The Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

merit to "which they were entitled , they withdrew and dispersed to their several homes , until next year ' s Festival brought them once again under the personal notice of their patrons and benefactors . " This is a practice still continued

by many charitable societies whose anniversaries are celebrated in the City of London ; and we can now compare with infinite satisfaction the proceedings which characterise

such gatherings , and those which grace the annual assemblies at our magnificent Schools at Wood Green when prizes are distributed amongst " Our Boys " amidst such a warmth of enthusiasm and eclat .

For upwards of half-a-century , however , the primary idea of the promoters was carried out , and the Festivals were conducted upon the same lines , though with gradually increasing results , the brethren receiving constantly

recurring proofs of the incalculable amount of good that was being done for those children of deceased or indigent Masons whom the Governors and Subscribers had taken under their care . In the minutes of the March

Communication of United Grand Lodge , 1814 , it is recorded that the Board of Schools reported that the Boys ' Institution had been " supported by private subscriptions , and by grants from Grand Lodge at various times ,

amounting together to upwards of - £ 800 , and by a recent regulation of the Fraternity , to which the said Institution ia attached , the Lodges in the London district paid upon the initiation of every Mason five shillings towards its

maintenance , and the Governors possess the sum of £ 500 Navy Five Per Cents ., standing in the names of Robert Leslie , Robert Gill , and Thomas Scott , as Trustees ; the number

of boys at present on the establishment is 'fifty-five , and the annual expenditure is about £ 410 , or £ 7 10 s for each child clothed and educated .

Although the chief portion of the honour connected -with the establishment of this Institution belongs unquestionably to Lodge 23 of the Ancients , the Moderns have the satisfaction of knowing they had a fair share in setting it on foot . From an historical sketch issued some time

ago by the Secretary , Bro . F . Binckes , we glean that Sir F . C . Daniel , a conspicuous and enthusiastic Modern Mason , member , and for seventeen consecutive years , Worship ful Master of the Royal Naval Lodge , laid the

foundation-stone of a " Masonic Charity for Clothing and Educating the Sons of Indigent Freemasons , assisted by many distinguished contemporaries of that date . Few details are to hand of the early progress of that scheme ,

bnt at a meeting of the Royal Naval Lodge , held in Burr Street , near the Tower , an account was presented , showing that in the fifteen months from March 1808 to June 1809 , the subscriptions received amounted to

£ 345 17 s 3 yd , while the disbursements were £ 151 ls ; leaving a balance in favour of the Charity of £ 194 16 s 3- | d A memorandum attached to that report set forth that " £ 100 in the Five Per Cents ., which cost £ 99 10 s 6 d , had

been purchased in trust for the Charity . " From this it ia clear that the Boys' School was the outcome of two Institutions , one originated by the members of the "Ancient " Lodge No . 23 , and the other by Bro . Sir F . C . Daniel , of the

Royal Naval Lodge . " Modern . Ater the Union , however , the two Boys' Charities were happily amalgamated , that auspicious event taking place iu May 1817 . By this

arrangement , the fifteen boys provided for by the Modern Institution were added to the fifty of the Ancient , and for a further forty years the number was only increased to seventy .

If is unnecessary to dwell upon the events which marked the career of the Charity during this period ; indeed it is a relief to escape tbe dry record of names and figures wich were rendered necessary in the compilation of the " History "

of the Boys' School . Coming therefore to the time when active exei-tions were put forward to establish permanent school buildings , into which recipients of the bount y of the Craft could be admitted , we observe that in the year 1856

" a convenient mansion and ten acres of freehold land , at Wood Green , were purchased for the sum of £ 3 , 500 . " In the following year , after the necessary alterations had been made , twenty-five boys were received into the School , and

maintained , as well as clothed and educated , while the remaining forty-five continued to be provided for as heretofore . The experiment proved in every way successful , and as the contributions of the Craft continued to

be paid in liberally , in 1859 sixty-eight out of the seventy boys accepted the offer of maintenance in the School , the other two preferring to remain under tbe old constitution . * Thus within eight years from

The Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

the adoption of the proposal to establish a School of our own , and in three years after the premises at Wood Green had been purchased and suitably fitted , hardly a trace of the original system remained . Towards the close of the year 1861 some land opposite the School

, about one and a-half acres in extent , was agreed to be purchased , for £ 550 ; and subsequently an adjoining plot of about three quarters of an acre was bought for £ 315 . The school buildings were thoroughly overhauled , and the

estimated expense of rendering them suitable for the purposes to which they were devoted was £ 1 , 657 . The idea of pulling down the old building and erecting a new one had , however , alread y found favour with the Executive ,

and it was agreed that only such repairs as were absolutely , necessary should be effected ; this was done at a cost not exceeding £ 600 . Shortly after a Head Master ' s residence

was decided upon , and the foundation stone was laid by Walter Rumblow , aged eight years , the smallest boy in the School .

Simultaneously with this event , the proposal for erecting new premises was adopted , and in May 1863 the House Committee decided to invite designs for the intended structure . A great number was sent in , in response to the advertisement , but in each case the estimated cost of

carrying it out very far exceeded tho amount suggested to be spent , viz .: £ 8 , 000 . After , some delay , plainer and less ambitious designs were obtained , and ultimately that of Mr . Edwin Pearce , of Clapham , was agreed to , the cost

not to exceed £ 15 , 000 . The first stone was formally laid on 8 th August 1863 , by Bro . Algernon Perkins , Past Grand Junior Warden , the M . W . Grand Master ( the late Earl of Zetland ) having previously given his sanction to

the holding of a Special Grand Lodge on the occasion . The event was accompanied by a series of festivities , including athletic sports among the boys , who competed for a number of valuable prizes ; selections b y three military

bauds , including that of tbe 1 st Life Guards ; followed b y an elegant banquet , and an entertainment by Bros . Toole and Bedford ; concluding with a display of fireworks b y Chevalier Mortram . On that occasion the sum of £ 1 , 500 was

handed in by the ladies and brethren who had volunteered their assistance as collectors . The inauguration of the new School took place ou 8 th July 1865 , when the ceremony was performed by the Right Hon . the Earl De

Grey and Ripon , Deputy Grand Master , in the unavoidable absence , through a domestic bereavement , of the Grand Master . The dedication was followed by a breakfast ,

under the presidency of the Deputy Grand Master , when the Secretary announced that tbe approximate result of the Festival must be set clown as being about £ 5 , 000 , a most welcome announc ment with which to conclude the

auspicious gathering . The expenditure in connection with the enlarged School was great , and necessarily trenched on the invested funds of the Institution . In 1864 , tbe whole of the funded property ( £ 13 , 000 Government Stock ) was

sold , and the proceeds ( £ 11 , 500 ) went towards paying for the structure ; while , a few years later , a sum of £ 10 ^ 000 , to be devoted to the same purpose , was borrowed on mortgage of the property , the rest of the expense being

decayed out of the current receipts of the Institution . By the beginning of 1871 , however , the mortgage had been paid off , and the Institution if not entirel y freed from debt , was in a fair way of becoming so . " Hereby hangs a tale . "

In 1861 , the office of Secretary for the Institution become vacant , by the resignation of Bro . Thiselton . who had filled that post 35 years , and the Committee adopted perhaps the wisest course they ever could have done , by

accepting ihe services of Bro . Frederick Binckes , who had for many years evinced an active personal interest in the School . From this time it may be almost said that the success of the Institution increased , if not " by leaps and

bounds , at any rate with such vapid strides as had never been contomplated by the Executive . It would appear by the History of the School that up to the year of Brother Binckes ' s appointment , the Institution had received

comparatively little aid from the Provinces , and here it was that the new Secretary found scope for his extraordinary powers of activity and earnest perseverance . From the very outset of his appearance on the scene , the Boys '

Festivals assumed greater importance , and were productive of much more fruit . During the first year of his Secretaryship , at the Festival , where Lord Holmesdale — in the unavoidable absence of Lord Leigh—presided , he contrived to enlist 109 brethren as L-i .. wards , ancl the sum