Stability Bro Golby 7 May 1915
From th
From the Archives
"Historical Landmarks: Stability Lodge of Instruction"
A Paper showing the connection between the Lodge of Reconciliation and the Stability Lodge of Instruction, read at the 98th Annual Dinner of the latter on Friday, 7th May, 1915, and reported in The Freemason 22nd May.
The Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded in the year 1817, and there is strong, if not conclusive, evidence to prove that it is the only Lodge of Instruction having the right to claim to be lineally descended from the Lodge of Reconciliation, which settled the Ritual and Ceremonial of the three degrees and rehearsed the working approved by Grand Lodge in the year 1816. The Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded by some seventeen Brethren, of whom three were Members of the Lodge of Reconciliation and five others were pupils who learnt the new form of working at that Lodge. Their names, with the names of their respective Lodges, are as follow [sic]: -
Members of the Lodge of Reconciliation. Bro. Philip Broadfoot ... ... Lodge of Stability.
Bro. James McCann. ... ... Lodge of Tranquillity.
Bro. Thomas Satterly ... ... Lodge of Tranquillity.Pupils of Lodge of Reconciliation.
Bro. William Dew.. ... ... ... Lodge of Temperance.
Bro. J. H. Little ... ... ... ... Grand Master's Lodge
Bro. E. W. Willis .. ... ... ... Lodge of Amity
Bro. James Walsh ... ... ... Lodge of Stability Bro.
Bro. Peter Thomson.. ... ... Lion and Lamb Lodge.
So that eight of the seventeen Founders were connected either as Members or as Pupils with the famous Lodge of Reconciliation.
Of these eight Founders Bro. Philip Broadfoot and Bro. Peter Thomson were our first two Preceptors, so that, whatever the working may have been, it was practised and taught by these two Founders in the presence of each other from the commencement of the Lodge of Instruction in the year 1817 until the retirement of the first Preceptor, Bro. Philip Broadfoot, in the year 1835, and afterwards by the second Preceptor, Bro. Peter Thomson, until his death in the year 1851 - a period of thirty-four years.
Bro. Peter Thomson was followed by Bro. Henry Muggeridge, who had joined the Lodge twelve years previously - i.e., in November, 1839 - and who remained as the third Preceptor for the thirty-four years extending from February, 1851, to April, 1885, when he retired. The first three Preceptors of the Stability Lodge of Instruction, therefore, covered the long period of sixty-eight years from its creation in the year 1817.
Bro. Eustace Anderson, who had joined the Lodge in the year 1880, succeeded Bro. Henry Muggeridge, and continued as our fourth Preceptor until his death in the year 1900,when I succeeded him as the fifth Preceptor, having joined five years previously.
Here we have an unbroken continuity of Preceptors of the Stability Lodge of Instruction succeeded by their pupils, with the remarkable facts that the first two were joint founders of the Lodge and worked contemporaneously therein for the first eighteen years of its existence, and that the second had continuous membership from the creation of the Lodge until his death in the year 1851; from which I think we may reasonably assume that at least for the first thirty-four years of the Lodge's existence our Ritual and Ceremonial remained unaltered, and were the same in the year 1851 as at the commencement in the year 1817.
For the last twelve years of that thirty-four-year period Bro. Henry Muggeridge, our third Preceptor, was a regular and constant attendant, so that we may also, I think, assume that at the end of that period, when he was made Preceptor, he had ample opportunity of thoroughly learning all that his predecessors had taught, and consequently was well qualified to carry on their teaching.
As to his two successors, Bro. Eustace Anderson and myself, who each only served the comparatively short period of five years under a predecessor before being called to the Preceptorship, we have with us tonight, as our Chairman, Bro. Dr. John Dixon, J.P., P.A.G.D.C., who joined this Lodge of Instruction as far back as 18th January in the year 1856, and learnt all his early Masonic work under the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge. He tells me that, so far as he can remember - and that his memory has always been a good one - the ceremonies of the three degrees as now taught in the Stability Lodge of Instruction are the same as he learnt from the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge in the years 1856 to 1860.
This testimony, extending back for nearly sixty years, which is a large slice out of the Lodge's ninety-eight years of existence, speaks well for the teaching of the Stability Lodge of Instruction, and shows that the working has been transmitted unimpaired for the last sixty years to the present time.
This evidence is extremely valuable, as there are many still living who personally knew and learnt their Masonic work under the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge, and they, I am sure, will bear me out when I say that they have never heard, from any quarter, any statement or suggestion that during his Preceptorship Bro. Henry Muggeridge was teaching, or had ever taught, any Ritual or Ceremonial of the three degrees differing in any respect from that of his two predecessors and Founders of this Lodge. So much as to the inception of the Stability Lodge of Instruction and the unbroken continuity of its teaching.
Now to show whence our Ritual and Ceremonial were derived, and how the Stability Lodge of Instruction was connected with the famous Lodge of Reconciliation. That Lodge had a limited existence (1813 to 1816) and was especially created by the United Grand Lodge of England for the sole purpose of securing uniformity of working throughout the Craft. It might properly, I think, be described as the Grand-Lodge of Instruction.
For the sixty-two years preceding the year 1813 two Masonic Grand Lodges had a contemporaneous existence in England, but in that year they united and formed the present United Grand Lodge of England. When effecting the Union it was found that there were many dissimilarities in the working of the Ritual of the three degrees as practised in the private Lodges under both Grand Bodies, and to remedy this the Lodge of Reconciliation was constituted by the two Grand Masters for the sole and express purpose of settling a uniform working for initiation, passing, and raising, and of instructing the whole Craft therein at weekly meetings, so that "the acknowledged forms, to be universally used, may be madeknown to them." The proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation are set out in the paper read by Bro. Wonnacott at the Quatuor Coronati Lodge in the year 1910 and reported in "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," Vol. XXIII., p. 215, to which I am indebted for the facts relating to that famous Lodge.(see note 1.)
The Lodge of Reconciliation originally started with twenty members, nine distinguished Masonic workers and the Grand Secretary from each of the two Grand Bodies. Ten others were added at different times to fill the vacancies caused by death, non-attendance, absence from the country, and for other reasons, so that the Lodge from first to last comprised thirty members. The Worshipful Master of the Lodge was Bro. The Reverend Samuel Hemming, D.D., and the Treasurer and Secretary were Bros. Wm. H. White and Edwards Harper respectively; the two latter, having been the Grand Secretaries of the two Grand Bodies, were appointed joint Grand Secretaries of the United Grand Lodge of England.
The Lodge held its first meeting on 7th December, 1813, and its last meeting on 3rd May, 1816. The working of the three degrees, as settled and taught by them to the Craft at their meetings, and in various parts of the country, was rehearsed by the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation at a special Grand Lodge meeting on 20th May, 1816, and formally approved by the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication on 5th June following. During its existence some of the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation conveyed their information to the private Lodges in London and the Provinces.
In a report, dated December, 1814, of the proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation to the Grand Master, it is stated that Bro. Philip Broadfoot "had for some weeks past been promulgating the newly arranged system" to Lodges in "parts of England and Ireland." (Wonnacotts Paper, p. 240 [sic].)(see note 2.)
In 1815 Bro. Philip Broadfoot was present at the Northern Lodge of Promulgation (which consisted of thirteen Lodges joined for the purpose of receiving instruction) "to communicate the New Regulations of Grand Lodge together with the mode of working and the new obligations." (Craven's "Sketch of Freemasonry at Bottoms," p. 43 (see note 3.) ; and "A.Q.C.," IV., 59.)(see note 4.)
On 14th February, 1815, Bro. James McCann attended the Neptune Lodge and gave "the Lodge very suitable instructions from the Lodge of Reconciliation." (Golby's "History of the Neptune Lodge," p. 75.)(see note 5.)
In April, 1815, Bro. James McCann reported to the Lodge of Reconciliation the proceedings of a committee that he and Bro. Broadfoot had attended, which committee was conducting a campaign against the new form of working promulgated by the Lodge of Reconciliation. (Wonnacot's Paper, p. 253.)(see note 6.)
Bro. Thomas Satterly was at Brixham on 16th July, 1815, when he assisted in calling a Lodge of Instruction. ("A.Q.C.," VIII., 67.)(see note 7.)
These facts show that those of our Founders who were members of the Lodge of Reconciliation - Bro. Broadfoot, Bro. McCann, and Bro. Satterly - were extremely active and zealous in the propagation of the new form of Ritual settled by that Lodge, and that our first Preceptor, Bro. Philip Broadfoot, was in December, 1814, specially honoured by laudatory mention in a report to the Grand Master.
Here we have an unbroken continuity of Preceptors of the Stability Lodge of Instruction succeeded by their pupils, with the remarkable facts that the first two were joint founders of the Lodge and worked contemporaneously therein for the first eighteen years of its existence, and that the second had continuous membership from the creation of the Lodge until his death in the year 1851; from which I think we may reasonably assume that at least for the first thirty-four years of the Lodge's existence our Ritual and Ceremonial remained unaltered, and were the same in the year 1851 as at the commencement in the year 1817.
For the last twelve years of that thirty-four-year period Bro. Henry Muggeridge, our third Preceptor, was a regular and constant attendant, so that we may also, I think, assume that at the end of that period, when he was made Preceptor, he had ample opportunity of thoroughly learning all that his predecessors had taught, and consequently was well qualified to carry on their teaching.
As to his two successors, Bro. Eustace Anderson and myself, who each only served the comparatively short period of five years under a predecessor before being called to the Preceptorship, we have with us tonight, as our Chairman, Bro. Dr. John Dixon, J.P., P.A.G.D.C., who joined this Lodge of Instruction as far back as 18th January in the year 1856, and learnt all his early Masonic work under the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge. He tells me that, so far as he can remember - and that his memory has always been a good one - the ceremonies of the three degrees as now taught in the Stability Lodge of Instruction are the same as he learnt from the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge in the years 1856 to 1860.
This testimony, extending back for nearly sixty years, which is a large slice out of the Lodge's ninety-eight years of existence, speaks well for the teaching of the Stability Lodge of Instruction, and shows that the working has been transmitted unimpaired for the last sixty years to the present time.
This evidence is extremely valuable, as there are many still living who personally knew and learnt their Masonic work under the late Bro. Henry Muggeridge, and they, I am sure, will bear me out when I say that they have never heard, from any quarter, any statement or suggestion that during his Preceptorship Bro. Henry Muggeridge was teaching, or had ever taught, any Ritual or Ceremonial of the three degrees differing in any respect from that of his two predecessors and Founders of this Lodge. So much as to the inception of the Stability Lodge of Instruction and the unbroken continuity of its teaching.
Now to show whence our Ritual and Ceremonial were derived, and how the Stability Lodge of Instruction was connected with the famous Lodge of Reconciliation. That Lodge had a limited existence (1813 to 1816) and was especially created by the United Grand Lodge of England for the sole purpose of securing uniformity of working throughout the Craft. It might properly, I think, be described as the Grand-Lodge of Instruction.
For the sixty-two years preceding the year 1813 two Masonic Grand Lodges had a contemporaneous existence in England, but in that year they united and formed the present United Grand Lodge of England. When effecting the Union it was found that there were many dissimilarities in the working of the Ritual of the three degrees as practised in the private Lodges under both Grand Bodies, and to remedy this the Lodge of Reconciliation was constituted by the two Grand Masters for the sole and express purpose of settling a uniform working for initiation, passing, and raising, and of instructing the whole Craft therein at weekly meetings, so that "the acknowledged forms, to be universally used, may be madeknown to them." The proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation are set out in the paper read by Bro. Wonnacott at the Quatuor Coronati Lodge in the year 1910 and reported in "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," Vol. XXIII., p. 215, to which I am indebted for the facts relating to that famous Lodge.(see note 1.)
The Lodge of Reconciliation originally started with twenty members, nine distinguished Masonic workers and the Grand Secretary from each of the two Grand Bodies. Ten others were added at different times to fill the vacancies caused by death, non-attendance, absence from the country, and for other reasons, so that the Lodge from first to last comprised thirty members. The Worshipful Master of the Lodge was Bro. The Reverend Samuel Hemming, D.D., and the Treasurer and Secretary were Bros. Wm. H. White and Edwards Harper respectively; the two latter, having been the Grand Secretaries of the two Grand Bodies, were appointed joint Grand Secretaries of the United Grand Lodge of England.
The Lodge held its first meeting on 7th December, 1813, and its last meeting on 3rd May, 1816. The working of the three degrees, as settled and taught by them to the Craft at their meetings, and in various parts of the country, was rehearsed by the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation at a special Grand Lodge meeting on 20th May, 1816, and formally approved by the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication on 5th June following. During its existence some of the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation conveyed their information to the private Lodges in London and the Provinces.
In a report, dated December, 1814, of the proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation to the Grand Master, it is stated that Bro. Philip Broadfoot "had for some weeks past been promulgating the newly arranged system" to Lodges in "parts of England and Ireland." (Wonnacotts Paper, p. 240 [sic].)(see note 2.)
In 1815 Bro. Philip Broadfoot was present at the Northern Lodge of Promulgation (which consisted of thirteen Lodges joined for the purpose of receiving instruction) "to communicate the New Regulations of Grand Lodge together with the mode of working and the new obligations." (Craven's "Sketch of Freemasonry at Bottoms," p. 43 (see note 3.) ; and "A.Q.C.," IV., 59.)(see note 4.)
On 14th February, 1815, Bro. James McCann attended the Neptune Lodge and gave "the Lodge very suitable instructions from the Lodge of Reconciliation." (Golby's "History of the Neptune Lodge," p. 75.)(see note 5.)
In April, 1815, Bro. James McCann reported to the Lodge of Reconciliation the proceedings of a committee that he and Bro. Broadfoot had attended, which committee was conducting a campaign against the new form of working promulgated by the Lodge of Reconciliation. (Wonnacot's Paper, p. 253.)(see note 6.)
Bro. Thomas Satterly was at Brixham on 16th July, 1815, when he assisted in calling a Lodge of Instruction. ("A.Q.C.," VIII., 67.)(see note 7.)
These facts show that those of our Founders who were members of the Lodge of Reconciliation - Bro. Broadfoot, Bro. McCann, and Bro. Satterly - were extremely active and zealous in the propagation of the new form of Ritual settled by that Lodge, and that our first Preceptor, Bro. Philip Broadfoot, was in December, 1814, specially honoured by laudatory mention in a report to the Grand Master.
From all of which I think the inference is clear that three of our Founders - Bro. Philip Broadfoot, our first Preceptor, and Bros. James McCann and Thomas Satterly - were thoroughly familiar with, and were teachers of, the working promulgated by the Lodge of Reconciliation during the existence of that Lodge, 1813 to 1816. And I think we may unquestionably deduce therefrom:
1. That when these three Brethren joined five of the pupils of the Lodge of Reconciliation (and nine others) to start the Stability Lodge of Instruction, eighteen months after the closing down of the Lodge of Reconciliation, it was because they realised that some such General Lodge of Instruction was necessary and would be beneficial to the Craft; and
2. That when they did start they taught, and could not teach any other than, the authorised system which they had themselves learnt and practised in, and taught in various parts of England and Ireland on behalf of, the famous Lodge of Reconciliation.
In support of this view I find that no fewer than seven other members, including the W.M., the Treasurer, and the Secretary, of the Lodge of Reconciliation, joined the Stability Lodge of Instruction at various times, making ten in all out of the total of thirty members of that Lodge. The names of all the ten, with the dates of their joining the Stability Lodge of Instruction, are as follows: -
2. James McCann, Tranquility 19th Dec., 1817
3. Thomas Satterly, Tranquility 19th Dec., 1817
JOINED
4. Wm. Jordan, Jordan 17th April., 1818
5. Thomas Harper, Peace and Harmony 19th Mar., 1819
6. Rev. Samuel Hemming Worshipful Master 29th Mar., 1820
7. R.F. Mestayer, Grand Master's 7th April., 1820
8. Edwards Harper, One of the joint Grand Secretaries, the Secretary 15th Mar., 1822
9. Lawrence Thompson, Felicity 4th Nov., 1836
10. William Henry White, One of the joint Grand Secretaries, the Treasurer 24th Apl., 1840
At the last meeting of the Lodge of Reconciliation on 3rd May, 1816, a full and final rehearsal was made prior to the rehearsal of the working in Grand Lodge. At this meeting there were present the Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex, and no less [sic] than eight of the ten members who joined our Lodge, as before stated, namely: -
Rev. Samuel Hemming, D.D., the W.M., as W.M.
James McCann as S.W.
Philip Broadfoot as S.D.
Thomas Satterly as J.D.
R. F. Mestayer
L. Thompson
W. H. White The Treasurer.
E. Harper The Secretary.
Observe that our three Founders, Bros. Broadfoot, McCann, and Satterly, were each in office at this important final Rehearsal in the presence of the Grand Master. These facts, I think, justify the statement that the Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded by the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation to carry on the work promulgated by that Lodge during its career, and that we are bound to conclude that its first two Preceptors taught, and could not do otherwise than teach, the system settled by that Lodge and approved by the Grand Lodge in the year 1816.
As one cannot project oneself backwards ninety-nine years, and say to-day what it was that was actually rehearsed in, and approved by, the Grand Lodge in the year 1816, it is not possible at the present time for anyone to say precisely or definitely what that Ceremony and Ritual were. I was therefore much surprised to read in THE FREEMASON of 6th March, 1915, the following: -
"The Emulation Lodge of Improvement was established in 1823 to work the precise form of ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation and approved by Grand Lodge in 1816, and it is this system of Ritual which is taught by the Lodge to-day. The principle of Emulation is, and always has been, that the ritual so approved cannot be altered in any way, and as during the period of ninety-two years the Lodge has been under the control of only four men, all well known as leading Masons of their time, and strict disciplinarians, I think we may safely assume that the ritual as we have it to-day is the same as was approved by Grand Lodge in 1816. As most of you are aware, the four Brethren referred to were Bro. Peter Gilkes, who was officially acknowledged by Grand Lodge as the exponent of the Ritual of the Lodge of Reconciliation; Bro. Barton Wilson, who was a pupil of Bro. Gilkes; Bro. Thomas Fenn, who was taught personally by Bro. Wilson; and Bro. R. Clay Sudlow, who worked under Bro. Fenn, and afterwards took over the position of Senior Member of the Committee from him."
This is a very positive statement which requires very strong evidence to support it. The proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation show that it was decided not to publish any note, memorandum, or record of the working settled and subsequently approved by Grand Lodge; nevertheless, from the very definite character of the statement of the claim made by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, and knowing that men will sometimes, in defiance of orders, make memory notes of that which should not be committed to writing, I thought it advisable to make diligent search, to endeavour to ascertain whether any such memorandum, note, or record, or any MS of any kind whatsoever likely to elucidate the point, is, or ever has been, in the archives of the Grand Lodge or elsewhere in existence. In my opinion, and in that of very many distinguished students of the history of the Craft, the conclusive settlement of the question as to what is "the precise form of Ritual Settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation" is of vast importance, and the claim to this knowledge should not be lightly made by any Lodge except on some substantial basis of fact. I regret to say that, although I have consulted many highly-placed and distinguished Brethren, including the Grand Secretary and the Librarian of the Grand Lodge, I have been unable to obtain the slightest trace of any such document, or to obtain any clue or hint of such having existed at any time anywhere.
This claim of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, so far as I am aware, is founded on the statements made in the "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement" by the late Bro. Henry Sadler, who was not only the Historian of that Lodge of Improvement, but was a member from 1870 until his death in the year 1911. In Bro. Sadler's book (page 6) it is stated, quoting the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for 1836, that the Emulation Lodge of Improvement was originally formed to teach the Masonic Lectures, that the teaching was confined to the delivering of Lectures, but afterwards the Ceremonies were introduced. Bro. Sadler tells us (page 16) that Bro. Gilkes at first declined to join the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, as he "strongly objected to it on the ground that a Lodge of Instruction restricted to M.M.'s, and working the Lectures only, on a new system, could not succeed"; but that he afterwards altered his opinion and joined the Lodge in May, 1825.
But in no part of his book does Bro. Sadler tell us the date when, and the reason why, the Ceremonies were introduced into a Lodge of Instruction formed for teaching Masonic Lectures on a new system. I will endeavour to supply the omission, but before doing so I wish to make it perfectly clear: -
1. That the Ceremonies of the three degrees have been settled, approved, and authorised by the Grand Lodge of England; and,
2. That no form of Masonic Lectures of any kind has ever been authorised by the Grand Lodge; but that on the contrary, in the year 1819, at three successive meetings, the Grand Lodge refused to authorise any form of Masonic Lectures.
In June of that year the motion of Bro. Peter Gilkes to appoint a Committee to consider the question was refused; in September the Grand Lodge refused to adopt the recommendation of the Board of General Purposes to the same effect; and an attempt to re-open the question on the confirmation of the minutes at the following Grand Lodge meeting in December was also refused. Whereupon the Grand Master stated that any Master of a Lodge could give any lecture he liked within the Landmarks of the Order. (See Sadler's "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement," page 109 et seq.)
So that we must keep in mind that there is a vast difference between Masonic Ritual and Masonic Lectures. In fact, there is no Masonic constitutional comparison between them. The Ritual for the three degrees is authorised. The Lectures are not.
Now to supply Bro. Sadler's omission as to when the Ceremonies - i.e., the Ritual of the Degrees - were introduced into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement. On pages 9 and 10 of Bro. Sadler's book appears the following: - "Early in 1830 we find from the following Memorial that it [the Emulation Lodge of Improvement] was located at the 'Blue Posts, ' Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, where it remained until March, 1836: -
"To H.R.H. THE DUKE OF SUSSEX,
"Most Worshipful Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of England, etc., etc., etc., We the undersigned being members of the Lodge of Instruction called the Emulation Lodge of Improvement meeting at the Blue Posts Charlotte Street Fitzroy Square, under the sanction of the Lodge of Hope since its commencement on the 2nd October 1823 beg leave most respectfully to state that this Lodge of Instruction is for M.M.'s only, always commencing with the lecture in the 3rd degree, and taking the other lectures in rotation as time will permit, and are working according to the custom of the Grand Stewards' Lodge, and since the commencement of the same there have joined between three and four hundred brethren, and that the number attending in the year 1827 was 795; in 1828, 1,109; in 1829, 833; total 2,735, making the average number for each night 18 for the last three years, but in consequence of the communication and command received from your Royal Highness on the last Quarterly Communication we are debarred from meeting and working as we have been accustomed to - viz: electing the W.M. and he appointing his officers for the next night of meeting, so that the Brethren may have an opportunity of giving the section they are appointed to work due consideration previously to the night of meeting which is on every Friday. This Lodge of Instruction is circumstanced differently from any other in the Order, having only one of the members belonging to the Lodge under whose sanction it is held and that one the W.M. who now comes amongst us. [This was Bro. Peter Gilkes.] Having thus laid the statement and manner of working before your Royal Highness and having the prosperity of the Craft at heart, we are anxious to promote and diffuse the genuine principles of the Art in a regular and constitutional manner, and wishing to excite emulation amongst the younger brethren and to give such instruction that when they may have the honour to be appointed to any office or elected to the Chair, in a regular Lodge, they may be fully competent to discharge the important duties of the same with that correctness and regularity which is so essential to the well ruling and governing a lodge. We do therefore pray that your Royal Highness will be pleased to grant this lodge of instruction your especial license and authority so that we may meet and conduct the business of Masonry which we trust has been done for nearly seven years, and the undersigned as in duty will ever pray."
Now this petition for a special Warrant for the Emulation Lodge of Improvement (which, by the way, was refused) bears the signature of Bro. Peter Gilkes (Sadler, page 16), and states that the work relates to the Lectures, and no mention is made of any working of the Ritual or Ceremonies of the various degrees. This point is emphasised in that part of the Memorial which says, "Having thus laid the statement and manner of working before your Royal Highness," and the preceding part of the Memorial refers only to the working of the Lectures in the various degrees according to the Grand Stewards Lodge, which Lodge had formulated a set of Masonic Lectures some years before 1823.From all which I think it is abundantly clear that up to the date of this Petition to the Grand Master nothing else had been taught in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement "since its commencement on the 2nd October, 1823," but the Lectures "according to the custom of the Grand Stewards Lodge,"
So that for the first seven years of its existence the Emulation Lodge of Improvement had, on its own showing to the Grand Master, confined itself to teaching the Lectures. When, then, were the Ceremonies introduced? Obviously some time between the year of this Memorial, 1830, and the notification of the introduction of the Ceremonies in the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836. New [sic] Bro. Gilkes, having been born in the year 1765, was sixty years of age when he joined the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in the year 1825, and was sixty-five years old at the date of this Memorial. If the Memorial stated facts, which we are bound to believe - especially having regard to the serious position in which the Emulation Lodge of Improvement had been placed by the Grand Master's communication, its continued existence being jeopardised thereby - then Bro. Gilkes had taught no Ceremonies of the working of the three degrees in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement up to the year 1830, and he died three years later. Did he, at sixty-five years of age, after carrying on the Emulation Lodge of Improvement for five years as a Lodge for working and teaching the Masonic Lectures of the Grand Stewards Lodge, suddenly introduce the Ritual of the Degrees in the three years intervening before the date of the Memorial to the Grand Master and his death in 1833? And if so, when and why did this elderly Brother introduce the Ceremonies into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement? Furthermore, why did not the Reporter of the 1836 annual meeting of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, when writing up the contemporaneous record for the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the same year, refer to the fact that the Ceremonies , which he stated were "afterwards introduced" into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, were "the precise form of Ritual Settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation"? If it is a fact now, as claimed by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, it was a fact then, and I submit that such a claim should not now be made without a proof of its accuracy.
My own view is that the Ceremonies were not introduced into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement until after Bro. Gilkes' death. This view is confirmed by looking over the "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement," from which it appears that after 1833 many changes in the general working of the Lodge were made by Bro. Barton Wilson. For instance, we have it on Bro. Sadler's authority ("Emulation Lodge of Improvement," pp. 12, 19, 25, 44, and 54) that in the year 1838 Bro. Barton Wilson introduced the Installation Ceremony into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement; he also introduced the practice of doing Masonic work at the festivals in the same year; he worked the Consecration Ceremony at the festival in 1859; he read an Essay on the Landmarks at the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in 1862; and so on. Evidently Bro. Barton Wilson was an innovator, using the term in its popular as distinguished from its Masonic sense, and probably introduced the Ceremonies of the three degrees when he was Preceptor after the death of Bro.Gilkes in the year 1833. Something in the nature of a change of [sic] alteration in the mode of conducting the Lodge was introduced after Bro. Gilkes' death, as the report in the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836 goes on to say: -
"Gratified as we are, etc. . . . we must enter our caution to the leading members of it [this includes Bro. Barton Wilson] not to relax from the discipline so unremittingly enforced by the institutors, and which was especially observed by the late Peter Gilkes. We do not make this allusion without cause."
Evidently some change had recently been affected in the manner of carrying on the Emulation Lodge of Improvement some time just prior to the publication of the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836.
None of the twenty-three Founders of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement whose names are given on pages 7 and 8 of Bro. Sadler's book was a member of the Lodge of Reconciliation, and only one of them (Bro. J. Mivart) attended its meetings, and he put in only six attendances as a pupil.
The Lodge of Reconciliation had closed fourteen years prior to the date of the Memorial in 1830; Bro. Peter Gilkes was never a member of that Lodge, but had made casual attendances as a pupil while it was meeting between the years 1813 and 1816. Bro. Wonnacott's Paper us he attended ten times in all. This is the only connection I can trace between the Lodge of Reconciliation and the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, and it seems an exceedingly weak foundation on which to base such a strong claim as is set out in THE FREEMASON of March last. Stated in a few words, it is this: The first Preceptor of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement attended as a pupil of the Lodge of Reconciliation between 1813 and 1816 on ten occasions. At some time not earlier than 1830, but presumably about 1834 - i.e., at least fourteen years after the closing of the Lodge of Reconciliation - the Emulation Lodge of Improvement introduced the working of the ceremonies of the three degrees at their weekly meetings, and they now say that the working so introduced was the precise form of Ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation.What is the precise form of Ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation? And what is the evidence on which the Emulation Lodge of Improvement base their claim to be teaching it?
It would also be extremely interesting to know the date upon which Bro. Gilkes was "officially acknowledged by the Grand Lodge as the exponent of the Ritual of the Lodge of Reconciliation," as now claimed by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement. If there is any justification for these claims evidence in support would be welcomed by the Masonic world, as at present they appear to be at variance with the statements found in the book compiled by the Historian of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement which now makes them. Whether the Emulation Lodge of Improvement can produce any evidence in support of their wide claims I cannot say, but unless and until they do, it is to be hoped that they will not repeat them.
But so far as the Stability Lodge of Instruction is concerned, on the facts I have mentioned, we may, I think, justly claim that the connection of the Founders of this, the Stability, Lodge of Instruction with the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation, and our creation within eighteen months of the termination of that famous Lodge, is strong and cogent evidence in support of the contention that we are lineally descended from that Lodge, and that we are practising the Ritual and Ceremonial of the three degrees as settled by them and approved by the Grand Lodge in the year 1816; and so far as I am aware we are the only Lodge of Instruction entitled to make these claims.
Printed at THE FREEMASON Offices, 5, Whitefriars Street, London, E.C. - 22nd May, 1915.
In support of this view I find that no fewer than seven other members, including the W.M., the Treasurer, and the Secretary, of the Lodge of Reconciliation, joined the Stability Lodge of Instruction at various times, making ten in all out of the total of thirty members of that Lodge. The names of all the ten, with the dates of their joining the Stability Lodge of Instruction, are as follows: -
Name, Lodge, Founded
1. Philip Broadfoot, Stability 19th Dec., 18172. James McCann, Tranquility 19th Dec., 1817
3. Thomas Satterly, Tranquility 19th Dec., 1817
JOINED
4. Wm. Jordan, Jordan 17th April., 1818
5. Thomas Harper, Peace and Harmony 19th Mar., 1819
6. Rev. Samuel Hemming Worshipful Master 29th Mar., 1820
7. R.F. Mestayer, Grand Master's 7th April., 1820
8. Edwards Harper, One of the joint Grand Secretaries, the Secretary 15th Mar., 1822
9. Lawrence Thompson, Felicity 4th Nov., 1836
10. William Henry White, One of the joint Grand Secretaries, the Treasurer 24th Apl., 1840
At the last meeting of the Lodge of Reconciliation on 3rd May, 1816, a full and final rehearsal was made prior to the rehearsal of the working in Grand Lodge. At this meeting there were present the Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex, and no less [sic] than eight of the ten members who joined our Lodge, as before stated, namely: -
Rev. Samuel Hemming, D.D., the W.M., as W.M.
James McCann as S.W.
Philip Broadfoot as S.D.
Thomas Satterly as J.D.
R. F. Mestayer
L. Thompson
W. H. White The Treasurer.
E. Harper The Secretary.
Observe that our three Founders, Bros. Broadfoot, McCann, and Satterly, were each in office at this important final Rehearsal in the presence of the Grand Master. These facts, I think, justify the statement that the Stability Lodge of Instruction was founded by the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation to carry on the work promulgated by that Lodge during its career, and that we are bound to conclude that its first two Preceptors taught, and could not do otherwise than teach, the system settled by that Lodge and approved by the Grand Lodge in the year 1816.
As one cannot project oneself backwards ninety-nine years, and say to-day what it was that was actually rehearsed in, and approved by, the Grand Lodge in the year 1816, it is not possible at the present time for anyone to say precisely or definitely what that Ceremony and Ritual were. I was therefore much surprised to read in THE FREEMASON of 6th March, 1915, the following: -
"The Emulation Lodge of Improvement was established in 1823 to work the precise form of ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation and approved by Grand Lodge in 1816, and it is this system of Ritual which is taught by the Lodge to-day. The principle of Emulation is, and always has been, that the ritual so approved cannot be altered in any way, and as during the period of ninety-two years the Lodge has been under the control of only four men, all well known as leading Masons of their time, and strict disciplinarians, I think we may safely assume that the ritual as we have it to-day is the same as was approved by Grand Lodge in 1816. As most of you are aware, the four Brethren referred to were Bro. Peter Gilkes, who was officially acknowledged by Grand Lodge as the exponent of the Ritual of the Lodge of Reconciliation; Bro. Barton Wilson, who was a pupil of Bro. Gilkes; Bro. Thomas Fenn, who was taught personally by Bro. Wilson; and Bro. R. Clay Sudlow, who worked under Bro. Fenn, and afterwards took over the position of Senior Member of the Committee from him."
This is a very positive statement which requires very strong evidence to support it. The proceedings of the Lodge of Reconciliation show that it was decided not to publish any note, memorandum, or record of the working settled and subsequently approved by Grand Lodge; nevertheless, from the very definite character of the statement of the claim made by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, and knowing that men will sometimes, in defiance of orders, make memory notes of that which should not be committed to writing, I thought it advisable to make diligent search, to endeavour to ascertain whether any such memorandum, note, or record, or any MS of any kind whatsoever likely to elucidate the point, is, or ever has been, in the archives of the Grand Lodge or elsewhere in existence. In my opinion, and in that of very many distinguished students of the history of the Craft, the conclusive settlement of the question as to what is "the precise form of Ritual Settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation" is of vast importance, and the claim to this knowledge should not be lightly made by any Lodge except on some substantial basis of fact. I regret to say that, although I have consulted many highly-placed and distinguished Brethren, including the Grand Secretary and the Librarian of the Grand Lodge, I have been unable to obtain the slightest trace of any such document, or to obtain any clue or hint of such having existed at any time anywhere.
This claim of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, so far as I am aware, is founded on the statements made in the "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement" by the late Bro. Henry Sadler, who was not only the Historian of that Lodge of Improvement, but was a member from 1870 until his death in the year 1911. In Bro. Sadler's book (page 6) it is stated, quoting the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for 1836, that the Emulation Lodge of Improvement was originally formed to teach the Masonic Lectures, that the teaching was confined to the delivering of Lectures, but afterwards the Ceremonies were introduced. Bro. Sadler tells us (page 16) that Bro. Gilkes at first declined to join the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, as he "strongly objected to it on the ground that a Lodge of Instruction restricted to M.M.'s, and working the Lectures only, on a new system, could not succeed"; but that he afterwards altered his opinion and joined the Lodge in May, 1825.
But in no part of his book does Bro. Sadler tell us the date when, and the reason why, the Ceremonies were introduced into a Lodge of Instruction formed for teaching Masonic Lectures on a new system. I will endeavour to supply the omission, but before doing so I wish to make it perfectly clear: -
1. That the Ceremonies of the three degrees have been settled, approved, and authorised by the Grand Lodge of England; and,
2. That no form of Masonic Lectures of any kind has ever been authorised by the Grand Lodge; but that on the contrary, in the year 1819, at three successive meetings, the Grand Lodge refused to authorise any form of Masonic Lectures.
In June of that year the motion of Bro. Peter Gilkes to appoint a Committee to consider the question was refused; in September the Grand Lodge refused to adopt the recommendation of the Board of General Purposes to the same effect; and an attempt to re-open the question on the confirmation of the minutes at the following Grand Lodge meeting in December was also refused. Whereupon the Grand Master stated that any Master of a Lodge could give any lecture he liked within the Landmarks of the Order. (See Sadler's "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement," page 109 et seq.)
So that we must keep in mind that there is a vast difference between Masonic Ritual and Masonic Lectures. In fact, there is no Masonic constitutional comparison between them. The Ritual for the three degrees is authorised. The Lectures are not.
Now to supply Bro. Sadler's omission as to when the Ceremonies - i.e., the Ritual of the Degrees - were introduced into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement. On pages 9 and 10 of Bro. Sadler's book appears the following: - "Early in 1830 we find from the following Memorial that it [the Emulation Lodge of Improvement] was located at the 'Blue Posts, ' Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, where it remained until March, 1836: -
"To H.R.H. THE DUKE OF SUSSEX,
"Most Worshipful Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of England, etc., etc., etc., We the undersigned being members of the Lodge of Instruction called the Emulation Lodge of Improvement meeting at the Blue Posts Charlotte Street Fitzroy Square, under the sanction of the Lodge of Hope since its commencement on the 2nd October 1823 beg leave most respectfully to state that this Lodge of Instruction is for M.M.'s only, always commencing with the lecture in the 3rd degree, and taking the other lectures in rotation as time will permit, and are working according to the custom of the Grand Stewards' Lodge, and since the commencement of the same there have joined between three and four hundred brethren, and that the number attending in the year 1827 was 795; in 1828, 1,109; in 1829, 833; total 2,735, making the average number for each night 18 for the last three years, but in consequence of the communication and command received from your Royal Highness on the last Quarterly Communication we are debarred from meeting and working as we have been accustomed to - viz: electing the W.M. and he appointing his officers for the next night of meeting, so that the Brethren may have an opportunity of giving the section they are appointed to work due consideration previously to the night of meeting which is on every Friday. This Lodge of Instruction is circumstanced differently from any other in the Order, having only one of the members belonging to the Lodge under whose sanction it is held and that one the W.M. who now comes amongst us. [This was Bro. Peter Gilkes.] Having thus laid the statement and manner of working before your Royal Highness and having the prosperity of the Craft at heart, we are anxious to promote and diffuse the genuine principles of the Art in a regular and constitutional manner, and wishing to excite emulation amongst the younger brethren and to give such instruction that when they may have the honour to be appointed to any office or elected to the Chair, in a regular Lodge, they may be fully competent to discharge the important duties of the same with that correctness and regularity which is so essential to the well ruling and governing a lodge. We do therefore pray that your Royal Highness will be pleased to grant this lodge of instruction your especial license and authority so that we may meet and conduct the business of Masonry which we trust has been done for nearly seven years, and the undersigned as in duty will ever pray."
Now this petition for a special Warrant for the Emulation Lodge of Improvement (which, by the way, was refused) bears the signature of Bro. Peter Gilkes (Sadler, page 16), and states that the work relates to the Lectures, and no mention is made of any working of the Ritual or Ceremonies of the various degrees. This point is emphasised in that part of the Memorial which says, "Having thus laid the statement and manner of working before your Royal Highness," and the preceding part of the Memorial refers only to the working of the Lectures in the various degrees according to the Grand Stewards Lodge, which Lodge had formulated a set of Masonic Lectures some years before 1823.From all which I think it is abundantly clear that up to the date of this Petition to the Grand Master nothing else had been taught in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement "since its commencement on the 2nd October, 1823," but the Lectures "according to the custom of the Grand Stewards Lodge,"
So that for the first seven years of its existence the Emulation Lodge of Improvement had, on its own showing to the Grand Master, confined itself to teaching the Lectures. When, then, were the Ceremonies introduced? Obviously some time between the year of this Memorial, 1830, and the notification of the introduction of the Ceremonies in the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836. New [sic] Bro. Gilkes, having been born in the year 1765, was sixty years of age when he joined the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in the year 1825, and was sixty-five years old at the date of this Memorial. If the Memorial stated facts, which we are bound to believe - especially having regard to the serious position in which the Emulation Lodge of Improvement had been placed by the Grand Master's communication, its continued existence being jeopardised thereby - then Bro. Gilkes had taught no Ceremonies of the working of the three degrees in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement up to the year 1830, and he died three years later. Did he, at sixty-five years of age, after carrying on the Emulation Lodge of Improvement for five years as a Lodge for working and teaching the Masonic Lectures of the Grand Stewards Lodge, suddenly introduce the Ritual of the Degrees in the three years intervening before the date of the Memorial to the Grand Master and his death in 1833? And if so, when and why did this elderly Brother introduce the Ceremonies into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement? Furthermore, why did not the Reporter of the 1836 annual meeting of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, when writing up the contemporaneous record for the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the same year, refer to the fact that the Ceremonies , which he stated were "afterwards introduced" into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, were "the precise form of Ritual Settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation"? If it is a fact now, as claimed by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, it was a fact then, and I submit that such a claim should not now be made without a proof of its accuracy.
My own view is that the Ceremonies were not introduced into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement until after Bro. Gilkes' death. This view is confirmed by looking over the "History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement," from which it appears that after 1833 many changes in the general working of the Lodge were made by Bro. Barton Wilson. For instance, we have it on Bro. Sadler's authority ("Emulation Lodge of Improvement," pp. 12, 19, 25, 44, and 54) that in the year 1838 Bro. Barton Wilson introduced the Installation Ceremony into the Emulation Lodge of Improvement; he also introduced the practice of doing Masonic work at the festivals in the same year; he worked the Consecration Ceremony at the festival in 1859; he read an Essay on the Landmarks at the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in 1862; and so on. Evidently Bro. Barton Wilson was an innovator, using the term in its popular as distinguished from its Masonic sense, and probably introduced the Ceremonies of the three degrees when he was Preceptor after the death of Bro.Gilkes in the year 1833. Something in the nature of a change of [sic] alteration in the mode of conducting the Lodge was introduced after Bro. Gilkes' death, as the report in the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836 goes on to say: -
"Gratified as we are, etc. . . . we must enter our caution to the leading members of it [this includes Bro. Barton Wilson] not to relax from the discipline so unremittingly enforced by the institutors, and which was especially observed by the late Peter Gilkes. We do not make this allusion without cause."
Evidently some change had recently been affected in the manner of carrying on the Emulation Lodge of Improvement some time just prior to the publication of the "Freemason's Quarterly Review" for the year 1836.
None of the twenty-three Founders of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement whose names are given on pages 7 and 8 of Bro. Sadler's book was a member of the Lodge of Reconciliation, and only one of them (Bro. J. Mivart) attended its meetings, and he put in only six attendances as a pupil.
The Lodge of Reconciliation had closed fourteen years prior to the date of the Memorial in 1830; Bro. Peter Gilkes was never a member of that Lodge, but had made casual attendances as a pupil while it was meeting between the years 1813 and 1816. Bro. Wonnacott's Paper us he attended ten times in all. This is the only connection I can trace between the Lodge of Reconciliation and the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, and it seems an exceedingly weak foundation on which to base such a strong claim as is set out in THE FREEMASON of March last. Stated in a few words, it is this: The first Preceptor of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement attended as a pupil of the Lodge of Reconciliation between 1813 and 1816 on ten occasions. At some time not earlier than 1830, but presumably about 1834 - i.e., at least fourteen years after the closing of the Lodge of Reconciliation - the Emulation Lodge of Improvement introduced the working of the ceremonies of the three degrees at their weekly meetings, and they now say that the working so introduced was the precise form of Ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation.What is the precise form of Ritual settled by the Lodge of Reconciliation? And what is the evidence on which the Emulation Lodge of Improvement base their claim to be teaching it?
It would also be extremely interesting to know the date upon which Bro. Gilkes was "officially acknowledged by the Grand Lodge as the exponent of the Ritual of the Lodge of Reconciliation," as now claimed by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement. If there is any justification for these claims evidence in support would be welcomed by the Masonic world, as at present they appear to be at variance with the statements found in the book compiled by the Historian of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement which now makes them. Whether the Emulation Lodge of Improvement can produce any evidence in support of their wide claims I cannot say, but unless and until they do, it is to be hoped that they will not repeat them.
But so far as the Stability Lodge of Instruction is concerned, on the facts I have mentioned, we may, I think, justly claim that the connection of the Founders of this, the Stability, Lodge of Instruction with the members of the Lodge of Reconciliation, and our creation within eighteen months of the termination of that famous Lodge, is strong and cogent evidence in support of the contention that we are lineally descended from that Lodge, and that we are practising the Ritual and Ceremonial of the three degrees as settled by them and approved by the Grand Lodge in the year 1816; and so far as I am aware we are the only Lodge of Instruction entitled to make these claims.
Printed at THE FREEMASON Offices, 5, Whitefriars Street, London, E.C. - 22nd May, 1915.
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Readers will note that the above paper has been reproduced exactly as Golby’s original and that the typographical style no longer accords with that presently accepted and published in the AQC Style Guide. The exuberant and reiterative terms in which it is largely couched are scarce to be wondered at considering the particular coenacula at which it was to be delivered. Nevertheless it does present ‘strong’ evidence of the continuity of teaching from the Lodge of Reconciliation notwithstanding the inevitable changes engendered by the aural transmission of the ritual. Contemporary members of the Stability Lodge of Instruction have been well aware of the broad content of Golby’s paper and the Preface to the 1992 Stability Ritual book written by J.E.D. Watkins, Chairman of the Stability Ritual Association largely echoes his claims. The existence and nature of Golby’s paper had been known about for many years but its whereabouts unknown. Like some story of the provenance of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, this paper was found in a second-hand book shop, price 10p, by T.A. Henley, a member of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, and passed to K.F. Beckett, the then Treasurer of the Stability Ritual Association. What similar treasures yet lie undiscovered awaiting the vigilant search of every interested mason? [Ed.]
Notes
1. Wonnacott, W., 'The Lodge of Reconciliation (1813-1816)', AQC 23 (1910), p. 215-301.
2. Op. cit. The reference actually appears on p. 242 as follows: '...the high testimony of repeated approbation of nearly the whole of the Lodges in London as well as in those parts of England and Ireland where one of the Members (Philip Broadfoot - see note on Northern Loge of Promulgation [post]) of this Lodge has for some weeks past been promulgating the newly arranged system.'
3. Craven, Sketch of Freemasonry at Bottoms, p. 43. The full text reads inter alia: 'In 1815, "a Lodge of Promulgation was formed at the instance of Probity Lodge, which consisted of thirteen Lodges, of which Prince George was one. Brother Philip Broadfoot, of the Lodge of Reconciliation, London, was sent down to impart instruction to the Northern Lodge of Promulgation and to communicate the New Regulations of Grand Lodge, together with the mode of working and the new obligations," p. 43). The minutes of the Lodge of Promulgation, so Bro. Craven tells us, are still carefully preserved by the Lodge of Probity, No. 61, Halifax, of which Bro. Herbert Crossley (local sec. Quatuor Coronati), is the Secretary.'
4. AQC 4 (1891), p.59. (vide n. 3. Supra).
5. Golby, F.W., History of the Neptune Lodge, p. 75. The text reads: 'Our minutes for the 14th of February, 1815 contain this entry: - "The Lodge did not audit the accounts as was expected owing to Bro. J. McCann attending and giving the Lodge very suitable instructions from the Lodge of Reconciliation".'
6. Wonnacott, op. cit., p. 253. The letter from James McCann to Edward [sic] Harper read as follows:
'Dear Sir,
Understanding from our friend Godwin that there was a Meeting to be held at the Crown Clerkenwell Green at which Several Knights Templars were to attend in company with two Russian gentlemen of that Order, Broadfoot and myself being desirous of seeing them attended. It was their regular Lodge night, We were admitted after the Business was over. We had to encounter the angry shafts of the whole and narrowly escaped personal violence, they told us, by coming at such a time when they could not enter into particulars before such Distinguished Visitors: however in the course of Conversation one of the Members said "Wait until we hear from Dublin." I suppose and indeed I have no doubt but they have written to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and should also suppose to that of Scotland: this I mention that you may be prepared on that head, indeed it fully appears that they are bent upon a Schism and unless Measures are taken to prevent it there is no knowing where it may end.
Pray what excuse has Mr. White made for not attending his duty. Dr. Hemming must have been greatly disappointed at coming so great a distance and to find no Meeting: several of the members are not well pleased. You will be cautious as to the Information I gleaned from the Clerkenwell party. I believe it was inadvertently spoke of by one of them and they did not think that I took any notice. I suppose we shall have a meeting of the Reconciliation before long, that is before the Second Tuesday in the next month.
[Thurs.] April 13, 1815. I remain Sir Edward [sic] Harper Esqre Yours sincerely Free Masons Hall James McCann. Great Queen Street.'
7. AQC 8 (1895), p. 67. The full text reads as follows: 'On July 16th "Bro. J. King took the Recognized obligation, " and on September 13th "a lodge of Instruction was called by the Assistance of Bro. Satterly of London, Bro. Cowell & Br Lear from Torquay".'
1. Wonnacott, W., 'The Lodge of Reconciliation (1813-1816)', AQC 23 (1910), p. 215-301.
2. Op. cit. The reference actually appears on p. 242 as follows: '...the high testimony of repeated approbation of nearly the whole of the Lodges in London as well as in those parts of England and Ireland where one of the Members (Philip Broadfoot - see note on Northern Loge of Promulgation [post]) of this Lodge has for some weeks past been promulgating the newly arranged system.'
3. Craven, Sketch of Freemasonry at Bottoms, p. 43. The full text reads inter alia: 'In 1815, "a Lodge of Promulgation was formed at the instance of Probity Lodge, which consisted of thirteen Lodges, of which Prince George was one. Brother Philip Broadfoot, of the Lodge of Reconciliation, London, was sent down to impart instruction to the Northern Lodge of Promulgation and to communicate the New Regulations of Grand Lodge, together with the mode of working and the new obligations," p. 43). The minutes of the Lodge of Promulgation, so Bro. Craven tells us, are still carefully preserved by the Lodge of Probity, No. 61, Halifax, of which Bro. Herbert Crossley (local sec. Quatuor Coronati), is the Secretary.'
4. AQC 4 (1891), p.59. (vide n. 3. Supra).
5. Golby, F.W., History of the Neptune Lodge, p. 75. The text reads: 'Our minutes for the 14th of February, 1815 contain this entry: - "The Lodge did not audit the accounts as was expected owing to Bro. J. McCann attending and giving the Lodge very suitable instructions from the Lodge of Reconciliation".'
6. Wonnacott, op. cit., p. 253. The letter from James McCann to Edward [sic] Harper read as follows:
'Dear Sir,
Understanding from our friend Godwin that there was a Meeting to be held at the Crown Clerkenwell Green at which Several Knights Templars were to attend in company with two Russian gentlemen of that Order, Broadfoot and myself being desirous of seeing them attended. It was their regular Lodge night, We were admitted after the Business was over. We had to encounter the angry shafts of the whole and narrowly escaped personal violence, they told us, by coming at such a time when they could not enter into particulars before such Distinguished Visitors: however in the course of Conversation one of the Members said "Wait until we hear from Dublin." I suppose and indeed I have no doubt but they have written to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and should also suppose to that of Scotland: this I mention that you may be prepared on that head, indeed it fully appears that they are bent upon a Schism and unless Measures are taken to prevent it there is no knowing where it may end.
Pray what excuse has Mr. White made for not attending his duty. Dr. Hemming must have been greatly disappointed at coming so great a distance and to find no Meeting: several of the members are not well pleased. You will be cautious as to the Information I gleaned from the Clerkenwell party. I believe it was inadvertently spoke of by one of them and they did not think that I took any notice. I suppose we shall have a meeting of the Reconciliation before long, that is before the Second Tuesday in the next month.
[Thurs.] April 13, 1815. I remain Sir Edward [sic] Harper Esqre Yours sincerely Free Masons Hall James McCann. Great Queen Street.'
7. AQC 8 (1895), p. 67. The full text reads as follows: 'On July 16th "Bro. J. King took the Recognized obligation, " and on September 13th "a lodge of Instruction was called by the Assistance of Bro. Satterly of London, Bro. Cowell & Br Lear from Torquay".'
The Stability Ritual Association acknowledge that the above paper is reproduced by kind permission of
the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, from whose Transactions (AQC 113, 2000) it has been drawn.
the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, from whose Transactions (AQC 113, 2000) it has been drawn.
© Stability Ritual Association
