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CONTENTS . PAGE LEADERFreemasonry in Cheshire ... ... ¦•••••••¦ - " 3 A Tribute to Bro . Kenning' ... ... •••— •••574 Supreme Grand Chapter ( Quarterly Convocation ) ... ... •••574 Consecration of the Ciiesel ' den Lodge , No . 2 S 70 ... . IT •••574 Provincial Grand Lodge of Berkshire ... ... •••¦¦¦ 57 °

Provincial Grand Chapter of Berkshire ... ... ... ••¦ 57 * 3 Provincial Grand Chapter of Warwickshire ... ... ••¦ 57 " Provincial Grand Mark Lodge ol North Wales ... ... — 57 ° Provincial Grand Chapter of Staffordshire ... ... ... •¦•577 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Somerset ... ... •••— 577

M ASONIC NOTESQuarterly Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter ... ¦••579 Consecration of the Cheselden Lodge , No . 2 S 70 ... ... •••579 Masonic Vagrants ... ... ... •¦•••••••579 Correspondence ... ... ... ••••¦•— 5 S ° Reviews ... ... ... ... ... » . — 5

POETRYA Sprig of Acacia ... ... ... ... ... •¦•5 So Masonic Hall for Colchester ... ... ... ... •••5 So Consecration of the Dramatic Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners , No . 4 S 7 ... 5 S 1 The November Magazines ... ... ... ... •••5 St The New Town Clerk of Sydney , New South Wales ... ... ... 5 S 1

AH Saints' Church , Eastworth , Chertsey ... ... ... ... 5 S 2 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... •••5 S 2 Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... •••5 4 Ancient and Accepted Rite ... ... ... ... •••5 4 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 S 5 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 5

Freemasonry In Cheshire*

FREEMASONRY IN CHESHIRE *

It is strange , but true , that though the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire is the oldest organisation of its kind under our Grand Lodge , dating , as it does , from 1725 , its Provincial

Grand Chapter is of comparatively modern origin . We have it on indubitable evidence that in a return presented to Grand Lodge on the 27 th November of that year , Col . Francis Columbine was Prov . Grand Master . There is , in thc archives of

Grand Lodge , a letter addressed to the then Grand Master from the Castle and Falcon Lodge , Chester , dated the 15 th April , 1727 , which is signed by Bro . Hugh Warburton as P . G . M ., his Deputy ( Bro . S . Smith ) and his Wardens ( Bros . Roger

Comhcrbach and John Coleclough ) . How long Bro . Warburton remained in office there is nothing to show , and consequently there is no evidence as to when his successor Bro . Captain Robert Newton was elected in his stead . But this much we lind

recorded in the fortunately still extant minutes of the Provincial Grand Lodge , namely , that Bro . Newton was re-elected Prov . G . M . on the 27 th December , 1743 . He died in 1750 , and on St . John ' s Day-in-winter , 1754 , Bro . Alderman John I ' age was

elected to succeed him , and remained in office till shortly after ioth June , 1771 , when he resigned , having , in the meantime , however , been appointed by a Deputation from the Grand Master , which was granted in 1755 but not acted upon till

' 757 * On the 27 th December , 1771 , Bro . the Hon . John Smith l ^ arry took the chair as Prov . Grand Master . On his death •n September , 1784 , Sir R . Salusbury Cotton , Bart . —father of » iscount Combermere—was recommended for ( he oilice , and

l'ie following year was appointed and installed , lie died in ' 809 , and was succeeded by Bro . John Grey—subsequently Sir John Grey—Kgerton , and three years after the tatter ' s death , in 1 " 2 5 i Sir Philip Egerton was recommended . But ( lie

recom'•" - ¦ ndation was ignored , and in 18 30 H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex appointed Viscount Combermere Prov . G . Master . J he Hero of Bhurtpore , on his death in 186 5 , was succeeded V Lord de Tabley , on whose resignation , in 1886 , Lord—now ^ . arl- —E gerton of Tatton became Prov . G . M ., and on his resig-

Freemasonry In Cheshire*

nation was followed by his brother , the Hon . Alan de Tatton . Egerton , M . P ., the present Prov . G . Master . Thus , there is a virtual , if not an actual , continuity of working in the case of this Prov . Grand Lodge from 1725 till now , and yet it was not

till more than half a century after the Union in 1817 of the two Grand Chapters that steps were taken ft organise a Prov . Grand Chapter ; and in 1869 Lord de Tabley , whose patent bore date thc 30 th December , 1868 , was installed G . Superintendent .

And , still more singular to relate , the distinguished companion who was delegated to instal his lordship—Comp . Henry Muggeridge , Past Grand Std . Br . Grand Chapter—died as recently as 1898 . so that the formation of this R . A . Provincial

organisation must bc still fresh in the recollection of the Cheshire Masonic community . Why so long a time should have been allowed to elapse passes all comprehension . It was certainl y not for lack of the requisite material . Royal Arch Lodges or

Chapters existed long before , and when the Prov . G . Chapter was formed , as wc have stated , in 186 9 , it was reckoned that there were 17 chapters in the Province . Since then this branch of Masonry appears to have prospered fairly Well , and the

present G . S ., Comp . the Hon . A . de Tatton Egerton , has under his charge some 21 chapters , of which , however , one is reported as dormant , the senior chapter on the roll—No . 28 7 , Stockport

—dating from 1 793 , and the junior—No . 2433 , Birkenheadfrom 1 S 97 . Particulars are given of the proceedings in Prov . G . Chapter , and short accounts added of the private chapters .

Mark Masonry in Cheshire as an organised body dates from the 5 th April , 18 73 , when Bro . thc Hon . Wilbraham Egerton , M . P . —now Iiarl Egerton—was installed Prov . G . Mark Master for Cheshire and North Wales , his patent of appointment datim **

from the previous year . In i 83 o Cheshire and North Wales were formed into separate Provinces , Cheshire remaining under the same Prov . G . Master , who in 18 93 was succeeded b y his brother , who is thus the ruler of Cheshire Craft , Royal

Arch , and Mark Masonry . But it is needless to say that the Mark was worked in this Province long before the Prov . Grand Mark Lodge was organised , firstly under Craft Lodge warrants , and later in lodges of its own . There are now nine

Mark lodges in Cheshire , so that the Degree has prospered . All necessary particulars as to Prov . Grand Lodge and private lodges are furnished , so that the reader can judge for himself of the progress the Degree Ins made undjr the auspices of Lo : d Kgerton and his successor .

The Appendix is a most ample one , containing , as it does , lists of the Craft and Mark lodges and R . A . chapters throughout the whole career of Cheshire as a Province ; Lists of Prov . Officers , Craft , R . A ., and Mark ; meeting places of the Prov . bodies *

pedigrees of sundry ol the most distinguished Cheshire Masons ; and last , but not least , a long list of those who have subscribed to Bro . ARMSTRONG ' book , and thus enabled him to produce

with as little risk to himself as possible one of the most complete Histories of Provincial Masonry which it has been our privilege to read .

We take leave of the volume for the present—as regards this review of its contents , at all events—with regret . We should much have liked to lay before our readers more of its interesting and valuable details , but it would not have been just

to the author , who has laboured so diligently and successfull y to produce the History , and whom we most sincersly congratulate , as well as on the manner in which he has fulfilled Ins task as on the matter he has accumulated in his pages .