congratulations to Lord Moira the same cordial welcome to herself, and claiming her hereditary influence over their Fraternity with sentiments of equal veneration.
Under the benignant sway of the Earl of Moira, as Grand Master in India, which lasted for the period of nine years, the Lodges multiplied, and in those glorious days persons of all classes were eager to become members of the Society. The wisdom of the appointment was exemplified in its immediate effects. The influence of his lordship's great name, exalted rank, high acquirements, extensive benevolence, and Masonic eminence was seen in the new zeal it infused into the Fraternity. The constant appearance of the Governor-General and Commander-in-Cliief among the Brethren in India, gave additional vigour to the spirit so inspired, and, working under the eye of a Grand Master so distinguished for every Masonic virtue, the ardour of that spirit continued unabated until the close of his administration, to the honour of the Craft, the increase of its numbers, and the extension of its charities.
being notified that the Governor-General was ahout his high office and retni'n to Enghxnd, the Marqness of Hastings to use the title which had been was presented with a farewell conferred upon him in 1817 address, offering their united sentiments of regard and esteem for his person and virtues, by the Freemasons. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal and eight private Lodges took part in the demonstration, assembling on December 20th, 1822, at the Town Hall, Calcutto, and having been joined by several brethren of distinction, walking in procession to the Government House to the number In most of the Lodges the military of about three hundred. element must have predominated, but in three of them the membership was restricted to brethren of the sea and land services. These were "Courage with Humanity" (now No. 39 L'), in the Regiment of Artillery at Dum-Dum, so called because " Courage was ever the leading featiire in the Bengal Artiller}^ and Humanity the grand characteristic of the British soldier"; "Marine" (now No. 232), at that time composed, as its name would imply, of persons employed in and No. 921, under the Marine service of the Governtnent the Irish Constitution, attached to the 17th Foot. The presence of military Lodges, as well as military brethren, lent a particular interest to the presentation of the address, and probably nothing has ever surpassed in pathos or dignity the leave-taking of the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief as Grand Master of English Freemasons in the East. He did so in the following words
to hiy
peculiarly affecting and grateful to my feelings. It ought to be As j'ou have yourselves observed, each of you has already so. affixed his name to the general Arldress with which I was honoured some days ago. There is, of course, a motive for your wishing to come forward again, and as I cannot but understand you have it, the quality of that motive is most flattering to me desired to bear a more precise and emphatic testimony to my conduct. That observation which Masons reciprocally exercise over each other, not as a privilege, but as a duty, l)inds the Craft to be strict in a public profession of opinion, so that where it chii commend, the commendation stands vouched by the known Your approbation of me may be mistaken may be caution. undeservedly partial may be exaggerated in phrase, but it must be sincere, and as such I take it to my heart.
— The compliment which you have offered to me
'"You have thanked me for the encouragement I have given here to Masonry, and for the vigilance I have exerted for its preserving an accurate course. That fostering care was ir'cumbent on me. for the superintendence which I have held. But I have not considered the fulfilment of such an obligation as a dry duty. I have felt a lively interest in the pi'omotion of what I believe The veil thrown over Masonrv to be highly beneficial to societj'. renders its operation silent and unobserved yet the influence of a body, spread through all classes of society, pervading every circle and diffusing (though by its separate members) opinions digested and matured, from remote periods, in the Brotherhood, must be powerful in its effect. I think the traces of its useful sway are disco veral:)le if we cast our eyes on olden times. Reflect on that semi-barbarism which was the condition of all the States of Europe in ages not long past. What apparent cause was there for a sudden and rapidly progressive mitigation, of the rude oppressions Avhich characterised the day ? If noije such can confidently be pointed out, is it not reasonable to recur to an agency which, while it is unobtrusive, must in its very nature be active ! " The secrecy observed in Masonic proceedings, and the rigid scrutiny exercised into the private character of candidates for admission, excited the curiosity of the higher ranks, and at the same time removed every fear of their discrediting themselves by becoming members of the Fraternity. Once initiated they received lessons which never could have reached them in any other situation. They were taught that, throughout the necessary giadations in a community, and amid the unavoidable distinctions ai-ising from talents or property, man was still the brother of man. This primary position once adopted, all corollaries from it were readily embraced. The doctrine imbibed in the Lodge became the rule of action for the man of might in his public sphere, and his example disseminated the principles of humanity and justice to the utmost extent of the circle. Surely this is not a visionary supposition. Obseive the difference of charactei' between the rations of Europe where Masonry has flourished and those in which it has been proscribed, and let the contrast, so favourable for the former, support my hypothesis. The proof will be still stronger if you advert to the despotism, the ferocity, the degradation of manhood in the Asiatic regions, where no casual ray of Masonry has ever pierced the gloom. In Europe, what were once Masonic principles alone, are so generally prevalent, that it would now be difficult to make it believed that thej' were once acknowledged only in a confined society. Yet it is well that the sanctuary for them should still exist. Our forms are only constant inculcations to us of the moral Rules which ought to be observed in all times, cases, and situations. If I may have been fortuuate enough to have recollected them in the exercise of authority', as you would kindly persuade me, I am most happy.
"X"W, in the truest spirit of fraternal afEection. I bid you FAKEWELL, with this parting injunction — (OXTIXUE TO FEAR God, to hoxouh the King, and to keep pure the Craft."
The Marquess of Hastings left India, where he restored Freemasonry and became the shepherd of the faithful, amid The parting scene, which has been the regrets of his fold. well depicted by Dr. Burnes, in his nration " On the duties of the Masonic Soldier," will be found in the present volume, and there is nothing in the annals of Indian Masonry that possesses an equal interest for such military readers as happen also to be members of the Fraternity. If wisdom in council, eloquence in debate, valour in arms, undeviating patriotism, and universal benevolence, are deserving of record iu the pages of history, and in the annals then, in the character of the Earl of Moira of Freemasonry (first Marquess of Hastings), who was equally renowned as a soldier, a statesman, and a great ruler in the Craft, we find a happy combination of Masonic and patriotic excellence, which no lapse of time ought to elTace from our memory, as
can never be surpassed.
The warrant of the " Moira Lodge, Freedom and Fidelity," which was the only instrument of its class, granted by the Acting Grand Master of India (as shortly after he reestablished the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal), was
surrendered in 1823. A short notice of the first Master, Sir William Keir Grant, has been already given (p. 109). The Senior Warden, Colonel (afterwards General Sir Charles William) Doyle, served in the Netherlands and Egypt, under Abercrombie, and commanded a force of Light Infantry, known as " Doyle's Triadores," in Ihe Peninsula, with such conspicuous success, that he w^as made a Spanish LieutenantThe Junior Warden, Commodore (afterwards General. Sir John) Hayes, entered the Indian Navy, of which he He comAvas one of the brightest ornaments, in 1781. manded a squadron of nine vessels at the capture of Java, and the armed flotilla on the coast of Airacan (as a flag officer) during the Burmese War of 1825.
The remaining member of the " Moira Lodge " whose name has coujC down to us, was Sir I'obert Bollo Gillespie,
a brief memoir will ne.\t be presented.
From time imLoemorial the Craft has recruited from the ranks of the British Armv, brethren who have been distinguished for their devotion to Freemasonry and its principles, no less than for their gallantry in the field of arms. Of this a brilliant example is afforded by the career of General Gillespie, who was born at Comber, in the County of Down, and became a Cornet in the 6th Dragoon Guards, and also a Freemason, in 1783. A few years later he was transferred to the "JOth (Jamaica) Light Dragoons, with which regiment he saw much service in the West Indies, particularly at the capture of Tiburon in 1794, and afterwards at Port-au-Prince, where his life was threatened, and he was on the point of being put to death by order of the French Governor, General Santhonax, under the following circumstances.
He was selected by the British Commander-in-Chief as the bearer of a despatch with a summons to surrender the island, and having been sent under a flag of truce, so great was his anxiety to reach the shore from the English squadron, that the boat became stranded and overturned, with the result that both flag and papers were lost in the sea. Whereupon Gillespie swam ashore with his sword in his mouth, and though repeatedly fired at succeeded in affecting a landing without receiving any hurt. On being brought a ])risouer before the Governor he was charged with being a spy, and sentenced to be hanged. Gillespie, however, espied on the buttons of the Governor (or one of his officers) a certain device, and at once resorted to the language of Freemasonry. The signal was acknowledged, he was immediately released, sumptuously entertained, and sent back to the squadron and his companions in arms, under a guard of honour, by order of General Santhonax.
In 1796, as a Major, he accompanied General Wilford to Domingo, when he was appointed Adjutant-General and much feared by the republicans. A gang of eight desperadoes broke into his quarters, murdered his slave-boy, and attacked Gillespie, who, however, defended himself with his sword, and killed six of his assailants, when the two others, after firing at and wounding him, fled. On his return to England, he attended a levee, and George III. noticing his diminutive stature, " Eh, eh, what, what,"
the King, "is this the little man that killed tlie " brigands 1 After the Peace of Amiens, he exchanged, as LieutenantColonel, into the 19th Light Dragoons, and proceedingoverland to India, was appointed Commandant of Arcot, where his regiment was stationed. Hut he had not been there many days when, riding before bieakfast on July 10th, 1806, he was met by an officer who reported a mutiny at Vellure. This was fourteen miles distant, and the retreat of the captive princes of Tippoo's family.
Starting at once with a squadron of the 19th, and some native cavalry, and directing the rest of the Dragoons with their "galloper" guns to follow, Gillespie hurried to Vellore to find that the Sepoy troops had massacred the Europeans, with the exception of a few survivors belonging to the 69th Foot, who had spent their anuiiunition and were making their last stand. With the aid of a rope, Gillespie had himself hoisted into the fort, where he encouraged the 69th until the arrival of the guns from Arcot, when the gates were l)lown open, and the Dragoons entering cut down over 800 of the mutineers. The Military Lodge at Vellore, as previously narrated, perished in this revolt.
In 1811, Gillespie, as Brigadier-General, accompanied the expedition against Java, and on the reduction of the Island was left in command of the troops. The next year finding that a confederacy of the Javanese Chiefs had taken up a defended by position in a powerfully stockaded fort, 100 guns, and 30,000 men, he promptly attacked and carried it with 1,500 troops, therel)y, in all prol)ability, saving the lives of nil the Europeans on the island.
Returning as a Major-General, to India in 1813, after participating for a brief period in Masonic fellowship with his brethren of the " Moira Lodge," he was appointed, in 1814, to the command of one of the four columns which The progress of the took part in the invasion of Nepaul. column was arrested by one hill fort, Kalanga, garrisoned l)y
Two assaults were beaten a mere handful of the enemy. liack, and the British General and 500 of his men were
The gratitude
of a nation has reared in St. Paul's Cathedral
a monument to perpetuate the inemoi-y of Sir Rollo Gillespie, and in the town of Comber, where he was born, his Masonic brethi'en have erected a column in loving rememl^rance of the " One shot more for tlie honour hero whose last words were Thirty -five Lodges were present at the unveiling of Down." of the " Gillespie Monument " on the I'-tth of June (St. John's Day), 1844, and the members of the Society who assembled on that interesting occasion, are said to have formed the largest meeting of Freemasons ever witnessed in Ireland. For a short time after the departure of Lord Hastings Masonry continued to flourish in Bengal, and ten (or more) Lodges of a military, though stationary, character are known to have existed in that Presidency (or jurisdiction) Three, "Sincerity" (Cawnpore), "Hastings" in 1827. (Allahabad), and " Northern Star " (Barrackpore), were in each case composed of officers in the cantonment and neigh-
The members of the others, one of which, bourhood. " Independence with Philanthropy," was formed out of the lower ranks by the " Hastings " Lodge, Allahabad, were non-commissioned otficers and men.
close of the same year ushered in the annihilation order and constituted authority for a time. The Provincial Grand Lodge sank into a profound slumber, and the military brethren of "Indejoendence with Philanthropy" hoisted the standard of revolt liy returning their warrant, intimating that future meetings would be held under a dispensation obtained from Lodge "Union" in the 14th Foot until a oharter could be obtained from England, for which application had been made direct. The latter formerly was carried over at the fusion of the .\o. 338, "Ancients" two societies as No. 432, but, together with its earlier offspring under a previous dispensation, the " Ofiicers' Lodge " in the same regiment, had ceased to exist in 1832. The petition of the former was successful and a civil warrant was granted, under which it still exists as the Lodge of " Independence with Philanthropy " at Allahabad.
But the
Yet in general the letters of the Lodges remained luianswered and their requests unheeded, a state of affairs which continvied imtil the 3'ear 1840 the commencement (if a new era in the Masonic Historv of Bengal.
There are many obstacles to the success of Masonry in and perhaps the chief one is the pecuHar nature of the society there, and its habihty to perpetual fluctuation. Most of the Lodges are composed chiefly and some exclusively of military members, all of whom are liable to be removed from particular stations at a moment's notice. Whether, therefore, an Indian Lodge, except in the principal seats of Government, will continue to prosper or fall into at least a temporary decay, is even in our OA\'n times dependent on the chance of any given number of those who form the last I'elief being members of the Fraternity. But in more remote days, when there were no railroads, and the European population of India was merely a fraction of what it now is, any sudden removal of Masons from a station, which was not counter-ljalanced by an accession of new l)rethren, almost invariably resulted in the extinction of a
To these observations the Lodges
in regiments were, of
an exception, since wherever the regiments moved Still, it the Lodges and their members accompanied them. must be recollected that in practice, regimental Lodges were
confined to the Queen's troops, excepting only the (Bengal and Bombay) Artillery. In regiments of Native Infantry (though the experiment has been tried in Madras) the number of officers is too scanty to allow the possibility of Lodges being permanently established in them.
far as
indeed, to these regimental Lodges that I must, as restrict my remarks, but cases were of
frequent occurrence in which their assistance was invoked l:)y military brethren under circumstances of the followingcharacter.
As already stated, the Stationary Lodges were always in great peril, owing to the possible removal of the whole (or a large portion) of their members on military duty ; and to this must now be added that it was by no means unusual for the members, whose involuntary defection so often brought about a catastrophe at the station from which they were removed, to find themselves at a new one, where there was no Lodge. In this diflficvilty it was the custom for such brethren to apply to a regular Lodge for a dispensation,
to work under the protection of that body, until a warrant was received from home.
Some Masons at Delhi applied in 1834 to their brethren at Meerut for a constitution of this kind, which might serve their purpose until the receipt of a warrant from the Grand Lodge of England. At the latter station there were
two Lodges, one of which, however, was itself working under dispensation, and could not therefore dispense grace The other belonged to the 26th Foot, No. 26, to another. under the Grand Lodge of Ireland. This Lodge declined giving a dispensation, for the somewhat Irish reason that the " Cameronian Lodge " had already granted one to another Lodge of the 'propriety of which act they had great and that until an answer had been received from dotdjt Ireland, they could not commit a second act of doubtful
The custom was, indeed, a very old one, and to the examples already given of its prevalence in numerous jurisdictions, it will be sufficient to add that in 1782, Lodges in the Nova Scotia Volunteers, Royal Artillery, and 82nd Foot were at work in Halifax (N.S.), " under dispensation from the warranted Lodges Nos. 155 and 211 " now Nos. 1 and 2 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia. Also, that a Lodge, " No. 213 Junior," was held in the Royal Artillery, under a dispensation from the parent body at the same ("Atholl ") number now the "Albion," Quebec at St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1785
which attained a great vogue, necessai-ily with the more general existence of Provincial Grand Lodges, and no survival of the usage after 1840 has been recorded. In that year there was a
second revival of Masonry- in Bengal.
of the
After the departure Hastings, it had gone out of fashion, and the circumstances under which military brethren of all ranks in the leading Presidency again rallied round the Masonic Standard will be presently related.
In 1813, the 17th Dragoons was stationed at Kaira, in Goojerat, and a Lodge (English), No. 361, was attached to the regiment, which for many years continued to be the only one in the Presidency of Bombay. Of the thirtv-four
members, sixteen were Knights Templar, and seventeen Koyal Arch Masons. Twenty-nine were non-commissioned The degrees officers, and the remainder private dragoons. worked, in addition to the "three regnlar steps," were those Royal Arch, Super-excellent, of Past Master (in the Lodge) Mark and Link (in the Chapter) and Knight Templar, St. John of Jerusalem, and Knight ot Malta (in the Encamp;
Six commissioned officers (of other regiments) and one
were admitted to the membership of the Lodge in LS21, and in the same year a petition from the seven for a <lrand Lodge warrant was forwarded and recomniended by No. 361. A remarkable entry in the minutes occurs under the date of August 22nd, 1821
"Proposed and agreed to that the half-monthly meeting be entirely for the Br. Officers (Military) of Lodge Xo. 301. but that ail fees and dues for Initiation. &c.. exclusively to the (ieneral Lodge fund, and that such Br. Officers as may have already been admitted into our most Honble. Society, may attend the regular monthly meeting if they desire it, and on the half-monthly night calling such assistance from the old members
as they
that time, until the regiment left India (1823), there were virtually two Lodges attached to it, one consisting of commissioned officers and members of the Civil Service, the other of non-commissioned officers and private dragoons. " the Brethren, Commissioned Officers, In December, 182
and Lodge
it was arranged that the the various offices on the occasion of the Festival of St. John. The " Benevolent Lodge," No. 746, was duly established (on the recommendation of No. 361) in 1822, and all the military petitioners for it were founders of another Lodge, "Orion in the West," "installed" in the Bombay Horse In the latter none but Artillery, at Poona, in 1823. Initiates of the Lodge, or officers of the regiment, could become members, and non-commissioned officers were only admitted as serving brethren. In 1832, a subaltern of the corps, being "the only uninitiated officer of the mess," was
Officers" met, and
former should
admitted, "though under age," by dispensation. The "Benevolent Lodge," held in the first instance at
Poona, was, a few years afterwards, removed to Bombay, at which capital there were thirteen non-commissioned ofhcers who were too poor to establish a Lodge of their own, and too modest to seek admittaucii into what was considered an 'I'hey met, however, monthly in the aristocratic Lodge. guard-room over the Apollo Gate, for mutual instruction in Masonry. This coming to the knowledge of the " Benevolent Lodge," the thirteen were elected honorary members of No. At their 746, for which they returned heartfelt thanks. first attendance, when the Lodge work was over and the brethren adjourned to the banquet, the thirteen were informed that refreshments awaited them downstairs. Revolting at the distinction thus made among Masons, they one and all left the place. The next morning they were sent for by their commanding officer, who was also one of the officers of the Lodge, and asked to explain their conduct. One of the party, William Willis by whom this anecdote
was related to me at Poona in 1859 told him that as Masons they were bound to meet on the Level and part on but as this fundamental principle was not the Square practised in No. 746, of which they had been elected honorary members, they could not partake of their hospiThe astonished Colonel uttered not a word, but tality. waved his hand for them to retire. Ever after this the "Benevolent Lodge" including the thirteen met on the Level, both in Lodge and at the banquet table.
During the brief existence of this Lodge some very illusnames were inscribed on its roll (p. 105), and among them that of a famous Initiate, a short account of whose career, combined with a memoir of his elder brother, upon whom the mantle of the Marquess of Hastings would seem to have fallen as a Ruler of the Craft, will be next laid before
the reader.
James and Alexander Burnes arrived in India and were taken on the strength of the Bombay army, the foi'mer as a medical officer and the latter as a cadet, in October, 1821. The elder brother. Dr. Burnes, author of a History of Cxitch and a Visit to the Court of Scinde, after meritorious service with the cavalry and infantry, returned to Europe on sick
certificate in 1833.
Alexander Barnes, at an age when yonths at home were just leaving college, had already advanced a long way on the path of fame.
True valour waits not the advance of
souls are born to soar in loftier spheres, years."
After proceeding on a mission to Runjeet Singh, " The Lion of the Punjaub," at Lahore, the unwearied traveller, in January, LS32, commenced his adventurous journey into Among the countries he passed through was Central Asia. AfFghanistan,and from Cabool, Burnes wrote to his mother:
' The people know me by the name of Sekunder, which is the Persian for Alexander, and a magnanimous name it is. I am living with a most amiable man. a Nawab, named Jubbur Khan, brother to the Chief of Cabool."
Of this worthy he relates an anecdote which will be best given in the traveller's own words
had the pleasure of manv sociable evenings with our host the Nawab, whom I found, like manv of his countrymen, in search of the philosopher's stone. We heard from him the position of many metallic veins in the country. The good man declared that he must have some of our knowledge in return for what he told so freely. I informed him that I belonged to a sect called Freemasons, and gave some account of the Craft. It was an institution, I said, where, though we did not change the baser metals into gold, we sought to transform the baser and blacker passions of man into philanthropy and charity. He particularlyrequested that he might be admitted into the fraternity without delay, but as the number of brethren must be equal to that of the Pleiades. I put it off to a convenient opportunity. He confidently believed that he had at last got scent of magic in its purest
dye, and had
been in
my power I
ha-ve willingly initiated
On leaving Cabool "Sekunder Burnes" made his way to the City of Bokhara, where he received all possible kindness and hospitality. The story of his travels he sums up in a
few striking words
saw everything, both ancient and modern, to excite the interest and inflame the imagination Bactria, Trans-OxiauR. Scythia, and Parthia. Kharasm, Khorasan, and Iran. We beheld the scenes of Alexander's wars, of the rude and savage inroads of Jengis and Timour, as well as of the campaigns and revelries of Baber. In the journey to the coast, we marched on the very line of route by which Alexander had pursued Darius, while the voyage to India took us on the track of the Admiral Nearchus.
Burnes an-ived in England in November, 1833, and was most cordially received as a true son of Britain who had performed glorious service in the East. His manuscript quickly found a publisher, and it was at once admitted that such a book of travels had not appeared for many a long Honours of all kinds vvere showered upon him. year. Such attention no lieutenant in any age had ever received before. It was enough to turn the head of any ordinary subaltern, but Alexander Burnes was cast in no ordinary mould, and he survived it. In February, 183-1, the young officer, in the course of an address delivered before St. Peter's Lodge, Montrose, gave some interesting particulars of the state of Freemasonry in the East, and stated that even in the most remote and rude districts of Asia which he had visited, he had traced that Masonry had once existed there, from tradition and the remains of varioiis Masonic symbols which he particularised. In the following August, at a meeting of the same Lodge,
brothers, Dr. James Burnes, K.H., Charles Burnes, of Montrose (afterwards Lieutenant, 17th Bombay Native Infantry), and David Burnes, M.D., of London (who joined the Royal Xavy as a Surgeon in 182G, and retired from it in 1835), were enrolled as members, having been entered, passed, and raised in the course of the evening. An offer of the Secretaryship of Legation, to be followed by the superior appointment of British ^Minister at the Court of Teheran, was declined by Alexander Burnes. He laughed at Persia and her politics, exclaiming "I look far India was his chosen higher, and shall either die or be so." field of action, and thither he returned with a "flaming despatch " from the Court of Directors in his pocket, in June, 1835. The remaining events in the life of Sir Alexander Burnes (as he shortly after became) are matters of history. The Cabool tragedy of 1841 opened with his brutal murder by the Affghan mob, and this brief sketch of his career will be brought to a close in the words of his best biographer
three of his
"Carried off in the prime of life, 'only thirtj'-six years old, so so much time young, yet so much ali'eady done for immortality remaining, as it appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to maintain and to extend his fame."
Returning to Dr. James Burnes, there is nothing more remarkable in the annals of Masonry, than the absolutely unique position which he attained in the Craft within less than three years from the date of his initiation at Montrose. In 1836 he was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Western India, where, on his return, Scottish Masonry flourished, and English Masonry became quite dormant until the year 1848.
In 1840, Dr. Burnes was for some time in Bengal, and the Masonry in India, which had languished in the leading Presidency ever since the departui-e of the Earl of Moira first Marquess of Hastings in 1823, has always been associated with the visit to Calcutta of the Provincial
revival of
to the Calcutta Lodges were and one of them, delivered before the brethren of " Humility with Fortitude " (formerly an Artillery Lodge) in Fort William, is so germane to the scope of the present volume that I shall not scruple to
of a very eloquent character,
Grand Master of Bombay. The addi'esses of Dr. Burnes
reproduce a portion of
in these pages.
On the Duties of the Masonic
"I have ever fancied Masonry as a sort of rosy Avreath that might be entwined round the iron pillar of military discipline, imparting a grace and beauty to its form without impairing
integrity or strength since it is a system utterly abhorrent of oppression and insubordination, encouraging attachment to the officer, and even devotion, should he be a Brother, at the same time that it enhances the self-respect of the soldier by making him feel that in consequence of his moral Avorth, there is a point at which he and his military superior may be on the level, where the good qualities of both may become prominently known to each, and where neither would obtain a place unless under the tongue of good report, well vouched for and true. Everyone knows that even in the fury of the late war, the charters, diplomas, and insignia of Lodges used to be returned with It was only last night that courtesy after an engagement. Colonel Logan, a brave officer of the Peninsula, mentioned to me whole battalion an authentic anecdote which will interest you. of the 4th Foot had been taken prisoners and the officers stripped of several of them were bemoaning their lot in a drearj^ everything abode, when, to their surprise, they saw a subaltern of their corps passing along with a gay step, in full dress. The explanation having been discovered to be a Mason, his "vvas very simple
uniform and baggage had been immediatelj' restored to him, and he was then going, by special invitation, to dine with the French Field-Marshal. Some of you may have heard of a party of ladies and gentlemen having been taken prisoners in the Bay of Bengal by the French fi-igate La Forte, but who were all afforded the means of escape on the captain discovering that there was the Master of one of the Calcutta Lodges amongst them. From the
qualification required in Military Lodges, as well as the character of our Institution, the Masonic badge has become an honoural>le distinction in the ranks of the Ai^my. On last St. John's Day I had the honour of being supported by Brigadier Valiant, com-
manding the Garrison of Bombay, and Colonel Griffith. Commandant of the Artillery, two distinguished officers and Masons,
asserted, in the presence of the Military Lodge, Orthez (6th Foot), that Masonic Brethren had invariably been the best conducted soldiers. It is also within my knowledge that the Quarter-Master-General of this Army stated publicly at Agra that during his command of the Bengal European Regiment, no Masonic Brother's name had ever appeared in the defaulter's list. So much, however, for the effect of Masonry on the soldier. it has chastened the officer, I need scarcely recount here, since the annals of this city contain a glorious record of its triumph and many still glow with enthusiasm at the recollection of the august scene when Francis, Marquess of Hastings, the most chivalrous character of later times, impressed with devotion for the Craft and love for all his brethren, descended from his high estate as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, and within the walls of his own palace offered the right hand of friendship, with his parting benediction, to every soldier, individually, that wore an apron, acknowledging also his pride that Masonic principles had been discovered in the exercise of his authoi'itj\"
In 1846, Dr. Burnes was appointed Grand Master of Scottish Freemasons in India, and three years later his colleagues on the Medical Board intimated to the Bombay Government their deep regret that ill-health was about to deprive the Army Medical Service of an officer who had been "so long its pride and ornament."
Whether, indeed, the Military is entitled to rank before, or with, but after, the Medical profession, in respect of the influence it has exercised on Freemasonry, is a point on which there will be a difference of opinion, but a combination of the two may be instanced with confidence, as the most favourable condition certainly in former times under which the highest distinction in the Craft could be
Burnes and Grant, under whom Masonry so greatlyprospered in Bombay and Bengal, were Army Surgeons on the Indian establishment, and of the same military and medical status was Terence Gahagan, a third Provincial Grand Master of earlier date, through whose energy and zeal, after the war in the Carnatic, Masonry was prevented from sinking into a second lethargy on the Coast of Coromandel. Masonry over the whole of India could not fail to be profoundly affected by the Mutiny of 1857. A few days before the Siege of Lucknow, twenty brethren of the " Morning Star Lodge " celebrated the festival of St. John. At the chise of September nine of the party had been killed in action and three lay grievously wounded in the hospital. Captain Bernard M'Cabe, 32nd Foot, who, as one of tlie "rank and file," had served throughout the Cabool and Sutlej campaigns in the 31st, died sword in hand while leading his fourth sortie. Tiie meetings of the Lodges were suspended, and the brotherly feeling of the members was enlisted in a new cause. A staff officer records in his Diary :
a grand meeting of Freemasons, when it was resolved that the services of all the Masons in Calcutta should be placed at the disposal of Government and everyone pressed forward to show his loyalty by enrolling his name as a Volunteer."
It is cui'ious and noteworthy that amid the general devastation which occurred during the Mutiny, the " Masonic Temples " in the various cantonments were often left totally uninjured. Everything English in Bareilly people, houses,
furniture was ruthlessly destroyed, all save the house which the military brethren had used as a Freemasons' Lodge. The poor superstitious Sepoys understood that there was something inystp.rious transacted there, and that
might not be safe or lucky to interfere with it in any So there it stood in its integrity (on the return of those who fortunately for themselves had left Bareilly before the massacre), alone and unharmed amid the ruins of the
English station.
Like God's own
in after ytars,
Resounds the Warrior^ s fame,
Whose Sold his hopeless country
is its
According to tradition the first Lodge in France was founded at Paris by the Earl of Derwentwater in 1725; hut all that can be reasonably inferred with any approach to certainty is, that prior to 1738 there existed in Paris one, and in the Departments two, regularly constituted Lodges, together with some others more or less irregular, and that the fashiou' had been set, in the first instance, by refugees at the Cyurt of the Pretender. The iirst French military officer of the highest rank who joined the Fraternity was Marshal D'Estrees, " admitted The two next at the expense of ten Louis d'Ors," in 1737. were the Comte de Saxe and the Due de Ptichelieu, also Marshals of France. The first historical Grand Master was Lieutenant-General the Due d'Antin, elected in 1738; and the second, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Clermont an officer of the same military rank who was chosen to preside over the Grand Lodge of France in 1743. Four of these brethren commanded French armies in the field, The Comte de Saxe in a series of glorious campaigns, and the other three in the lesser operations of the Seven Years' Wai-. The two Marshals D'Estrees and Puchelieu won renown at Hastenbach and Cluster Seven but the Comte de Clermont was utterly defeated by another commander of high mditary and Masonic standing, Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, at Creveldt all these events occurring
in 1757.
time new
were multiplying
in the so-called " Scots degrees," which about 1740, we have the first of the legion of Then followed additions to Freemasonry on the Continent. the Chapter of Clermont (1754), the Knights of the East (1756), and the Emperors of the East and West (1758). Many of the degrees afterwards absorbed within these various rites, originated in the Lodges estal)lished by prisoners of war, of which the most industrious and inventive were those working at Berlin in 1757 and at Magdeburg in 1759-61. There was a great rivalry between the " Knights " and the " Emperors," and to this must be attributed the sorrowful picture of discord presented by the Grand Lodge of France from 1760 until the close of its career.
and Germany, and
"Montmorenci Luxembourg," in the The Lodge Regiment of Hainault Infantry, was the stem or trunk from which the Grand Orient of France budded forth in December, The Due de Luxembourg, colonel of the regiment, 1773. and " Brigadier des Armees du Koi," was the Master the wardens, his son and the Prince de Rohan-Guemenee, and among the members who were ail, with one exception,
noblemen— may be named
the Princes of Conde, Ligne, and the Montbazon, Nassau, and Pignatelli Gf the first Dukes of Lauzun, Coigny, and Fronsac. officers of the Grand Orient, the six highest in rank including the Due de Chartres, Grand Master— and nearly the whole of the honorary Grand Officers, were members of
this Lodge.
The Due de Chartres afterwards Due d'Orleans, and who was guillotined as "Citizen Egalite, in 1793 commanded a division of the French fleet in the action with Keppel oflf Ushant, in 1778; and though his conduct won
the applause of the populace, it is doubtful whether he did This prince showed no not behave with pusillanimity. anxiety to enter upon the duties of his Masonic office, and for several years the Due de Luxembourg, who assumed the title of " General Administrator," was in all but name the real Grand Master. In the archives of the Grand Orient are the records (dossiers) of about two hundred Regimental Lodges, together
with a minil'er of documents formerly belonging to the Lodges established in England (and elsewhere) by French
Others, of conrse, existed, which are prisoners of war. Of the older French only to be traced in the official lists. Army Lodges there were seventy-six, the last on the roll being " Parfait Amitie " in the Royal Italian Infantry, constituted in 1787, of which the first Master was Andre (afterwards Marshal) Massena, adjutant of the regiment. About a third of the number were founded by the Grand Lodge, and the remainder by the, Grand Orient, of France. The first on the list, " Parfaite Egalite," in the "Regiment Irlandais de Walshe," has the date of 1688, but was only taken on the roll of the Grand Lodge in 1772. The second, in the "Vivarais Infantry," was established in 1759, and with hardly a doiibt must be regarded as the older of the two, and, consequently, the senior Lodge of its class in the monarchy of France.
Some of the regiments to which Lodges were attached served in America during the War of Independence, and among the higher military officers who accompanied them were the Due de Biron (afterwards Marshal) and the Marquis de Lafayette, both prominent members of the Craft, and each of whom probably saw the light of j\lasonry in an Army Lodge (French or American) of the Revolution.
No Field Lodges were constituted in 1788 or 1789, and Forty-three regiments only eight between 1790 and 1801. had Lodges attached to them in 1804, of which one only was of earlier date than the Revolution, while no less than The year 1804 thirty-five had been warranted in 1802-4. witnessed the foundation of a new Masonic power in France, of the Ancient and in the form of a Supreme Council Accepted Scottish Rite, an expansion of the Emperors of the East and West by the Comte de Grasse-Tilly (son of the Admiral defeated by Lord Rodney), " Captain of Horse." This Rite has now- obtained a firm footing in nearly every other coimtry, and for the most part either rivals the grand authority of the Craft, or is only in nominal
subjection to
Glogau, in Silesia, was occupied by the French, in 1808, there was a military Lodge at work there, attached to
the head-quavters of the 6th Corps of the Grand Army. The Master was General (afterwards Count) Jean Gabriel Marchand, and among the members were Joseph Delom, a distinguished member of the General Staff, and Louis Marcognet, General of Brigade, who subsequently held a high command at Waterloo.
In 1811 the number of Lodges in the French Army had At this time they were both opened and There is closed with the cry of " Vive l' Empereur " ground for belief that Napoleon himself was a Freemason, and, according to Besuchet, his initiation took place at Malta in 1798.
risen to sixty-nine.
Further Lodges were established in the two following but in 1815 they had all virtually ceased to exist. The Grand Master, Joseph Buonaparte, sailed for America, and the superintendence of the Craft was vested in a military triumvirate, consisting of Marshal Macdonald, and jMarshal), and the Generals Beurnonville (afterwards Marquis de Valence. A few Lodges were established in regiments after the Restoration, but in 1844 " Ciruus," in the 10th Regiment of the Line, the last of the long roll of French Military In the following year, Lodges, disappeared from the scene. the Minister of War— Marshal Soult— in a circular to the colonels of regiments declared " that it was contrary to the rules of the service for any of the military to become members of the Institution." Soult was himself a Freemason, and his diploma (or certificate) found in his tent after tlie battle of Vittoria, which afterwards fell into the possession of a Scottish Lodge, was returned to him through
the British Ambassador in 18.t1. Many other Marshals of France of the same (or a slightly later) peiiod were also members and (in most instances) Grand Officers of the Society for example, Augereau, Brune, Kellerman, Lefebvre, Rernadotte, Beurnonville, Lauriston, Massena, Mortier, Murat, Macdonald, Oudinot, Perignon, Poniatowski, Serrurier, and Sebastiani. The Viceroy of Italy, Prince Eugene, was likewise of the brotherhood, and so were Generals Dumouriez, the Conite de Segur, Junot, and the Comte de Fernig, together with
Colonel Godefroy Latour D'Auvergne, the " First Grenadier
of France."
Marshal Magnan was appointed Grand Master of the Grand Orient by the Emperor Louis Napoleon in 1862, and
General retained the office initil his death in 1865. Mellinet was his successor, but declined re-election in 1870.
Throughout the German Empire, Field or Camp Lodges are regarded as merely auxiliary to the regular or stationary Lodges. The former are in every ease erected to serve a temporai'y purpose, and before a candidate is accepted for initiation, he is required to name one of the latter as the Lodge he will repair to for admission, when the warrant of the movable and transitory body is surrendered or withdrawn.
to arms
They only
exist in
time of war, or when an appeal
believed to be impending.
In the last century thei'e were Military (which sometimes Field) Lodges, one of the earliest of which, *' Farfaite Union,'" was founded by French prisoners of war at Magdeburg in 1761. But at a much earlier date, both in North and South Germany, military officers of high rank were enrolled as members of the Society. Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Emperor of the West, was initiated in 1731, and Frederick, Crown Prince (afterwards King) of Prussia, in 1738. At his father's death the latter founded the " Royal Lodge," of which he was the Master until 1744, and many distinguished princes and soldiers received the light at his hands. The outbreak of war then diverted the attention of the great Frederick to other matters, but
daring his reign three grand Lodges grew up in Berlin, to all of which he formally extended his y)rotection, and in the
earliest of
them Grand National ^lother Lodge of the Three Globes he filled the Grand Master's chair. Masonry has never really flourished in Austria, although it enjoyed the patronage of the Emperor Francis, a former Duke of Lorraine (p. 36). He died in 1765, and the
suppression of the Craft in the Austrian hereditary dominions, which had been decreed but not executed in 1764, was relentlessly carried out (in the absence of his sheltering arm) in 1795. After his death, Francis was commonly referred to by the brethren in Vienna as "Grand
This was the " Trois Canons" of which he became a member (on its formation) in 1742. It afterwards merged, about 1760, into the Loge Royal Milita.ire de Vienne, a title derived from the prevailing element in its composition.
Master of the Old Lodge."
(at first styled the
Grand Lodge),
{loge volante) appeared on the scene in the death of the Emperor Charles VI. (father of Maria Theresa), the French, Bavarian, and Saxon armies occupied Bohemia, and in November, 1741, Prague was taken by the allies. At the instance of the Commander-inChief, Count Rutowski (a natural son of Augustus 11. of Poland, and brother of Marshal Saxe), who was Grand Master of Saxony, a military Lodge was formed at Leitmeritz and named " Sincerite" which soon after became dormant, but early in the sixties awoke to new life, and we find it working as a loge volante at Pilsen, in 1765, and afterwards at EUbogen and Klattau. In the subsequent war of 1778, a regiment Avhich had been in garrison at Klattau was ordered to Silesia. Among the officers were members of Sincerite," who applied for and received a warrant from Prague, by virtue of which a Lodge, "Joseph of the Three Trophies," was founded, but which ceased to exist after the treaty of " La peace, when the regiment was sent back to Bohemia. Parfaite Union," formed at Magdeburg by prisoners of war, has already been referred to. Among the members were officers of Austrian, Hungarian, and Croatian nationality, who, on retm-ning to their native countries, established Lodges there. Of these the first appears to have been the "Lodge of Military Friendship, "which was founded at Glina, a small village in Croatia, at some time between 1764 and 1769.
movable Lodge
Lodge which
Returning to the dominions of Frederick the Great, a ^'Minerva" was established at Potsdam in 1768,
The first at first consisted of military officers onh'. " travelling Lodge " was the " Flaming Star," founded in
1770, it being thought desirable "to take the brethren of military rank out of all the Lodges, and to erect a separate Lodge for them, which, in the case of war, might follow the camp, and exemplify the benefits of Masonry in the field." From this time all military candidates were sent to the " Flaminor Star" for initiation.
In 1778 there was a concentration of the troops both in Saxony and Silesia, and the military duties of the Master Captain C. A. Marschall von Bieberstein taking him in the former direction, he was accompanied by the " Flaming Star," while a branch or " Dispensation " Lodge, under Major von Kleist, proceeded to diffuse Masonic light in the
In 1779 the brethren were re-united in a single (stationary) Lodge, which is still in existence at Berlin. Seven Field Lodges, the most important of which were the "Golden Goblet," "Finger Post," and "Army Lodge No. 1," were formed between 1778 and 1797, and five others during the continuance of the War of Independence, ending One of the latter was established bj Count at Waterloo. von Lottom, in furtherance of his desire to found a Lodge " on hearing that General Blucher was to command the Army Corps on the Prussian Coast of the Baltic." This great soldier was a member of " Field Lodge No. 1 " in 1812.
Tw'O military Lodges at Frankfort have yet to be referred One of these (consisting chiefly of foreigners) was formed by Count Schmettau in 1743, and the other was at work in the Rojal Deux Ponts (successively a Swedish, This French, and Bavarian) Regiment, about 1 760. Regiment, and doubtless the Lodge, accompanied the expedition of General Rochambeau to North America in 1780, as the latter was still in existence, and transferred its allegiance to the Grand Orient of France at the termination of the war in 1783. Five additional Lodges in the Prussian Army were formed in the period ending with 1820, and the two last of the series in 1850 and 1861, but at the present time all the Field or Garrison Lodges which existed at any date in Germany, are either extinct or have long ceased to possess any Military character. From the time of Frederick the Great, every King of Prussia except Frederick William IV. and the present German Emperor, has been a Freemason. The late Emperor William was admitted into the Craft in 1840, and in 1853 he initiated his son (and successor) Frederick William, in a special Lodge composed of the representatives of the three
Over one of these bodies, the Prussian Grand Lodges. " Grand National Lodge of German Freemasons," the latter presided as Grand Master from I860 until 1874. The other Royal Families of what is uoav the German Empire and among them were many ftimous soldiers have The also been firm supporters and protectors of the Craft. most conspicuous member of the Fraternity in Germany during the latter half of the eighteenth century, was Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick (p. 130), who saw the rise and fall of the Strict Observance, and except in the earliest years of its existence was the pivot and ruler of its
To his enthusiasm it ow^ed its success to his calmer judgment and punctilious honour its decay. Of that wonderful perversion of Freemasonry alone, no less than twelve reigning Princes were members in 1774. A previous Grand Master and the founder of the " Grand National Lodge of German Freemasons " was J. W. von ZinnendorfF, one of the most remarkable Masons that ever existed. He was a military surgeon, and the examples are more numerous than in any other walk in life, where brethren of the medical departments of armies have attained the Officers of high military highest distinction as Freemasons.
position figure largely as German Grand Masters, and among the " rank and file " of the Craft in the " Fatherland " there
have been many victorious commanders. Of the former class, it will be sufficient to refer to Generals Frederick August, Prince of Brunswick, who distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War, and afterwards commanded in Holland J. H. von Schmidt, who fought with the Turks against the Pvussians in 1791, and was Chief of the Prussian Artillery in Napoleon's Grand Army of 1812; H. W. von Zerchau, also a veteran of the Russian Campaign Count Henckel von Donnersmark, who held many important commands, saw much active service, wrote a famous military work, and was the leading " Master " at the reception of Prince (afterwards the Emperor) William, in 1840; K. F. von Selinsky, Aide-de-camp to General York in 1813, and who subsequently performed very gallant services the O'Etzels, father and son; and (coming to our own times) August von Reinhardt, the present Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Sun at Bayreuth.
; ; ;
Of the latter class, the examples that might be given far transcend the limits of the present ^vork, so I shall content myself with citing the names of G. L. von Blucher, Prince of Wahlstadt and Field Marshal, for many yeai's Master of the Lodge at Wesel, and who, throughout all his numerous campaigns, never wavered in his allegiance to the Society and General F. W. Osten Sacken, subsequently a Prince and Field Marshal, who was a most zealous member of the Minerva Lodge, at Leipsic. General von Scliarnhorst, a minor hero, but equally intense patriot, who was also a Freemason, accompanied It was Blucher as chief of the staff in the war of 1813. this officer who, with General Gneisenau, skilfully evaded the provision of the Treaty of Paris (1808), limiting the
in relays.
42,000, by training fresh bodies of
archivist of the
Grand Lodge of the Three Globes at who served throughout the late Franco-German War,
informs me that during the armistice of 1871, in Vesoul, he attended a Grand Field Lodge, at which there were present about 180 German officers and military em2Jloyes, and about 300 French officers, military employh, and civilians.
and Travelling Lodges {loges militaires et formerly existed in Holland, Sweden, Russia, and Belgium. The first Dutch Field Lodge was established 1745, the twenty-second and last at at Maastrecht in Alkmaar in 1814. The "Lodge of the Swedish Army" [Svenska Armeens) was formed at Greifswald (Pomerania) in During the contiiuiance of the Seven Years' War 1761. the Lodge threw off shoots at Greifswald, Stralsund, and A pension fund was established for Christianstadt. wounded soldiers, and the recipients of its bounty wore silver medals, struck at the expense of the Lodge. Prince Frederick Adolphe, Duke of East Gothland, the King's bi'other, was its Master at the time of his decease. In 1781 its labours came to an end, and the members joined other Lodges at Stockholm.
soldier, whose name has been recorded the annals of Swedish Freemasonry, was Marshal Bernadotte, who, as Crown Prince, was Grand Master until.
The most famous
his succession to the throne,
office of
when he assumed the
after trying his fortune in Spain, entered the Russian service, and was Master of a Lodge either at Moscow or St. Petersburg in 1732. He was present with his brother the Earl Marischal at the Grand Lodge of England in 1740, and, on being recalled to Russia, bore with him a commission as Provincial Grand Master, which was granted by his kinsman. Lord Kintore.
King James Keith,
" Vicavius Salamonis," which of Sweden for the time being.
always held by the
In 1744, having attained the rank of Lieutenant-General, left Russia, joined the Prussian Army as a Field ^larshal, and after displaying the greatest talents and bravery, was killed at the battle of Hochkirchen, in 1758. In 1761 a Field Lodge was formed in the Russian Army, which at that time had its head-quarters at Marienburg, in West Prussia. A second afterwards the stationary Lodge with Major-General von Tscheplin of "The Three Towers" as Master, was established at the same place in 1765. Others were erected at St. Petersburg in 1773 ; and at Kief, one of the ancient Russian capitals, in 1784. A fifth, under the presidency of Colonel von Scheffler, was at work at Gumbernen (East Prussia) in 1814 and the latest of all, " George the Victorious," was constituted in France in 1817.
The labours of all the Russian Lodges were suspended in 1794, but ten years later the liberal-minded Alexander, who, with good reason, is supposed to have been a Freemason, let it be understood that he would not interfe.re with the meetFrom that time until its final ings of the Fraternity. suppression. Masonry flourished greatly in Russia, and the leading officers of the army were enrolled under its banner. Of this there are ample proofs, but the matter is placed in a very clear light by the testimony of Sir Robert Wilson, a distinguished British General and military writer, whose reputation for courage and ability (acquired under the Duke Baird, Hutchinson, and of York, Moore, Abercrombie, "Wellington) was still further increased by the Russian and German campaigns of 1812-14, and the Emperor Alexander acknowledged the value of his services by hanging the cross of St. George round his neck in the presence of the army.
— a
During an earlier campaign in Poland, of which Sir Robert wrote a Sketch, an incident occurred which is recorded under the date of June 7th, 1807 '•While Marshal Xey had been defending Giitstadt. General Platoff passed the AUer. near Bergfried. and surprised an enemy's post the French commanding officer saved his life by a sign of Masonry just as the lance was about to pierce him brother was near, and by an exertion preserved him."
General Platoff, the celebrated Hetman of the Coissack.s, again referred to by the same writer a month later in his Private Diary "He told the King that I was not only his adjutant, but his brother and that he had no other name for me but Boatt Wilson.' which in the Russian language signifies brother.'
What this implied is made very clear in the Diary kept by Sir R. Wilson during the subsequent campaigns of 1812-14, where, under the date of " J^'ebruary 16th, 1813, Kladova," we read " I was much gratified at finding
Brother Platoff here."'' On an earlier page the English General writes "November 25th, 1812. This morning the Grand Duke Constantino arrived suddenly. He received me with most remarkable proofs of friendship, and with Masonic proofs of amicable bonds." At a very early date Masonry entered the old Kingdimi of Poland, where it was mainly fostered and propagated by military officers of rank. The greatest name of all, however, among the Polish Freemasons, is that of the gallant Joseph Poniatowsky, created by Xapoleon, on the field of Leipsic, a Marshal of France. This prince lost his life in the river Elster, while covering the retreat of the French army in 1813, and a solemn Funeral Lodge was held in his honour at Warsaw in the following year. The closing of all the Russian Lodges was summarily decreed by an Luperial Ukase in 1822. The suppression of Polish Freemasonry had been enacted in the previous year, and in either instance there appears to have been ample justification for the action of the Czar. In 1817, Paul Pestel, with some other officers, organised, under the title of " Union of Salvation," one of the first (really) secret societies, the statutes of which were extracted L
from those
of some Masonic Lodges. This was followed by the " Society of Russian Chevaliers," and the " Union for the Public Welfare." The Russian conspirators then turned to Poland, where, after the suppression of Freemasonry, General Uminsky had founded, in the province of Posen, an By other Freemasons at association called the " Reapers." Warsaw, nnder the guidance of Alajor I.ukasinsky, there had been formed the " Patriotic Society," to which was also given the name of " National Freemasonry." The true
object of these associations was the Independence of Poland. The death of the Master Architect was the emblem of His three murderers the dismembering of the Kingdom. represented the three monarchies which had co-operated in The brothers of this (counterfeit) Masonry the spoliation. represented those that were sent after the murderers. The plans of the Russian and Polish conspirators would
probably have met with success, but in November, 1825j the Govenmient were infonned of the plot, and twelve commanders of regiments in the Southern Ax'my, including Paul Pestel, who was the soul of the whole conspiracy, were
arrested. The association in the North, however, under its chief leader, Conrad Ryleief, a retired sub-lieutenant, was still
and it was determined to cause a revolt when a new oath was exacted from the army by Nicholas, on the ground that the renunciation by Constantine, his elder brother, was an imposture. The insurrection of December 26th, .1825, was quelled Paul Pestel with a firm hand by the Emperor Nicholas. and Conrad Ryleief were hanged, and with them expired The the secret associations of which they were the chiefs. " Patriotic Society" of Poland, together with its various oflfshoots, shared a similar fate, and the tragic end of Major Lukasinsky was spoken of throughout Europe. Arrested at a meeting of the " Society," he was cruelly tortured, and nothing is known with certainty of his ultimate fate, but some peasants of the country through which the Grand Duke Constantine passed on his reti'eat from Warsaw, asserted that they had seen, chained to a cannon, and running behind it, a man who was manacled on the hands
edict prohibiting the meetings of
is still
and the period
when a revival of expected to take place in the dominions of the Czar.
human genuine Freemasonry may be
Four Field and two Garrison Lodges all of which have passed out of existence were established in Belgium, the first in 1832, the last in 1836.
warrants for Field or Army Lodges have been granted any time under the jurisdictions of Switzerland, Greece, Denmark, Hamburg, and Darmstadt. In the Austrian dominions Masonry is forbidden, and though the ban does not extend to Hungary, the Craft is viewed with such suspicion by the highest military authorities that few, if any. of the officers of the army (who are Hungarians) care to ruin their chances of professional advancement by
applying for initiation.
Many of the national heroes, however, who served in the Revolutionary War, became Freemasons during their subsequent exile for example, Generals George Klapka and Stephen Tiirr, both of whom were founders (and the latter the first Master) of Lodge " Mathias Corvinus," established in more peaceful times at Buda-Pesth. In 1727, two Jacobite refugees, Philip, Duke of Wharton, and James (aftenvards Marshal) Keith, were fighting in the Spanish trenches before Gibraltar, and it was by the former brother that the first Lodge in the Peninsula was established at Madrid in 1728. The Duke, after turning many political somersaults, had finally cast in his lot with the Pretender. One evening the Jacobite Peer very nearly threw away his life by advancing close to the walls of Gibraltar, and either daring or threatening the soldiers of the garrison. They asked who he was, and he readily answered " the Duke of
Wharton," but though appearing as a rebel in arms, and aggravating that oftence by the use of most intemperate language, not a shot was fired at him, and he was permitted to return to the trenches. After the siege the King of Spain appointed him as " Colonel Aggregate " to one of the Irish Regiments, a position which the second of our " Noble Grand Masters " continued to hold (having disdained the offer of a conditional pardon, and subsequently placed him-
scandalous 1731.
beyond the pale of forgiveness by the publication of a libel on the English King) until his death, in
After this the Craft fell into decay, but a revival took during the Peninsular War, which, however, was summarily arrested in 1814 by Ferdinand VII., who at one stroke abolished the constitution, and declared the FreeAmong the brethren masons to be guilty of treason. imprisoned at the time was General Alava a member of the aide-de-camp to the Duke sea as well as of the land service of Wellington, and of whom it is said that he was the only person who was present both at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Other military brethren of later date were General Gomez D'Antrada, Grand Master of Portugal, who, with eleven of his Masonic companions, was put to death at Lisbon in Colonel (afterwai-ds Marshal) Rafael Del Riego the 1817 immortal Spanish patriot. Gr and Mast er of the National Grand Orient, who, in 1823, after three years of glory and honours, was charged with high treason and executed, the populace applauding Lieutenant-Colonel Galvez, who was hanged at Barcelona in 1829, for the crime of being a Freemason; Tom4s Zum alacarregui, the modern Cid, the great Basque Captain of the forces of Don Carlos in 1834-36, conqueror successively of the leading Generals of the Christino Armies Ramon Cabrera, who, on two occasions, nearly succeeded in securing the triumph of Don Carlos and Marshal the Duke of Saldanha, at the head of the Constitutionalists and Freemasons of Portugal after the council was only Peninsidar War whose wisdom in equalled by his valour in the field.
Among the Freemasons of Italy are to be named the unfortunate Admiral Caraccioli, who, during the sanguinary reaction at Naples in 1799, was hanged from the masthead of his own vessel, and his body thrown into the sea Generals Schipani, Mantone and Federici, who were also hanged. The Duke de la Torre, who with five other military Eugene Beauharnais, Viceroy brethren, was burned alive of Italy, and Grand Master of the Grand Orient "de la Division Militaire " at Milan, in 1805; Joachim Murat, King of Naples, and Grand Master of the National Grand
; ;
General Ventura, who served in the in 1809 French army under Napoleon, fought at Waterloo, and made his way through Afghanistan to Lahore, where he became Guiseppe Garibaldi, the chief General of Runjeet Singh Liberator of Italy, who was a member of every Lodge in that country, and of many in England, France, and America and Timoleo Riboli, for several years Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Italy, Ex-Surgeon in Chief of the Army of the Vosges, Compatriot and Surgeon of Garibaldi. Mexico owes her independence to Freemasons. Hidalgo
; ;
a priest, lieaded the first revolt against the Morelos, Spaniards, but was captured and shot in 1811 of Indian blood, cure of Caracuaro, assisted in bearing against Spain the flag of the Revolution, and was also executed General Xavier Mina, a native of Spain, with a
; ;
party of volunteers, landed in Mexico and fought for its independence. After the battle of Tamavilipas, where he was defeated and made a prisoner, he was put to death, and his remains, with those of Hidalgo and Morelos, now repose in the "Grande Chapelle Sepulcrale " of Mexico City; Ignace Comenfort and Benito Juarez, soldiers and Presidents Generals Mariano Escobedo, and Manuel of Mexico ; Gonzales, dignitaries of the Supreme Council and General Porfirio Diaz, the most distinguished Mexican commander of his time, who at present combines with the office of President, that of Protector of the Craft in the Republic.
The following military brethren members of the fraternity
of other countries
General Paoli, the celebrated Corsican Patriot, a member of the '' Nine Muses " (London), the Secret Society and Masonic Club in the Rue Saint Nicaise, at Paris " (London) (p. 91), and the "Prince of Wales's Lodge Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America Genex'al Paez, President of Venezuela, the most enterprising of all the officers who fought under the republican banners against Spain Jose Maria Monson, Roman Catholic Chaplain in the Peruvian Army of Independence, and afterwards a Canon of the Cathedral in Trujillo; Abd-el-Kader, the heroic Emir of Algeria, initiated in the " Lodge of the Pyramids " at Alexandria, whose life was a practical exemplification of
Masonic obligations and religious duties General Lopez, unfortunate Cuban hero, who was garrotted by the and General Garcia, one of the native Spaniai-ds in 1851 commanders in the recent struggle between Spain and America for the possession of the " Pearl of the Antilles."
I)b their
ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals.
" Lyric of the Revolution."
the sod
the dew,
Waiting the judgment day,
Under the rose the blue. Under the lilies the gray.
In 1775, Washington was elected commander-in-chief of the American Army, and on the very same day that he received his commission, the battle of Bunker's Hill was fought, in which Major-General Joseph Warren, Gi-and Master of Massachusetts, lost his life. According to a national biographer. " this was the first grand offering of American Masonry at the altar of liberty, and the groundfloor of her temple was blood-stained at its eastern gate." (General Washington Avas initiated in the FredericksburgLodge, Virginia, in November, 1752. and became a Master Mason in August, 1753. In 1779 he declined the office of Grand Master of Virginia, but accepted that of Master of Alexandria Lodge, Xo. 22, in his native State, in 1788. As President of the United States he was sworn in April 30, 1789 on the Bible of St. John's Lodge, New York. In 1793 he laid the corner-stone of the Capitol, and is described in the official proceedings as " Grand Master pro. tern., and
Worshipful Master of
No. 22, of
His death
occurred in 1799, and he was buried with Masonic honours on December 18th of that year. On the following day the news of his death reached Philadelphia, where Congress was sitting, and a national tribute was paid to his memory on the 26th of December. The Masonic Fraternity were
among the chief mourners, and Major-General Henry Lee, a member of Congress and also a " brother," was the orator of the day. The now famihar words, "First in War, First
in Peace,
and First
in the
Hearts of his Countrymen," which
which Washington was by the American nation, were used on this occasion by General Lee in his address. Henry Lee father of the great Confederate General, Robert E. Lee who was popularly known as " Light Horse Harry," commanded an independent partisan corps in 1778, and three years later joined the army of General Greene, in whose retreat before Lord Cornwallis, "Lee's Legion"
so justly describe the estimation in
formed the rear-guard. Ten Lodges in all were at work in tlie American Army during the Revolution, the earliest of which, " St. John's Regimental " was granted a warrant by the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, in July, 1775.
"American Union" (p. 142) in the Connecticut Line, though of later date, was the first Lodge organised in the Continental Army, with which it is described as having
moved as a
pillar of light in parts of Connecticut,
Line at whose meetings the Commander-in-Chief was a frequent visitor -was constituted at West Point, in 1779. The first Master was General John Patterson, and the first Wardens Colonels (afterwards Generals) Benjamin Tupper and John Greaton. Army Lodge, No. 27, in the Maryland Line, received a warrant from Pennsylvania, in 1 780. The first Master was General ^lordecai Gist, and the Wardens, Colonel (afterwards General) Otlio Williams and Major Archibald Anderson. No records of the American Field Lodges of the Revolution have been preserved, except a portion of the minutes of " American L^nion," and some returns of the " Washington The latter merely inform us that in 1782, two Lodge." hundred and fifty names had been borne on the roll of the The former are of a more interesting character. Lodge. The principal officers of the army, and the general in command, are frequently named as visitors, and at all the
Washington Lodge,
in the Massachusetts
banquets, while the fii'st toast was " Washington " or " Congress," the second was invariably " Warren, Montgomery, and Wooster," followed by the Dead March. Dr. Warren (p. 138) was the first man of distinction to Richard lay down his life in the cause of American lil)erty. Montgomer}' was of Irish l)irth, and after serving at Louisburg, Martinique and Havana, entered the American Army as Brigadier-General, and was killed at the attack on Quebec in December, 1775. The services of David Wooster as a naval and military officer extended over forty years, through four wars, with Spain, with France, with France again, and finally with England. He was mortally wounded, as a Major-General in the American Army, while leading an attack on the British troops in 1777. There is an abundance of testimony to show that while Commander-in-Chief of the American Army, AVashington both countenanced the formation and encouraged the labours of the Army Lodges, that he found frequent opportunities to visit them, and that he thought it no degradation to his dignity to stand there on a level with his brethren.
In December, 1777, the army retired to Valley Forge, and was there according to evidence which seems to be of a trustworthy character that General Lafayette was initiated. The French officer, though he had been received very warmly and kindly by General Washington, experienced much uneasiness from the circumstance that he had never During the been entrusted with a separate command. winter he learned that there was a Lodge working in the camp. Time hanging heavily on his hands, and the routine of duty being monotonous, he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a Mason. His wish, on being made known to the Lodge, was soon gratified, the Commander-in-Chief being present and in the chair at the time of his initiation.
"After I was made a Mason," said Lafayette, "General W^ashington seemed to have received a new light. I never had from that moment any cause to doubt his entire confidence. It was not long before I had a separate command of great importance." On the 27tli of December, 1779 the head-quarters of
"American Union Lodge" met to celebrate the festival of St. John. At this meeting a committee was appointed from the Lodges in each Line, and the Staflt of the Army, to consider the expediency of a General Grand Master being
to preside over all the Lodges in the Kepublic. There were present on the occasion thirty -six members of "American Union" and sixty-eight visitors, one of whom was General Washington. The Masons of the various Lines met three times in convention, and though the name of Washington as Grand Master designate does not appear in their address to the Army, yet it was formally signified to the Masonic governing bodies of America then existing, that he was their choice. The idea of a General Grand Master or Superintending Grand Lodge has often been revived, but on no occasion, except when it was first mooted by the Army Lodges of the being carried Revolution, with the faintest chance of
into effect.
The principal northern forces under AVashington Avere stationed on the banks of the Hiidson, near Newburg, during the winter of 1782. So well established, at this time, had the Camp Lodges become, and so beneficial in their influence, that an assembly-room or hall was bxiilt, to serve {among other purposes) as a Lodge-room for the Military Lodges. The scheme was entrusted to General
Gates to carry into execution, and all the regiments were upon for their quota of workmen and materials. The building was used for the first time in .the early pai't of 1783, and " American Union " met there in the June of that year, preparatory to celebrating with " Washington Lodge," at West Point, the festival of St. John. A venerable brother. Captain Hugh Maloy, aged 93, residing at Bethel, in the State of Ohio, was still living in 1844, who had been initiated in 1782 in General Washington's marquee. On that occasion also, the General occupied the Master's chair, and it was at his hands that the candidate received the light of ^lasonry. The following Generals of the Continental Army were among the Masonic compeers of the founder and first President of the United States
Richard Caswell, who led the troo|)s of North Carolina— which State he was afterwards governor and Grand Master under General Gates, and was engaged at the disastrous hattle of Camden in 1780.
Gist, who fought gallantly for his country from commencement to the close of the Revolutionary War,
president of the was Master of Army Lodge, No. 27 convention of Masons from the Military Lines at Morristown, New Jersey ; and, finally. Grand Master of South Carolina.
James Jackson, who served with distinction in the Continental Army, was afterwards Governor and Grand Master of Georgia. Morgan Lewis, who accompanied General Gates as chief of the stafl' in the campaign of 1776, and commanded a division in the subsequent war with Great Britain in 1812-15, was Governor of New York in 1804, and Grand Master from 1830 luitil his death in 1844. Israel Putman (p. 86) comm;inded a regiment in the expedition which captured Havana, and was a prominent figure in the war of the Revolution. His tombstone bears the inscription — " He dared to lead where any dared to
Rufus Putman (p. 144), "the Father of the North-West," was for some time chief engineer of the American Army, and commanded a brigade under General Wayne in 1792. He was made a Mason in " American Union Lodge" in 1779, and elected Grand Master of Ohio in 1808. John Sullivan, one of the most famous of the Generals of the Revolution, was elected Govei'uor of New Hampshire in 1786, and Grand Master in 1789. Anthony Wayne, whose popular title was " Mad Anthony," won great renown by his captui'e of Stony Point
(New York), only bayonets being used. He succeeded St. in command of the Western Army, and gained a brilliant victory over the Miami Indians in A 1794. monument to his memory was erected by the Masonic
fraternity at Stony Point in 1857.
The Baron de Kalb, mortally wounded at the battle of Camden, was buried with military and Masonic honours by his victorious enemies Count Casimir Pulaski, the famous
cavalry leader, killed at Charleston iu 1779 and Benedict Arnold, whose unsurpassed gallantry and devotion during the earlier stages of the war, were, alas, totally obscured by the infamy which characterised his proceedings towards its
Commodore James Nicholson
(an active
of the
1776 at the head of the list of captains in the Continental Navy, a position which he retained until the close of the war. His brothers, Samuel and John, were also Masons and Naval captains. The former, who served with Paul Jones (p. 112), in the engagement between the Bon Homme Richard and Serajns, afterwards received the command of the frigate Deane, in which he cruised very successfully Stephen Decatur was a member of the same Lodge as Commodore James Nicholson, and like the latter a captain in the United States Navy from its first
was placed
establishment. He commanded the Delaivare sloop of war, afterwards the Philadelphia Commodore Edward Preble, a member of the "Ancient Landmark Lodge" in Portland (Maine), entered the Navy in 1779, and commanded the American Squadron at the bombardment of Tripoli, in 1804; and Commodore Whipple, a member of " American Union Lodge " during its early days at Marietta, who burned the Oaspe in 1772, one of the most brilliant officers of the land or sea service. The first field Lodge after the Peace of Versailles (1783), was formed in the " Legion of the United States," commanded by General Anthony Wayne, in 1793, and it is said that nearly all the members were killed in the Indian War. In 1814, some officers of the Northern Army applied to New York for a "marching warrant," which was referred to the grand officers, and later in the same year a Military Lodge was established by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to be held wherever the Master for the time being should be stationed in the United States. General Andrew Jackson at various times commanded armies in the field, but is best known in connection with his decisive victory over the British at New Orleans 1815, which put an end to the war. He subsequently became President of the United States and Grand Master of Tennessee.
General William H. Winder, who commanded on the
same war (1814), was elected Grand Master of Maryland in 1821. Generals Stephen Austen, the liberator of Texas, and "Sam" Houston, the recognised hero of the Texan War also Colonel David of Independence, were Freemasons Crockett, backwoodsman and Member of Congress, who fought on the same side, and after a hard siege surrendered to General Santa Anna, by whose oi'der he was put to death
side at Bladensburg, the other eventful battle of the
with the other survivors in 1836.
Two or more Lodges accompanied the American Army during the Mexican War. The chief commanders. Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, were not members of the Craft, but the latter alwa\-s entertained a high opinion Shortly after his inauguration as of the Institution. President of the United States, in 1849, he said that many of his personal friends and officers of the army with whom he had been associated were Masons, and that he should have been one himself had circumstances been more favourable to his joining a Lodge, and he added, " I would do so now, but have got to be too old." William J. Worth served during the last war with England, and was present at the actions of Chrystler's Farm, Chippewa, and Lundy's Lane. In 1842 he commanded the army which defeated the hostile savages in Florida, and subsequently greatly distinguished himself in the leading battles of the Mexican War. A moniiment was dedicated
memory by the Grand Lodge of New York in 1857. John A. Quitman, Grand Master of Mississippi, commanded a division of General Scott's army, and when the city of Mexico was taken, he was made its Governor until peace was
to his
proclaimed. Field Lodges were freely established on both sides during the late Civil War, but the experience of that great conflict was decidedly unfavourable to their utility. The practice was to issue dispensations, and when the regiments in which they were held were mustered out of the service, or the individuals to whom they were granted returned to civil life, the Lodges ceased to exist. More than a hundred of these dispensations were issued during the war, the largest
single Grand Lodge being thirtywhich was the case in the State and Masonic jurisThere are no Lodges in the standing diction of Indiana. army of the United States, and for this a sufficient reason will be found in the fact, that the few regiments of the Regular Army are generally if not invariably divided
number granted by any
into small fractions, separated at widely different posts.
military rank during the Civil were very numerous, as may be imagined from the circumstance that " Miner's Lodge," No. 273, Galena (Illinois), consisting of about fifty members, alone supplied Among them were five Generals to the Federal Army. John A. Rawliugs (p. 89), Ely S. Parker, a Seneca Indian, and William R. Rowley (all of whom were on the Staff of General Grant), together with John Corson Smith, who served throudi all the grades from private soldier to general officer, and has since been Lieutenant-Governor and Grand Master of his State.
The brethren holding high
The following brethren commanded armies in the field Winfield Scott Hancock, whose George B. McClellan bayonet charge at Williamsburg won from McClellan the compliment, which became proverbial, that "Hancock was John A. McClernand ; John A. superb " N. P. Banks Logan George E. Pickett, who led the famous final assault Robert E. on the Union lines at Gettysburg in 1863 Patterson and Benjamin F. Butler, against whose life a plot was formed by Confederate prisoners, but given up on their learning that he was a Freemason. .
Among the Masonic veterans of the war, General James A. Garfield was, and Major William McKinley now is, the Generals Robert Anderson, President of the United States. of Fort Sumpter fame, and Albert Pike, scholar, orator, The poet, and man-of-letters, were also of the Fraternity.
valuable library of the latter at Little Rock, Arkansas, was about to be destroyed by the Federal troops during the war, but General Thomas H. Benton (Grand Master of Iowa), in command of the Union forces, interposed, and, by making the house his head-quarters, not only preserved the library but also the residence.
General Nelson A. Miles now commands the American army, and another General (and Mason), Paissell A. Alj^er, has just vacated the office of Secretary of War. Dispensations for the formation of Military Lodges were issued by the Grand Lodges of Kentucky and North Dakota during the late Avar with Spain. Many prominent officers of the army and navy who took part in that short conflict are Freemasons, and among them General William R. Schafter and Admiral Schley, the former of whom commanded the American land forces before Santiago de Cuba, and the latter the squadron which performed such brilliant
service off the coast.
With ANATOMICAL CHART showing; the EXERCISES FOR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT of MEN, WOMEN and CHILDREN
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ON THE Anatomical Chart.
C«in be
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Battle Formation, Preparatory. C.B. With Plates
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1 illi.ttrated), in
Battalion Drill ^ ith The
Made Easy
lOth Edition.
Lascellks Davidson, Royal Scots Fusiliers
have fully gone over this Manual, and we unhesitatingly pronounce it to be a complete and accurate elucidation of the New
Infantry Drill. " It is so clear and simple, and leaves nothing to be imagined by the student, as every single movement in Battalion Drill is explained under The book merely wants to be read in order all the various positions. Army and Navy Gazette. to be appreciated and admired."
Battle of Spicheren, The.
August 6th, 1870, and the events A Study in Practical Tactics and War that preceded it. With numerous coloured maps. By Lieut. -Col. Training. G. F. R. Henderson, Professor of Military History, Staff College
title of
the work and the reputation of the writer are its more than sufficient recommendations to all serious students of military The Times. history and tactics."
Battle of CustOZZa, The.
a Tactical Study from the German His Excellency General Von Verdy du Vernois, sometime ^linister of War, Chief of the Staff of the Corps, and Professor at the Kriegs First Army Translated by Lieut.Akademie (Staff College) in Berlin.
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Here and simply admirable of its kind there in the conrse of the narrative, the Author gives us comments not only of great value to the student, but showing conclusively that he is Journal of in the hands of a competent and trustworthy teacher." Royal United Service Institution.
book which
With Illustrations and Explanatory also Plan for a Company's Advanced Guard, in accordance with the New " Infantry Drill." ... By Capt. Lascelles Davidson, Royal Scots Fusiliers ...
Notes, and Catechism
"Messrs. Gale & Polden, the well-known military publishers, have sent us several very useful pocket volumes in their Military Series.' Captain Lascelles Davidson's' Compayii/ Drill Made Eaay, a remarkably clear, simple and direct manual, appears, corresponding with the Infantry Drill, 1896. The catechism on the subject of an advanced g\iard is excellent. We heartily commend the book." Army and Nacy Gazette.
Case for Despatches, Documents, &C. For carrying Documents and Forms between Orderly Room and Office will be found very Made in Leather, with pocket, strap and useful on Parade.
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9 " This work is a catechism on the theor.y and practice of Equitation for the Course of Squadron Training, and as such it will be invaluable. But it is well calculated to fill a much more extended sphere of usefulness, for there is not a man— civilian or soldier— who aspires to good horsemanship who would not find
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useful little book, must be of sen-ice to officers and men of the yeomanry b,v elucidating the true object of outposts and the duties connected with them. It raa.v also, with great advantage, be put into the hands of non-commissioned otEcers of the regular cavalry." Army mid i\'<u'_v GuzeFte.
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Field Training for
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Fortifications, Text Book Free Gymnastics, and practised at the Sergt.- Major Xoakes,
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Fire Discipline Its Foundation and Application. Stewart- Murray, 'i'he Gordon lligiiianders. of " Discipline Its Reason, and Battle Value "
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Markers' Duties in Company, Battalion, and Brigade Movements. in accordance with the New Infantry Drilh lOth Edition. By Capt. Lascelles
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Fn'lly illustrated
Guides and
in Drill. accordance with the New Infantry Drill. 10th Edition. By Capt. Lascelles Davidson, Rojal Scots Fusiliers. ' Fully illustrated.
Guide to obtaining Civil Employment.
Compiled for the use
of soldiers about to he dischare:ed, or transferred to the Reserve. REVISED E DITIOX. Corrected up to date by Colonel A M. Handley, late (P.W.O.) Yorkshire Regt.
" No soldier on his discharge ought to be long out of employment with this little guide in his hands. For it tells him jirecisely what agencies there are to help him, where they are to 1)6 found, and all about them. The fact that this is the nixfh edition shows how popular thi.s guide has already become. Its price, formerly sixpence, is reduced now tnfoi'rpencf and the most important point of all, It has been revised and corrected to date by the Secretary of the National Association for the Employment of Reserve Soldiers, Colonel A. M. Handley. It would be a good thing if Commanding Officers could place a copy of this guide in the hands of every man leaving tlic Service." Aldemkot j^eu-f.
Guide to the Examination
Corporal to
for Promotion, for Non- Corns. In accordance with the Syllabus contained in Queen's Regulations. Including Questions andAnswers thereon. Lance-
Corporal, and Corporal to Sergeant. Revised in accordance with the New Infantr\- Drill, and ... .. the latest Regulations. In one volume ...
This book has been recommended by the Commander-in-Chief.
Gymnastics. Upwards of 100 Tricks and Exercises on the By Horizontal Bar, and how to do them. ... A. DiMMOCK ... ... ... ... ... 1 1 Hints to Young 0fl3.cers. By an Adjutant "From first to last there is really common sense in-' An Adjutant's' hints, and
we have no hesit«tion in saying that any young officer taking up the book will not put it down agMin until he has read ii. through, it being written in a pleasant chatty style which should recommend it to those for whose benefit it has been produced." Army Jf Kavy Gazette.
Hints to Young Soldiers.
By William Gordon, 2nd Batt. 6 Gordon Highlanders. 3rd Edition. Revised and Enlarged " A little budget of sound, good, wholesome advice, in plain language. It would be well if a copy could be given to every young Broad Arrow. soldier just starting on his new career."
+ This
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History of the 66th Royal Berkshire Regiment, from 1758 ... to 1881. By J. I'ekcy Groves
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" on SportBy Members of the London Stock s. Exchange. Edited by W. A. Morgan. Profusely illustrated ... ... .. .. 21 from photographs and drawings
The Work consists of 41 Articles, written by members of the Stock Exchange on the branch of Sport with which they have particularly
identified themselves.
The work makes a handsome large octavo volume of 470 pages, printed on Art Paper and profusely illustrated by over 230 Half-Tone Process Blocks reproduced from photographs and di-awings, many having been specially taken and designed for the work, the photographs of all the Authors being included. The frontispiece is a beautifully printed photogravure of " A Group," consisting of " Persimmon " in Egerton House Paddocks, with Watts up, dressed in the Royal colours, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, and
his trainer, Richard Marsh.
derived from the sale of the book will be in aid of already a cheque for (£1000) One Thousand Pounds has been forwarded to the Fund and acknowledged in the columns of The Referee uu January 15th, 1899. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has accepted a copy of the work and graciously expressed his appreciation of s ime.
"The Referee" Childkex's Dinner Fund;
• Infantry,
Letters Ingelfingex
Drill, 1896,
By Prince Kraft
Zu Hohenlohe
and Amendments
Infantry Drill, Catch Questions in 6 " The idea is capital, and many Non-commissioned Officers and others will thank the Author for his little book, as he says, the number of questions might be legion, but he has made an excellent series, the answering of which will afford a fair criterion as to the knowledge of the new drill. They are very suggestive." Army 8f Navy Gazette. Infantry Fire Tactics. By Major C. B. Mayne.
Revised throughout with Diagrams and Illustrations.
is the only complete work on a subject of vital importance to Infantry in the Field. It fills a want that has hitherto existed in English Military Literature, and should be in the hands of aJJ-of&cers. Besides dealing with the question of Infantry fire and how to use it at all ranges so as to obtain the maximum effect, it also embraces subjects which have a direct bearing on Infantry fire, such as range finding, supply of ammunition on the battle-field, influence of ground on effects of fire, principles of musketry instraction, and the use of the magazine rifle ... ... ... ...
6 a real good to the Service in giving us a work which places before us clearly and concisely the whole question."
" Major
Mayne has done
— Journal, R.
U. 8. Institution.
" Major C. B.
has contributed a valuable addition to our
of the functions of Infantry in
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Infantry Sword Exercise Infantry Bugle Sounds
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Inspection State compiled
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Field Defences ... Attack of Fortresses III. Military Bridges IV. Military Mining
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Maxim Gun, Hand Book
Mechanism and
With Questions and Answers ... ... ... ... 6 This is another of tlie many useful little manuals, compact in size and complete in information, -which Messrs. Gale & Polden continue to issue. The constrnctiou and mechanism of the Maxim are fully explained, with general instructions as to working and keeping the gun in order. Explanations are given concerning failures that may occur, such as accidental stoppages in tlie automatic action, jams or missfires, and how to remedy these— also how the gun is to be moved and worked with cavalry and mounted infantry or with man-draugtit. To test the correct acquirement of all this information a searching set of questions and answers is appended. The price of the handbook is only sixpence." Broad Arrow.
Map Beading and
the Elements of Field
Lieut. -Col. Willoughby Ver.vi-k, The liifle Brigade, Professor of Military Topography, Royal ^Military College, Camberley. 3rd Edition, revised ... ... ... ...
of Drill and Physical Exercises. With or without Dumb-bells or Music. By TnoM.\s Chesterton, luatructor of Physical Exercises to the London School Board. Carefully illustrated with upwards of 150 Plates. With au introduction by Chas. Roberts, F.R.C.S 3 For the use of Teachers in day and evening Schools, Instructors
of Physical Exercises, &c., as taught at the Military Gymnasia at home and abroad, also in the London and other Board Schools, Principal Public Schools, Civil Gymnasia, Polytechnic Institutions and Evening
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This work has been adopted by the London School Board, for use Schools: and also by the Director-General of Military Education, for use in all Army Schools. The Authorities at Battersea, Chelsea, Borough Road, and Hammersmith Training Colleges, for Teachers, have also approved and adopted it exclusively for the use of their students.
+ In their
Physical Education, Theory
See page 20
Musketry Instruction Regulations for Lee-Metford Rifle Musketry and Military History, Examination Papers in.
Fully answered with references to the Official Books, being Papers set at the R.M. College, July, 189.5, to Dec, 1S97, by Capt. Banning, 1st Batt. Royal Munster Fusiliers, Instructor in Military Law, R.M. College ...
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of Rifle and Carbine Exercises. Containing: Manual, (Applicable to all Arms.) Firing and Bayonet Exercises, Care of Arms and Ammunition, Aiming Drill, Fire Discipline, and also Firing Exercise for Webley Pistol. Faily illustrated...
CARE OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION, and AIMING DRILL, and Questions on Same.
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Being an account of Lodges in Regiments and Ships of War, and of famous Soldiers and Sailors (in all countries) wlio have belonged to the Society, together with Biographies of distinguished military and naval brethren, and Anecdotes showing the influence of Masonry By Robert Freke Gould, late 31st Foot, in -warfare. Barrister-at-law, Past Senior Grand Deacon of England, P.M. Xos. 92 and 2,076, London; 153, Gibraltar; 570, Shanghai; and 743, Ist Battalion East Sui-rey Regiment, (fee, Author of "The History of Freemasonry," and other ... ... ... Works. Handsomely Bound in Cloth Medical Services in War, Notes on. By Brigade-Surgeon Lieut. -Col. W. H. McXamara, A. M.S., Commandant, Depdt, M.S. Corps
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revised up to date ... ... .. ... ... 4 6 ... " This handbook which is intended as an aid to Officers preparing for llilitary Examinations, cannot fail to prove a great boon to the Army. The instraction is imparted by a series of cjaestions and
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Organization and Eciuipment
Promotion Kxaminations), with Appendix of Examination Papers fully answered, with references to the official books. By Captain S. T. Banning, 1st Bn. Royal Munst'ir Fusiliers; P.S.C., LL.B. (Lond.), B.A., LL.B. (R.U.I.) of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law Instructor in Military Administration, R.M.C. and late 4 6 D.A.A.G. for Instn., Dublin District " Officers who are going up for the examination for promotion in subject G should find la considerable boon in Organization and Equipment made Easy.'
has been compiled for the special purpose of saving officers the trouble of wading through the vast number of official books of regulations on the subject, and it contains a careful digest of the most salient features of our system of organization and equiiimact. Capt. S. T. Banning, Royal Munster Fusiliers, an officer well known in Dublin, where for five years he served as I'eputy-Assistant Adjutant-General for Instruction, and who is now Instructor iii Military Administration at the Royal Military College, is the gifted and clever author. With this book in his hands, no officer should find any difficulty in passing a brilliant examination in this subject. A useful feature of the work is its appendix of papers that have been set for examination, with answers in full, and references
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Physical Training of Recruits, and for Company Training. As taught at Aldershot. Illustrated with 16 Plates ... ...
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* Signalling,
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" This useful little book only costs sixpence. Still we can hardly expect that the soldier will spend even that sum on a valuable handbook of great interest to himself. Two or three copies should, however, be placed on the table in every reading-room, and lectures should be occasionally founded upon it. The work is thoroughly simple and is well arranged. We doubt much whether the soldier will be easily convinced that il is harmful to take more than one pint of beer a day. The reader, however, unless a fool, will recognise the truth of the author's assertion tbat the causes of oveiactiou of the heart are excess in drink, tobacco, ic, and violent and unaccustomed exertion. Again, there is an undeniable truth in the following sentence: " The vicious man is never an iithlete, and conversely the athlete is always a well-conducted man." Soldiers notoriously detest ventilation, and they would do well to read attentively the remarks of Surgeon-Captain Forrest on that important subject." — Brourf Arruw.
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* Sword Exercise (Infantry) ' Tactics, Questions and Answers on, with Diagrams for Military Coaapetitive Examinations, Examinations for Promotions, &C. By Capt. J. Demaxgel, B.Sc, B.A.,
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Tactics for Beginners. Compiled by Captaiu C. M. De Gruyther, Instrnctor in Tactics R. p.s.c, The Suffolk Regiment.
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The Approved Text Book for Royal
Milita7-y College, Camherley. " Tactics for Befcinners," by Captain C. M. ile Gruyther, Instructor in tactics at the Royal Mihtary CoUeKe, is just what its title would lead us to expect. The author has placed himself in tlie position of the student entering upon tlu subject for the first time, and, recognising the difficulties and ."rtumbling blocks, has made everything easy, and laid down a firm and good ground for future Captain de Gruyther begins with study. It is all most helpful and well done. organization, describing the divisions of armies, from companies to army corps. He deals with time and space, is excellent upon outjiosts, marches, and the duties of advanced and rear guards. Reconnaissance, the three arms, individually and combined, orders, night operations, rivers, villages, woods, defiles, convoys, and The book is just what it should .savage warfare follows in his luminous pages. be, and has already been adopted as a text book at the Royal Mditary College."—
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Supplement 'Tactics, Applied, for Examination Purposes. to "Questions and Answers on Tactics." By Capt.
for the use of Majors Tactical Fitness for Command preparing for the OflBLcial Test Examination. By Major J. R. Johnstone, R.M.L.I By Major-General H. M. Tactics, Modern, Thoughts on. Bengough, C.B Tactics, Hand-book of. By Capt. W. H. James. Author of " 2154 Questions in Topography, Tactics, Military Law, Drill, &c." ... ... ••• ... Illustrated with numerous plates By Colonel Cleky •Tactics, Minor. By Major Tactics Made Easy for Non-Coms. and Men. H. D. Hutchinson, B.S.C
Education in India writes about it:— "It should be spread broadcast. The private soldier will even read it with interest and with profit and the knowledge he will thus obtain will enable him tO'
The Director
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take an intelligent interest in military operations." A Commandant of Volunteers says " I am delighted with its comprehensiveness, and adaptability to everybody'scomprehension. It is all pleasant reading."
* Tactics, Modern, Precis of. By Home & Lieut.-Col. Pratt * Tactics of the Drill Books. By Major C. G. Morrison * Tactics, Modem, Elements of. By Lieut. -Col. W. Shaw
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* Tactics,
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Text Book of Fortification and Military Engineering,
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... ...
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Professor J. A. Liebmann, F.R.S.L., F.R.G.S., &c., &c', with a preface by Genl. Sir William Gordon-Cameron,
t This Book
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" A vocabulary of technical military terms (Eng-li.sh-German German-Englishj for the use of military students who do not speak German, and a series cf
questions and answers on Cavalry Outposts. The first has been compiled by Professor James Alexander Liebmann, lecturer in modern Innguases ami literature, and to the Army class at the Dieoesan Collese, Rondebosob, in the University of the Cape of Good Hope, and formerly a captain in the 0ii3e Colonial Forces. The vocabulary, besides containing such ordinary words as are of frequent occurrence in military writings, also gives the exact or nearest equivalent in both languages for certain technical military terms used in either the English or German army, or shows where no such equivalent exists. Thu volume is commended to the notice of students who do not know German b>' General W. G. Cameron, late commanding Her Majesty's troops in South Africa."
— Moriiiiif/
Volunteer Officers, Guide to Promotion for, and Sergeants' Guide to Proficiency in the Infantry. By Capt. G.
D'Arcy-Evans, Adjt. 3rd V.B. Bedford Regt
"This is another compact and handy volume of the well-known and useful military series in the production of which Messrs. Gale & Polden have long shown such commendable enterprise. It is divided into two paits. I'art I., dealing with all the subjects which .subalterns and captains are required to master, and useful also as a sergeant's guide to proficiency. Part 11. is an aide-memoire for tield-officers. The subjects are treated in strict accordance with all the latest regulations. The Drill portion is illustrated with numerous plates, and includes ciuestions and answers which help to simplify and elucidate the text, also rules for examinatiou, on appointment and on promotion, witli list of certincates to be obtained. The author also gives a few well-timed hints which will be appreciateti by otlicers about to undergo examination." Broad Arrow.
Capt. U. Walker, Adjt., 2nd
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Wellington AVurks, Aldershot.
... ...
Volunteer, Hints on Etiquette for Volunteer
It is
By an
In limp Cloth
a very useful little book and contains rules for the guidance of Volunteer Officers in nearly every conceivat le position, whether on parade, at mess, or elsewhere. The duties of officers are laid down in simple but clear language, iind after studying this little book no Volunteer Officer can have the slightest excuse Weeklt/ Prcfs, New Zealand. for a breach of etiquette."
Volunteer Garrison Artilleryman's Handbook.
Lewis, R.A., Instructor 1st Hants Vol. Arty.
Volunteer Musketry Instructions for Cleaning Rifles and Carbines when Cordite is used. Mark i * Printed on
uutearable linen for carrying in pocket.
* *
Per 100, 8/Per Doz. Mark II, Ride and Carbine Per 100 8/- Per Doz. M.E. & M.M. Per 100 6/- Per Doz.
6 6
Volunteer Force, Regulations for Volunteers (Infantry).— A Guide to the Training of. By Lt.Col. Mayhew, Bde.-Alajor, North Midland Vol. Inf. Brigade
Specially arranged, with Roll Book. Instructions for Camping, Marches, &c., &c.
Volunteer Drill Attendance Register Volunteer Section Parade State. In doth cover
In sheets
{See page 29.)
Per Doz.
Volunteers, Waterloo.
Army Forms
A popular account of the Campaign. By Major H. D. Hutchinson, B.S.C. Paper, 1/-. Cloth, * War. By Col. F. Maurice, R.A War Maxims. Napoleon's, with Dissertations, Notes, and Illustrations. By Professor L. E. Henry, B.A., M.R.C.P. Washing Books for Army * What to Observe, and How to Report it. By Colonel LuxsDALE Hale ... ... ... ... ... ... "Wellington" Stylograph. Warranted a Perfect Writing
In Polished Vulcanite. With laige Reservoir for instant use, without adjustment.
Boxed, with Filler and Cleaner complete
Absentee Reports,
B 288 State, Royal Artillery, B 257 Defaulters' Sheets, B 121 398 Envelopes for Field Reports, Army Form Free Kit Issue Sheet, B y^e Inventory of Kit, B 253 Memo. Forms, C 348 Minor Offence Reports. For Battery, Squadron, or Company Morning Sick Reports, B 256
Morning Parade
Passes (Railway)
Crimes, B 252 Daily Parade States,
3 2/6 2/6
2/. 3/1/1/1/1;-
Passes (Railway) Wives and Families, Ration Returns, B 289
Return of Accoutrements and Appointments, Statement of Accounts, Army Form 1811
Savings Bank Forms, No. 2, 1743 Weekly Church Parade States, B 258
2/6 2/6 2/6
Canteen Order Books for Goods, Army Book 276 Daily Messing Book, Army Book 48 Defaulters' Sheet Specimen Form B 121, containing
instructions for the filling in of the Reports
B 138 Signalling Scribbling Book, Army Book C 119 Signalling Message Book, Army Form 295a (i) Target Practice Register, B 188, for Volley or
pendent Firinw
for Testing Rifles Order Book, Army Book 137 Anny Book 127 " " Army Book 129 ,. ,, Pay and Mess Book, 1504 1505 Pay List, 1305 Road Report, Scale of Fines for Drunkenness,
5/6 8 9d. 9d.
3d. Id.
Target Practice Register,
190, for individual Firing
Judging Distance Practice
Company Parade
Guard Reports
Target Practice, Register, B 190 for Individual Firing and Judging Distance Practice Cover for above Section Parade States, E 549. in cloth cover
,! .,
9d.per doz.
9d. "
In sheets
2 - each. 6d. each. 1 - per doz.
Instructions for Cleaning Rifles and Carbines when Cordite is used. Printed on untearable linen for pocket Mark I.* Per 100, 8Ditto ditto Mark II. Per 100, 8/Ditto ditto M.E.&M.M. Per 100, 6 -
1/6 1/6
The Royal Set
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Account Books (copyright) arranged by Major D. Whyte.
— — 12. — Stock Book, for Linen
9. Breakage Book 10.— Visitors' Book 11. Minute Book
— Cash Account — Ledger, containing combined forms for 4.— Cellar Book — Messing Account — Daily Wine Account — Mess Sergeants' Stock Book... — Summary of Monthly Accounts
... ... ... ...
1.— Order Book
5 12
28 24 24 24
24 24
20 10
Glass and Furniture
13.— Guest Book
Daily Account of Messing Stores Purchased Monthly Grocery Account Book... ... ... 16.— Whist Book ... ...
14. 15.
— Caterers'
— Caterers'
12 10 12 12 12
The above are made of the
Account Hook Paper, atrongly bound in \-Leuther, and
Lettered in Gold.
any of the above and Mess Stationery on application. 250 500 36/Daily Messing and Wine sheets, size 21 in. by 16^ in. ... 50/Mess Washing Books containing duplicate forms with special washing lists ... ... ... each 2 ... ... ... ... Cases for Names of President, Vice-President, &c., in Whole Red Leather, to stand on mantel-shelf or to hang up, Gilt
Sample Sheets
Guard Books
for Invoices or Receipts, size 12 in.
by9| in.,^-bound
each 5 Best Rubber Stamps, for Papers and Linen. {See Specimen Book, Post Free) The Wellington Whist Scoring Tablet. lOO printed tear-off pages, with loop and pencil ... each 1 6 ... ... ...
First Quality/, withCrest beautifully printed in Colours
The Printing
6 doz.
guaranteed to be Permanent, and
after Printing.
packs at 25/- per doz. ; 12 doz. packs at 23/- per doz. 24 doz. packs at 21/- per doz.
Grocery; (Latest Bar or Liquor In accordance with Para. 22, Rules for the Management of Coffee Bar. Refreshment Branches of Garrison and Regimental Institutes Shop.
Order, November, 1898.)
A.B. 272, Stock and Proof Account of Cash A.B. 273, Account of Expenditure and Daily
A.B. 274, A.B. 275, A.B. 276, A.B. 277, Ditto
Takings Stock Book Extracts from Invoices Order Form for Goods .. Abstract of Accounts ...
in sheets, 50, 7,6
12/6 4/6
7/6 4/6
100, 12/-
In accordance with the
Grocery For Liquor Bar or DetachBar.
Order, Nov., 1889
Stock and Cash Ledger 12/B. Cash Book of Daily Takings 10/C. Daily Stock Book 12/D. Tradesmen's General Ledger 15/S. Invoice Order Book 3/6 F. Monthly Abstract of Receipts and Expenditure 12/-
A. General Monthly
3/6 3/6
Ditto in sheets, 50, 7/6 100, 12/Squadron, Battery or Companies' Monthly Messing: Account Book
T/ie above hooks
leather, lettered in gold,
made oj the best .4 ccount Book Paper, strongly bouna and with pritited Lut of Articles to last for years
in ^
Covers for same ,, ,, " Price List of Articles sold in Canteen.
List of Articles
Daily Messing Books, OflBcial Pattern, A.B. 48
Size 22^-in.
per Doz. each
100, 6/100, 8/.
25, 2/6,
50, 3 6,
giving Percentage Form,
Army Form F
25, 4/.,
50, 6,-,
Canteen Debit Forms, Statement of Company Accounts, Memorandum Forms, &c., printed to order. Rules for the Management of Refreshment Branches of
Garrison and Regimental Institutes.
REGIMENTAL FORMS, ACCOUNT BOOKS, &c., PRINTED TO ORDER.
CANTEENS, Passes.— Army Form B 295
Permanent Passes.
kc— Continued.
per 100, 6d.
per 1,000, 4/-
— These
Permanent Passes are now being
universally used throughout the Service, they are made in three sizes, suitable for the pocket as under No. 1 size can be supplied with Army Form P 295 inside, they can also be printed to any Regimental Pattern for initialling monthly or otherwise ; if 50 or more are ordered, the Crest of Corps is added free of charge.
No. size closed, 3-ins. X2^-ins.
No. 2 size closed. 3 ins. X 2-ins.
No. 3 size closed, 2^-ina. X 2-ins.
All one Price as under
1 dozen, 3/;
50 at 2/6 per dozen 100 at 2/3 per dozen ; 200 at 2/- per 500 at 1/9 per dozen 1,000 at 1/6 per dozen. Strongly made in Red, Bine, or Green Cloth.
Note Paper and Envelopes stamped with Regimental Crest in any colour. No charge for dies. Every Regimental die is kept in stock.
containing 3 Sheets of Good Note Paper and 3 Good Square Envelopes, stamped in relief. Envelopes printed for franking when required.
containing 4 Sheets of Good Note Paper and 4 Good Square Envelopes, stamped in relief. Envelopes printed for franking when required.
containing 4 Sheets of Good Note Paper ana Square Envelopes, plain.
containing 6 Sheets of Good Note Paper and Square Envelopes, plain.
Stamping Guaranteed to be Perfect and done by Hand.
Regimental, Christmas, and
New Year Cards for sale in Regimental Institutes.
Samples and PiUCEs Post Free on Application.
Books strongly recomviended for Library Tables.
Attack Drill Made Easy
2 for the
Manual and Firing Exercise Hints to Young Soldiers ... Guide to Civil Employment On Outpost Duty ... On Guard ... ... ...
Lee-Metford Riiie
Field Training, Catechism on Physical Training, Fully Illustrated, Bound in Cloth Physical Drill, Fully Illustrated, Bound in Cloth Guides' and Markers' Duties in Company, Battalion,
and Brigade Movements Guide to Promotion, Lance-Corporal to Corporal, and
Corporal to Sergeant Infantry Fire Tactics Company and Battalion Drill Made Easy Guide to obtaining a 3rd Class Army School Certificate Guide to obtaining a 2nd Class Army School Certificate Guide to obtaining a 1st Class Army School Certificate... Guide to Ofiicial Letter AVritiug, Orders, &C. MiRtary Sketching Made Easy, Fully Illustrated Militai-y Examination in Arithmetic, Parts I., II. and III. Catch Questions in Infantry Drill Telling Off and Posting a Picquet Free Gymnastics, Illusti*ated ... ... ... ... The Aldershot Neivs. See Pag-e 3 of this Catalogue.
Shilling Novels Published by Gale
By Captain F. M. PEACOCK. A Soldier and a Maid.
Re\^bille to Lights Out. Military Crime. Ronald the Fusilier; or Foes under one Flag.
Sword Flashes.
Circumstantial Case.
Strange Case of a Missing Man.
By ANNIE CARRUTHERS.
Left-Handed Murder.
Only a Circus
By FERGUS HUME.
The Black Carnation.
Midnight Mystery.
By ERNEST
The Whi^'e-Eyed Woman.
By KILSYTH STELLIER.
Taken by Force.
Beauty Spot.
By SIR GILBERT CAMPBELL,
Through an Indian Mirror.
Wellington Works, Aldershot.
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