Memoir Of Bro. Emra Holmes.

MEMOIR OF BBO . EMRA HOLMES .

Bv G . M . TWAPPETJ , , F . R . S . N . A . The folhiuini / cctracts are taken from " A AIAHEI , VAUCHTAX . " IN my Biographical Sketch of Bro . Emra Holmes , prefixed to hi ? Tahs , Poems , and Masonie Papers , issued last year , I noticed his remarkable parentage , as well as " the even tenor of his way " throngh life , from his birth to his appointment to tho Collectorship of Customs at Fowey , in Cornwall ( wio ' ch office he still holds ) , remarking toward ?

tho close , that "Mr . Emra Holmes happened to bo a . resident in South Durham no the time when I was collecting materials for biographica ' notices of the poets and prose writers of the district , I could nofc bnt notice his promising contributions to tho press of tho Northern Connties ; and since then wo have been for years fellow-labourers in journalism . In tho Second Series , I hope to trace his Masonic career

from his initiation to his highest honours . " I , therefore , now proceed to redeem my promise . Bro . Emra Holmes was initiated into Freemasonry on tho 2 nd of May 1861 . in the Sfc . Helen's Lodge , No . 531 , Hartlepool , and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on the 5 th of September followimr . He soon after became Secretary of the Lodgo , was

next appointed to one of tho Warden's chairs , and in duo course elected Worshipful Master . On the lGth of February 18 G 5 , ho was admitted and exalted ns a Eoyal Arch Mason , in the Chapter of Strict Benovolence , Sunderland , but held no office in that Chapter . On the 14 th of April 18 ( 55 , ho was dubbed a Knight Templar and a Knight of Malta , in tho Eoyal Kent Encampment , Newcastle-on-Tyne

( founded in 1812 ) , and subsequently bold somo minor offices in that Encampment ; being also appointed Provincial Grand Almoner of Northumberland . On tho 15 th of January 18 ( 17 , he was advanced to tho degree of Mark Master , in tho Eclectic Lodge , No . 30 , West Hartlepool , and subsequently hold tho office of J . W . On tho 10 th of January 18 GG , he was " duly installed a Knight of tho Sword of

Jerusalem , and of tho East and West , and was received and admitted and constituted "—so runs the parchment— " an Excellent and Perfect Knirrht Rose Croix of H . E . D . M ., " in tho Eoyal Kent Chapter , at Newcastle-on-Tyne . Ou the 27 th of May 1807 , ho was mado a Knight Companion of the Eoyal Order of Scotland ( asserted to have been founded by King Eobert the Bruce ) afc the Provincial Grand

Chapter for Lanark , Eonfrew , and Dumbarton , held in Glasgow ; and when a Provincial Grand Lodgo of that Order was consecrated in London by the Earl of Rosslyn , then Grand Master of Scotland , ho was appointed Provincial Grand Banner Bearer . On tho 9 th of October , of the same year , he was duly installed a Grand Elected Knight K . IL , 30 ° , at a meeting of tho Grand

Metropolitan Chapter , held at , Freemasons' Hall , London ; and on the 10 th of December 18 GS , he was received into the degree of Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander , 31 ° . I have been more particular in noticing tho advancement of Bro . Holmes in the so-called " higher degrees , " because Father Suffield ( then a Eomish emissary , but since , I am told , become a Unitarian

minister ) , in lecturing in tho County of Dnrham ou " The Wrongs of Ireland , " went out of his way to pnblicy attack Freemasonry , and , I felt it a duty I owed to the Craffc which I so dearly love , to enter into a " paper war " with the reverend ( and I must say courteous ) gentleman , whose erroneous ideas of Freemasonry were evidently derived from snch writers as Professor Eobison , supported by the

fulminations from the Vatican . The Jesuit Priest , or Dominican Friar , I must say treated me most fairly throughout the whole controversy ; but , unable to answer the truthful and common-sense arguments which I adduced , to prove that wo English Masons , at least , could not be irreligious and s ° ditions conspirators against all religion , good government , and social order and well-being , as he had declared

ns to be , he took refuge in the assertion , that as I probably did not belong to tho " higher degrees , " I was kept in blissful ignorance of tho direful danger he was exposing , being , liko tho majority of my brother Masons , a deluded dupe ; whereupon a new combatant ap . poared in the arena , for our good Brother Emra Holmes , as a " High Degree M son , " rushed manfully to tho rescue with a letter to the

Editor of The South Durham anil Cleveland Mercury , the paper in which the controversy took place , and was continued until stopped by the Editor . As Father Suffield , during tbo ten years which have elapsed since the friendly controversy just allnded to , has apparently seen through most of the errors of Popery , it would be interesting to know if he is

still weak enough to retain his old prejudices against any of tho degrees called Masonic ; for thongh I , for one , like many other ardent lovers of " the mystic tie , " could not conscientiously acknowledge any degree , however beautiful its ritual , which so narrows its portals as to exclude from admittance any " good men and true , " whatever their sect and party , who believe in tho fatherhood of God and the

Brotherhood of man , I cannot be blind to tho fact that many of our most intelligent and charitable Masons belong , liko Bro . Emra Holmes , to the chivalric degrees . Let them , liko true knights-errant , wage war against every species of wrong , and thongh wc may never be able to see with the same eyes , we can agree to differ . There is wotk foi us all , in trying to leave the world better than we found it , both by our

precepts and our example . Bein-r appointed to Ipswich in August 1809 , Bro . Holmes soon afterwards there joined the Prince of Wales Lodge , No . 959 , and the British Union Lodge , No . 114 , and for some time held the office of Director of Ceremonies in the latter Lodge . He then joined the Albert Victor Mark Lodge , of which he ultimately became Master .

He also joined the Plantagenet Encampment of Knights Templar , and the Prudence Encampment ( which dates from 1810 ) , of which latter ho became Eminent Commander or Preceptor , and also held for some timo the office of Eegistrar . In the Provincial Granc Encampment of Suffolk and Cambridge , he was appointed Provineia . Grand Eegistrar in May 1870 , and afterwards Provincial

Grand Second Captain , by Captain N . G . Philips ( an officer of tho Queen ' s Body Guard of Gentlemen afc Arms , now Groom in Waiting to Her Majesty ) , the very popular and courteous Grand Commander . Joining tho Victoria Chapter of Rose Croix , also holding its meetings in Ipswich , he became Eecordor , and ultimately succeeded to the chair as M . W . S . Ho also became a member "f the Alexandra and and St . Luke ' s Eoyal Arch Chapters , at Ipswich , filling all tho principal offices in tho latter np to that of first Principal M . E . Z .

Bro . Holmes was selected by Lord Waveney , Provincial Grand Master of Suffolk , to fill the office of Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies , in which capacity ho acted for some years . He was also ippointed Provincial Grand Registrar . During the time of his residence afc Ipswich , he was made a member of tho Great Prior ' s Council afc the Great Conclave of Knights Templar in London , by

tho Earl of Limerick , tho then head of tho Order , and was appointed Second Grand Captain of Lines , and afterwards Grand Provost of the Order . In April 1873 , ho was appointed a member of the Ritual Commission in conjunction with the Hon . Judge Townsend , Arch Chancellor of tho Order ; Sir Patrick Colqnhoun , Q . C , Arch Registrar of the Temple , nnd others : tho object of the Commission

being to assimilate tho Rituals in use in England , Ireland , and Scotland , amongst tho various bodies of Knights Templar , whilst carefully preserving the ancient landmarks of the Order , and forming a new one based upon what was considered tho ancient Ritual of the original Knights .

The latest proof that I am aware of , showing the lush estimation in which Bro . Holmes is held amongst his brethren , especially the Kniehts Templar , of which he is a most enthusiastic member , is contained in the following extract from a letter of Col . McLeod Moore G . C . T ., Great Prior of Canada : —

" Laprarie , Prov . of Quebec , Canada , 28 th Oct . 1878 . ' DEAR SIR AND EMT . BRO . KNinnr , —I did myself the pleasure of forwarding you my Report , read at the Great Priory of Canada on the llth inst ., which will givo yon a pretty good idea of the views entertained by the Order in Canada . Afc thafc Convocation you wero proposed by me , and duly elected , as ono of the Grand Master ' s Council for the Great Priory ; your colleagues being Colonel Shadvvell

Gierke aud Bro . Knt . Preceptor T . B . Whytehead , of York ; and you were also appointed Representative of tho Great ; Priory of Canada , near thafc of England , with honorary rank as a Member . I trust theso appointments will bo acceptable to yon , and will be glad to learn so from yourself before the Proceedings are published . I am well acquainted with the interest yon take in tho Order , and have read with much interest your several published communications on tho subject . "

Bro . Holmes , liko Bro . Whytehead , of York , is an able writer ancl an enthusiastic member of various Masonio and . Chivalrous Degrees , and naturally felt ifc a high honour to bo elected to tho Grand Master ' s Council as above ; but to be selected from amongst tho three thousand Knights Templar in England as the chosen Eepresentativo of the Canadian Branch of the Order at the English National Great

Priory , especially after having been proposed by so eminent and erudite a member of tho Order as the Great Prior of Canada is admitted to be , is a dignity of which he may well be prond . Had he inherited the Barony of Holmes of Kilmallock , in tho peerage of Ireland , of which his father is said to have been tho rightful heir , one miarht have suspected thafc his arisfcocratica ! rank

had influenced the choice ; as it is , no one can regard it otherwise than as a well-merited compliment to his energetic labours for the Chival - rous Degrees . Being now stationed at Fowey , in Cornwall , where he holds the official position of Collector of Her Majesty ' s Customs ( the rank which a writer in The Civilian terms " tbe blue ribbon of the Civil

Service , " )* he has naturally transferred his interest to the local branches of tho Masonic and Chivalrous Coders , and is a memher of the Fowey Lodge , the Unity Royal Arch Chapter , and Restormel Preceptory of Knights Templar , afc Tywardreath , and holds the office of Provincial Grand Standard Bearer in the Provincial Grand Chapter of Cornwall , having been appointed to

thafc office by the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe , Provincial Grand Superintendent . To the outside world Bro . Holmes is perhaps best known by his lectures and public readings , always given for the aid of some educational or charitable institution . Whilst residing in tho North of England he became popular as a public reader , both in the county of Dur . ham and in Yorkshire ; as he now is , both as a reader and lecturer ,

in the counties of Suffolk , Essex , Cornwall , & c , where there is scare ly a town of any importance which has not availed itself of his eloquence , wit , and humour . He first appeared as a Lecturer afc Ipswich , in 1870 , when he delivered his " Lecturo on Public Speaking . " Theso were followed by others on " Charles Dickens , " "Tom Hood , " and "Odds aud Ends of Wit and Humour . "

Gifted so emisently with what Shakspero calls " the power of speech to stir men's blood , " I wish our good Brother could visit every Lodge in the United Kingdom , and stir the stagnant minds of that numerons class of men who believe themselves to be good Freemasons simply because they have passed throngh certain ceremonies , for

which they were never prepared in their hearts—can give a few signs ancl passwords , without caring for tho high moral obligations they should remind them of—subscribe to a Lodgo which eats and drinks the funds that ought to be kept sacred for Masonic purposes , and are the first to strut , in public or private parade , bedecked with the jewels of the Order , the' fine symbolic teaching of which they

con-* "PitoiESSOR PLAYFAIR , M . P ., the blue ribbon of your entire <* Btablishment is the office of Collector ? " Mr . GOULBUHN , C . B ., Chairman Board of Customs—Yes . — Civil Service Inquiry Commission Third Report .