Was Henry Price A Provincial Grand Master ?

under both or either of their hands , of the time or place of such Con . stitution . In order thafc ifc may be entered in the Book of Regular Lodges . Given nnder our hand and Seal of Office , this Eleventh day of July 1732 , aud in the year of Masonry 5732 .

Tnos . B . vrsox D . G . M . GEO . ROOKE ) „ , JA . SMITHK j * Wardens WILL REID , Secretary .

By the Grand Master's Command . Bro . Hughan calls the above document " Warrant of St . John the Baptist's Lodge , No . 39 Exeter . " It is , however , my opinion that it is just what it purports to bo , viz .,

a Deputation for constituting a Lodge by parties therein named . In thoso early Masonic days , Grancl Masters issued two distinct kinds of Deputations ; one kind established a Prov . G . M . which was permanent , or at least until

he was removed ; of the second kind of Deputations the above document is , I believe to be a true specimen . Bro . Bury , Esq ., or Mr . Jeffreys played the part of the Grand Master for the time being , and when they finished the ceremony of constituting the Lodge their high grand title

ceased to exist . Now , ra the second edition of Anderson ' s Constitution , on page 194 , 1 find that G . M . Inchiquin issued just such Deputations as was granted to Brother John Bury , Esq . Viscount Montague also granted one Deputation " for constituting a Lodge at Valanciennes , and

another for constituting a Lodge at the Hotel de Bussy , in Paris . " G . M . Norfolk , however , granted three Deputations for Provincial Grand Masters , and Daniel Coxe was one of them ; and other Grand Masters granted

Deputations for both purposes . Thus , " G . M . Weymouth granted one to Lord Richmond , for holding a Lodge at his Castle de Aubigny , in France ; another to Randolph Tooke , Esq ., to be Prov . G . M . of South America : another to Bro . Geo .

Gordon , for constituting a Lodge at Lisbon ; another to Mr . Roger Lacy , for constituting a Lodge at Savannah , Georgia ; another to Richard Hull , Esq ., to be Prov . G . M . at Gambay , in West Africa . "

In order to explain the necessity of such deputations , I must remind the reader that for the formation of a new

Lodge , besides requiring a Charter from the G . M ., the Constitution required the G . M ., or his Deputy , to constitute the Lodge in due form ; and as neither G . M . nor D . G . M . could afford to go to distant places for the purpose of

constituting a Lodge , it was therefore necessary to empower a brother residing in the place where tho Lodge was to be held to perform that duty on behalf of the G . M . And by such Deputies , that is , who were either fco remain

permanent , or ' * Pro Temper , " every Lodge both abroad and outside of London in England , was constituted . On page 192 of the 1738 Constitution , after enumerating the

Provincial Grand Masters for English Counties appointed by Grand Masters Lovel and Craufurd , Anderson goes on to say : —

"These and other Grand Masters have also granted Deputations at the Request of some good Brothers in Cities and Towns throughout England for constituting

Lodges , & c . And he follows the above with a List of 47 country Lodges so constituted , among which I found , " Exeter , at the New Inn , 1732 . " From the above , we may infer that in addition to a

Lodge Charter , Price was furnished with a similar document , which the same Grand Officers sent the year before to Exeter , which was designed merely for the purpose of constituting the new Lodge . Price indeed claimed to have

paid three guineas for his Deputation , but Bro . Hervey , the late Grand Secretary of England , assured me that nothing was charged for a Provincial Grand Master ' s Deputation before 1768 . Even John Rowe paid nothing

for his Deputation in 1768 . Taking , therefore , into consideration all the fibs Price told first and last , his bare assertion if not supported by good evidence is , in my opinion , worthless .

Now , with such an imposing document as copied above , I Think that an ambitious , crafty individual could find no great difficulty in making eighteen Masonic novices believe that he was appointed "Provincial G . M . for these

parts . " To those who persist in asking how the then Boston Masons could have been deceived , I answer by asking how could so many Masons have been humbugged everywhere by high degree mongers ? We all know that within fifty years both English and American Masons believed in all the moonshine promulgated by Oliver ,

Was Henry Price A Provincial Grand Master ?

Maekay , Moore , Morris and Co . ; nor are all fools dead yet . The eighteen Boston Masonic novices in 1733 doubtless believed all the stories written by Anderson , and they believed that they were in possession of only a small

portion of the science of Masonry , and were therefore anxiously looking out for more light ; when all at once a Masonic Moses arrived direct from the Masonic Mount Sinai bringing with him the whole oral and written laws

of Masonry . His worship , moreover , was recommended by the highest Masonic authorities . Viscount Montague , and his Deputy G . M ., and Wardens styled Price as our " well beloved brother . " The document he

displayed bore their signatures , together with the seal of the Grand Lodge of England . It is pretty certain that the said Boston Masons had never seen such a document as Price displayed , and may never have

heard of such an office as Prov . G . M . " When , therefore , the so-highly recommended Bro . Price told the eighteen Boston Masons that by virtue of that document he was appointed Provincial G . M . of these parts , how

could they have doubted it , and when once the eighteen founders of the first Boston Lodge believed it , the subsequent new comers of course took it for granted ; and

when the newspapers in 1834 announced Price ' s extension of his Deputation for over all North America , then the founders as well as the new comers alike took it all for granted .

Be it further remembered that up to 1751 no quarterly meetings were held by the Boston Grand Lodge , nor were any books kept . Charles Pel ham , the first Grand Secretary in Boston , was not initiated before September 1744 .

Price doubtless supplied Pelham with the items for filling up his new record from 1733 . Among the documents recorded in the new book was a copy of the petition of the eighteen brethren to Henry Price in 1733 .

As the original copy is preserved , and as it differs from the one in the record , I must infer that either Price or Pelham altered the copy . The copies of Price ' s , Tomlinson's and Oxnard's Deputations are also in the record . But as the first document was

incorrectly copied , who knows whether the remainder were correctly copied ? It is possible that Pelham may have connived at the fraud . It is also possible that when Price gave Pelham the copies of the three Deputations , that

Pelham may have regarded them all as equally genuine and inserted them accordingly . Pelham ' s successor in 1752 was not made a Fellow Craft before October 1749 ,

who of course received Pelham ' s record as gospel truth , and so did all his successors , and so did the Masonic historian , the Rev . Bro . Harris in 1792 , and so did all the Masonic professional historians ever since .

When , however , Price ' s untruthful characteristics , combined with the worthlessness of the early Boston record are taken into consideration , I cannot see how an unbiassed man , who rejects Price ' s claim to the 1734 Deputation ,

could persuade himself that because a few new-made Masons in 1733 belived that Price was a Grand Master , that we must now receive their belief as evidence that Price's Grand Mastership was a historic fact ? Boston , U . S ., 17 th June 1887 .

Consecration Of The Earl Of Sussex Lodge, No. 2201.

CONSECRATION OF THE EARL OF SUSSEX LODGE , No . 2201 .

THERE was a large assemblage of brethren , not only those of the Provinces of Sussex , but also including a large number who came from London and other parts , to witness the consecration of a new Lotige in the Province of Sussex , it having been annonnced thafc the ceremony was to be performed by H . R . H . the Dnke of Connaught , who some twelve months since was installed Grand Master of the

Province by his brother the Prince of Wales , Grand Master of English Freemasons . His Royal Highness travelled by train from Victoria , and was met at the Brighton Station by Bro . Gerard Ford , Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Sussex , the Right Hon . W . T . Marriott , Q . C ., M . P ., and Bro . C . W . Hndsou P . G . S . W . A number of officers

of the Grand Lodge of England arrived by the same train , including Bros . W . M . Bywater G . Sword Bearer , C . F . Matier P . G . Standard Bearer , W . C . Beaumont P . G A . D . C , Rudolph G . Glover P . G . D . C , R . Turtle Pigott P . A . G . D . C , Thomas Fenn President Board of General PurposesJames Willing jun . & c & c . Brother Sadler the

, , , Grand Tyler , who was in charge of the consecrating vessels , arrived by au earlier train from London Bridge . It may here be mentioned that the Earl of Sussex Lodge has been founded by a number of loc al Freemasons , the names of those who signed the petition for * . tB

authorisation being Bros . Alf . King P . P . G . Organist , C . W . Hndsou P . G . S . W ., Lieut-General C . W . Randolph P . P . G . S . W ., H . Kemball-Cook P . G . D . C , Major Mortimer Hancock , W . T . Marriott , Q . C , M . r- « Richard Clowes P . P . G . S . W ., and H . T . E . Price P . G . Steward , and tha