The Late Grand Secretary.

THE LATE GRAND SECRETARY .

Sad indeed is the news , which was circulated far and wide during the recent holiday , of the death of Bro . Colonel SHADWELL H . CLERKE , Grand Secretary and Grand Scribe E . of England . What makes the blow more grievous to be borne is the suddenness of its occurrence . Colonel

C LERKE was at his post in Freemasons' Hall on the Tuesday preceding Christmas , as he died on Christmas Day itself . True , he was far from being in his usual health at the time , and was evidently affected , as every one else , man , woman , and child , was affected by the sooty fog with which London was enveloped . But he was a hale man , of good

physique , and by no means far advanced in years , and of those who knew him well not one would have imagined that Death was so near , and would

claim him after so brief a warning . Most of us , if we ever gave the matter a thought , were looking forward to his continuance in office for many

a year to come . He was so active in the discharge of his duties , so full of life and energy , and so constantly in our midst , now consecrating

some new lodge or chapter , now installing some brother of exalted rank , now present , as honoured guest or member , at some lodge or chapter

meeting , that his absence from duty for more than a few days was never dreamt of as a possibility . But what no one anticipated has come to pass .

The hale man , the man of life and energy in whatever he put his hand lo , has becn stricken down in the very pride of his intellectual vigour , and he who

but yesterday was a central figure at every Masonic function of importance has gone from us for ever . The gallant soldier of the old Crimean

days , the kind and courteous gentleman , thc dutiful officer of our Masonic Senate , has gone never to return , and thc place he had filled for the last

i . ozen of years so worthily and with so much honour to himself will knew him no more , Never again shall wc hear frcm liis lips the kindly greeting or those measured words of

falutary caution he was wont to utter when occasion demanded . I lie tale of his services is complete , and when the great sorrow which oppresses all who

1 'HE LATE ClRAXD SECRETARY , BUO . COL . SHADWELL II . CLERKE .

knew him has becn alleviated , and an unbiassed judgement can be formed of his eminent services to Freemasonry , then and then only shall we be in a position to estimate the lull measure of the loss we "avc sustained by his death . As regards thc character and extent of those services , however , a full account will be found later on "' our columns . Let it . suffice , therefore , if wc state here that in

every branch of Freemasonry with which he was associated Colonel CLERKE had attained a position of eminence which few have the opportunity , and fewer still the energy and ability to attain . Not onl y was he Grand Secretary of United Grand Lodge and Grand Scribe •*••of Supreme Grand Chapter , but lie was likewise a Past Grand Warden

The Late Grand Secretary.

in Mark Masonry , Provincial Grand Master of London and the Metropolitan Counties in the Royal Order of Scotland , Great Sub-Prior and Provincial Prior of Sussex in the Order of the Temple , Past G . S . R . in the Order of the Secret Monitor , and Grand Chancellor and Past Grand Secretary * General of the Supreme Council , 33 ° , of the Ancient and Accepted Rite .

His more prominent services in connection with the last-named branch of modern Masonry were rendered in his capacity of Grand Secretary-General but on his appointment as successor to the late Bro . J HERVEY in the Secretaryship of Grand Lodge , he resigned the former post , and was presented by the Supreme Council with a handsome gift of plate in recognition of what he had achieved in furtherance of its interests . In fine , there is hardly a

section of our Masonic system with which at some time or other during his career he was not associated , and it may be said of him without flattery ,

as . it has been said of other worthy men who have preceded him to that bourn from which none has ever returned —nihil tetig if quod non

ornnrit . But there is one last sad duty that remains , that of expressing , firstly to those near and dear to him , and then to his immediate friends ,

familiars , and the Craft generally , our sincere sympathy with them in their present grievous affliction . May they in time be strengthened to bear it with

calmness and resignation to the Divine Will , and when that consummation is reached , may they find some consolation for his loss in the memory of his many virtues !

It was but last week , in our review of " Freemasonry in 1891 , " that we were consoling ourselves with the reflection that though " the roll of the

losses which the Craft has sustained is a long one , we rejoice to say it does not include any Mason of equal eminence with him who died

so unexpectedly in the summer of iSnn . " The ink with which these words were written was hardly dr)—it is well nigh certain thc issue containing

them ould hardly have reached our country subscribers when the statement was falsified , and the idol we had becn at such pains to erect to a pleasing , because a desirable , phantasy , was rudely shattered to pieces . The roll of losses for the vear which had

then so nearly run its course did include that of a brother who , though he was not of equal eminence with the late Earl of Carnarvon ,

was nevertheless the principal executive officer of our Grand Lodge , and in that capacity- -apart from the merits he possessed personally —had becn for the last dozen of years the best known and most familiar member of our Society . The late Earl of Carnarvon -speaking of

him Masonically—was of such exalted rank in our Order , that unless you were a member of one of his lodges or chapters , or a leading officer in his Province of Somersetshire , you rarely saw him , and still less rarely had an opportunity of speech with him . But Col . Clerke was , as it were , the pivot on which our whole system of English Freemasonry hinged ; or , perhaps ,