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Special Grand Lodge.
SPECIAL GRAND LODGE .
A special meeting of Grand Lodge was held on Wednesday evening to proceed with the consideration of the amendments to the Revised Constitutions . Owing to the time of year , there was a very poor attendance , more particularly of Grand Officers . Lord Holmesdale , Prov . Grand Master for Kent , occupied the throne ; Gen . Brownrigg , C . B ., Prov . Grand Master for
Surrey , acted as Deputy Grand Master ; the Rev . R . J . Simpson , Past Grand Chaplain , as G . S . W . ; and the Rev . Ambrose W . Hall , Past Grand Chaplain , as G . J . W . Among the other brethren present were—Bros . JE . J . Mclntyre , G . Reg . ; Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . ; Dr . Ernest E . Wendt , G . Sec . G . C : Sir John B . Monckton , Pres . Board Gen . Purposes ; Fran . Green
G-D . ; T . H . Devonshire , G . D . ; Sir Albert W . Woods ( Garter ) , G . D . C . ; T . D . Bolton , D . G . D . C . ; . Raymond H . Thrupp , Asst . G . D . C . ; Edgar Bowyer , G . St . Br . ; John Havers , P . G . W . ; Ambrose W . Hall , P . G . Chap . ; C . J . Martyn , P . G . Chap . ; J . Studholme Brownrigg-, P . G . Chap . ; Rev . T . Robinson , P . G . Chap . ; F . A . Philbrick , P . G . D . ; John H . Scott , P . G . D . ; T . Fenn , P . G . D . ; R . F . Gould , P . G . D . ; H . Maudsley , P . G . D .: 1 . Sampson , Peirce , P . G . O . ; J . M . Case , P . G . D . ; Jabez
Hogg , P . G . D . ; Brachstone Baker , P . G . D . j R . T . Pigott , P . A . G . D . C . ; John Messent , P . G . S . B . ; T . W . Cubitt , P . G . P . ; L . F . Littell , E ' . G . P . ; C . J . Egan , D . G . M . Siuth Africa ; H . G . Buss , Asst . G . Sec ; F . Binckes , P . G . Stwd . ; Capt . A . Nicols , W . M . 1974 , P . Dist . G . Supt . Wks . Punjab ; S . P . Norris , P . M . 21 ; James Dawkins , W . M . 79 ; Charles Daniel , P . M . 65 ; T . Markland , W . M . 144 ; Barclay Perkins , J . W . 192 ; W . Smallpeice , VV . M . 9 G 9 ; and James Stevens , P . M . 1206 .
After Grand Lodge had been formally opened , GRAND SECRETARY read the circular calling the meeting , and afterwards conveyed the apologies ot the Earl of Carnarvon for not being able to be present as he had fully intended to be .
Starting with clause 184 . which provides the form of declaration to be made by a candidate , Bro . Sir J MONCKTON said that clause 180 was looked upon as a preamble to 184 , as it declared it to be specially incumbent on all members of lodges to see that particular attention was paid to enquiry into the character of candidates for initiation . Grand Lodge at
the last meeting directed the Board of General Purposes to prepare a form of declaration for the consideration of Grand Lodge for the prevention of any person who had been blackballed in one lodge coming forward for another . The Board had prepared such a form in case Grand Lodge should be of opinion that it should be insisted on
but the Board having thought the matter over , very carefully suggested for the consideration of Grand Lodge that , supposing the declarations were accidentally or wilfully false , there would be no remedy afterwards . He hardly felt at liberty himself to move it ; but if any other brother desired to move it he could do so . The Board thought it undesirable to have the declaration . ( He then read the form referred to . )—A long discussion
followed , in which Bros . LE FEUVRE , the Rev . J . S . BROWNRIGG , J . HAVERS , General BROWNRIGG , and others took part ; but the different speeches could not , with due regard to Masonic obligation , be committed to print . In the end the majority of Grand Lodge rejected the declaration as an addition to clause 184 . Clause 184 , as it stood on the draft , was accordin gly added to the Book of Constitutions .
Clause 185 , affecting military candidates , was also added unaltered to the Book of Constitutions . Clause 186 raised the before mooted question of the rank in a lodge of Past Masters of other lodges coming in as joining members . There was an amendment on the paper to insert ' * That Past Masters joining shall rank
as Past Masters of the lodge , " which principle was supported by the Rev . J . S . BROWNRIGG . Those joining Past Masters , he said , had now the right given to them of taking the chair in the absence of any of the Past Masters of the lodge . Perhaps the clause which gave this right might be reconciled with the present clause by providing that Past Masters joining should tank
as Past Masters of the lodge , but junior to all who had been in the chair . It would give a joining Past Master a position something between the Junior Past Master and the Senior Warden . There was a strong feeling in the provinces against a Past Master losing his rank in lodge when he moved from one locality to another for no reason that was a discredit to him .
— Bro . BRACKSTONE BAKER seconded the amendment . —Bro . F . A . PHILBRICK , Q . C , P . G . D ., thought this was already provided for by clause 141 , and this amendment was therefore unnecessary . —Bro . J HAVERS , P . G . W ., without venturing to detract from the remarks of Bro . Brownrigg , thought there could hardly be a more mischievous thing than to
disturb the harmony of lodges by making such a provision . It depended now on a lodge what status a joining Past Master should have . If this amendment was passed what would lodges do with Scotch Past Masters or Irish Past Masters who might join English lodges ? In Scotland they gave the Degree of Past Master , which was called passing the chair , when the
brother on whom the Degree was conferred had not passed , and did not intend to pass the chair . If the amendment was passed lodges would say they could not admit a man as a joining member who was a P . M . of another lodge , because they would be compelled to give him a certain rank . The matter was all provided for by clause 141 . Lodges were quite capable of
managing their own concerns . —Another brother opposed the amendment because he thought it did not go far enough . The present disabilities under which P . Ms , joined lodges should be removed altogether . He thought the amendment should be , " That P . Ms . joining a lodge should rank next after the then W . M . "—Lord HOLMESDALE pointed out that that was the spirit of
the amendment which was proposed . — The Rev . R . J . SIMPSON thought it most desirable that any honours which a brother had gained—north , south , east or west—should as far as might be , without interfering with the rights and privileges of their brethren , be acknowledged and acted upon . If a Mason came down from Newcastle to London simply and solely from the necessities which happened to everybody , he should maintain his rank . —Bro .
Special Grand Lodge.
/ E . J . MCINTYRE , Grand Registrar , said a brother carried his rank of P . M . wherever he went . If he was a distinguished Mason , and had done good service to Masonry , the lodge into which he went could , by a special vote , give him the rank and privilege which would make him a P . M . of the lodge . But the brethren should remember that this might happen : a brother mieht have
been initiated in a lodge and might desire to go up to the chair ; but there was no chance of his doing so , because he might not be popular with the members . He then became one of the founders of a new lodge , and went into the chair , perhaps as its first Master ; and then he svent back to his mother lodge which would not elect him to the chair , and said he was now a P . M .
and took precedence of all those who went into the chair , after the time he re-entered the lodge as a P . M . ( Criesof " oh , oh . " ) It would be so . What he would have was this : let private lodges manage their own affairs and let them not by extreme centralisation endeavour to force a lodge to do that which the lodge would not willingly do of its own accord . —A brother
wished to know whether it was the fact that a lod ge could confer the rank of a Past Master of the lodge on a joining P . M . —Bro . MCINTYRE said they could elect him to thechair . ( Cries of " oh , oh . " )—The brother who a- > ked the question said he was quite aware of that , but he wanted to know whether they could elect him as a P . M . of their lodge . —The Rev . A . W . HALL ,
P . G . C , believed the amendment would be an innovation in Freemasonry . If it were carried a P . M . from another province would be able to take his status wilh the old Past Masters and the founders and burke every succeeding P . M . ( Cries of " no . " )—Bro . HAVERS would be very sorry if anything he had said with regard to the law had been misunderstood , and he should
be still more sorry if he had wrongly stated the law or the Grand Registrar had . In his opinion , and he had no doubt about it , it rested wholly and entirely with a private lodge what status a joining P . M . should hold in it . He had not stated , and had not meant to imply that it had the power to give the rank of Past Master in the lodge
with all its privileges , but the lodges had often decided that a brother should be a Past Master taking rank after such and such a brother . —Bro . Le FKVURE , Prov . Grand Sec . Hants and the Isle of Wight , said that according to the Constitutions as being now amended , a Past Master of a lodge was distinct from a Past Master in a lodge . The Fast Master of a
lodge took his rank according to seniority ; a Past Master who came from another lodge practically took no rank at all , and if that was laid down by Grand Lodge no lodge could go contrary to it . If they pleased to give to Bro . A . B . who joined their lodge a rank , it had no effect whatever against the Book of Constitutions as it already existed . He thought Grand Lodge
was this night prepared to improve the status of joining Past Masters , and he should wish to improve it as far as possible , and he would ask the brethren to go back to clause 141 , where it was pointed out that if no Past Master of the lodge was present then the Senior Past Master present who was a subscribing member of a lodge , should preside over the lodge ;
that made the position clear , and he asked Grand Lodge to adopt those views , and to carry them out in the present clause 186 , and give the joining Past Master rank next after the junior Past Master , and the VV . M . Bro . Brownrigg ' s amendment did not go so far , but he would suggest that Bro . Brownrigg should withdraw his
amendment for the present and allow the Grand Lodge to give a joining Past Master the full status and position of ranking immediately after the junior Past Master and the then W . M . If they adopted 141 they must , to be consistent , adopt this amendment to 186 . ( Hear , hear . ) — Bro . RAYMUND H . THRUPP reminded the brethren that the office of Master was
an office rather than a dignity , and lhat by the Constitutions Past Misters in England had greater privileges than in any lodge in the world . In Scotland they had no place whatever . In Ireland they ranked below the actual Wardens of lodges . —Bro . the Rev . R . J . SIMPSON said that every
brother was entitled to any honour he deserved . They must go much further than it was proposed to go now if they made the position of Past Masters . They must give the same rank to Past Masters for Scotch and Irish lodges —( cries of "no" )—and why not a little further , and give the same rank to brethren from the United States . There Past Masters had
no seat in Grand Lodge at all . — The amendment was put and lost . Bro . G . J . MCKAY then moved his amendment , to the effect that a joining P . M . should rank next after the then Junior P . M ., and he said this was the only logical conclusion to which Grand Lodge could arrive , and it was one which would give satisfaction to Grand Lodge . — Bro . LE FEUVRE
seconded the amendment . —Bro . the Rev . R . J . SIMPSON asked whether in making these emendations they had anything at all to do with the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland ? ( Cries of "no . " )—Sir J . B . MOWCHTOS said he disclaimed it altogether . The brother who suggested it just now rather gave it as an illustration of what might occur . The Board of General
Purposes confined themselves entirely to the Grand Lodge of England . —A brother thought that if a P . M . of a lodge going to another locality than that in which his lodge was held knew that he would not have the rights and privileges of a P . M . in a lodge in his new locality , he would not join a lodge there . —Baron DE FERRIERES believed it was a more defensible proposition
that P . Ms , admitted into a lodge should rank after all those who should come in after . —Bro . HAVERS said there seemed to be a feeling that he wanted to deprive P . Ms , of their privileges . He had no such desire . He wished to protect private lodges in their privileges , and he believed if this were carried it would have the result—and a very fatal one—of creating a great deal of
blackballing in London lodges . ( Cries of " no . " ) That , after all , was a matter of opinion . He wished to put one matter before Grand Lodge . A Past Master of a lodge came to grief . He retired ; but after five or six years he came back , having reinstated himsell . He "had lost his status in Grand Lodge . The man was a popular man , and what was the first act of the lodge ? Almost at its very first meeting it was moved and seconded that Bro . A . B .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Special Grand Lodge.
SPECIAL GRAND LODGE .
A special meeting of Grand Lodge was held on Wednesday evening to proceed with the consideration of the amendments to the Revised Constitutions . Owing to the time of year , there was a very poor attendance , more particularly of Grand Officers . Lord Holmesdale , Prov . Grand Master for Kent , occupied the throne ; Gen . Brownrigg , C . B ., Prov . Grand Master for
Surrey , acted as Deputy Grand Master ; the Rev . R . J . Simpson , Past Grand Chaplain , as G . S . W . ; and the Rev . Ambrose W . Hall , Past Grand Chaplain , as G . J . W . Among the other brethren present were—Bros . JE . J . Mclntyre , G . Reg . ; Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . ; Dr . Ernest E . Wendt , G . Sec . G . C : Sir John B . Monckton , Pres . Board Gen . Purposes ; Fran . Green
G-D . ; T . H . Devonshire , G . D . ; Sir Albert W . Woods ( Garter ) , G . D . C . ; T . D . Bolton , D . G . D . C . ; . Raymond H . Thrupp , Asst . G . D . C . ; Edgar Bowyer , G . St . Br . ; John Havers , P . G . W . ; Ambrose W . Hall , P . G . Chap . ; C . J . Martyn , P . G . Chap . ; J . Studholme Brownrigg-, P . G . Chap . ; Rev . T . Robinson , P . G . Chap . ; F . A . Philbrick , P . G . D . ; John H . Scott , P . G . D . ; T . Fenn , P . G . D . ; R . F . Gould , P . G . D . ; H . Maudsley , P . G . D .: 1 . Sampson , Peirce , P . G . O . ; J . M . Case , P . G . D . ; Jabez
Hogg , P . G . D . ; Brachstone Baker , P . G . D . j R . T . Pigott , P . A . G . D . C . ; John Messent , P . G . S . B . ; T . W . Cubitt , P . G . P . ; L . F . Littell , E ' . G . P . ; C . J . Egan , D . G . M . Siuth Africa ; H . G . Buss , Asst . G . Sec ; F . Binckes , P . G . Stwd . ; Capt . A . Nicols , W . M . 1974 , P . Dist . G . Supt . Wks . Punjab ; S . P . Norris , P . M . 21 ; James Dawkins , W . M . 79 ; Charles Daniel , P . M . 65 ; T . Markland , W . M . 144 ; Barclay Perkins , J . W . 192 ; W . Smallpeice , VV . M . 9 G 9 ; and James Stevens , P . M . 1206 .
After Grand Lodge had been formally opened , GRAND SECRETARY read the circular calling the meeting , and afterwards conveyed the apologies ot the Earl of Carnarvon for not being able to be present as he had fully intended to be .
Starting with clause 184 . which provides the form of declaration to be made by a candidate , Bro . Sir J MONCKTON said that clause 180 was looked upon as a preamble to 184 , as it declared it to be specially incumbent on all members of lodges to see that particular attention was paid to enquiry into the character of candidates for initiation . Grand Lodge at
the last meeting directed the Board of General Purposes to prepare a form of declaration for the consideration of Grand Lodge for the prevention of any person who had been blackballed in one lodge coming forward for another . The Board had prepared such a form in case Grand Lodge should be of opinion that it should be insisted on
but the Board having thought the matter over , very carefully suggested for the consideration of Grand Lodge that , supposing the declarations were accidentally or wilfully false , there would be no remedy afterwards . He hardly felt at liberty himself to move it ; but if any other brother desired to move it he could do so . The Board thought it undesirable to have the declaration . ( He then read the form referred to . )—A long discussion
followed , in which Bros . LE FEUVRE , the Rev . J . S . BROWNRIGG , J . HAVERS , General BROWNRIGG , and others took part ; but the different speeches could not , with due regard to Masonic obligation , be committed to print . In the end the majority of Grand Lodge rejected the declaration as an addition to clause 184 . Clause 184 , as it stood on the draft , was accordin gly added to the Book of Constitutions .
Clause 185 , affecting military candidates , was also added unaltered to the Book of Constitutions . Clause 186 raised the before mooted question of the rank in a lodge of Past Masters of other lodges coming in as joining members . There was an amendment on the paper to insert ' * That Past Masters joining shall rank
as Past Masters of the lodge , " which principle was supported by the Rev . J . S . BROWNRIGG . Those joining Past Masters , he said , had now the right given to them of taking the chair in the absence of any of the Past Masters of the lodge . Perhaps the clause which gave this right might be reconciled with the present clause by providing that Past Masters joining should tank
as Past Masters of the lodge , but junior to all who had been in the chair . It would give a joining Past Master a position something between the Junior Past Master and the Senior Warden . There was a strong feeling in the provinces against a Past Master losing his rank in lodge when he moved from one locality to another for no reason that was a discredit to him .
— Bro . BRACKSTONE BAKER seconded the amendment . —Bro . F . A . PHILBRICK , Q . C , P . G . D ., thought this was already provided for by clause 141 , and this amendment was therefore unnecessary . —Bro . J HAVERS , P . G . W ., without venturing to detract from the remarks of Bro . Brownrigg , thought there could hardly be a more mischievous thing than to
disturb the harmony of lodges by making such a provision . It depended now on a lodge what status a joining Past Master should have . If this amendment was passed what would lodges do with Scotch Past Masters or Irish Past Masters who might join English lodges ? In Scotland they gave the Degree of Past Master , which was called passing the chair , when the
brother on whom the Degree was conferred had not passed , and did not intend to pass the chair . If the amendment was passed lodges would say they could not admit a man as a joining member who was a P . M . of another lodge , because they would be compelled to give him a certain rank . The matter was all provided for by clause 141 . Lodges were quite capable of
managing their own concerns . —Another brother opposed the amendment because he thought it did not go far enough . The present disabilities under which P . Ms , joined lodges should be removed altogether . He thought the amendment should be , " That P . Ms . joining a lodge should rank next after the then W . M . "—Lord HOLMESDALE pointed out that that was the spirit of
the amendment which was proposed . — The Rev . R . J . SIMPSON thought it most desirable that any honours which a brother had gained—north , south , east or west—should as far as might be , without interfering with the rights and privileges of their brethren , be acknowledged and acted upon . If a Mason came down from Newcastle to London simply and solely from the necessities which happened to everybody , he should maintain his rank . —Bro .
Special Grand Lodge.
/ E . J . MCINTYRE , Grand Registrar , said a brother carried his rank of P . M . wherever he went . If he was a distinguished Mason , and had done good service to Masonry , the lodge into which he went could , by a special vote , give him the rank and privilege which would make him a P . M . of the lodge . But the brethren should remember that this might happen : a brother mieht have
been initiated in a lodge and might desire to go up to the chair ; but there was no chance of his doing so , because he might not be popular with the members . He then became one of the founders of a new lodge , and went into the chair , perhaps as its first Master ; and then he svent back to his mother lodge which would not elect him to the chair , and said he was now a P . M .
and took precedence of all those who went into the chair , after the time he re-entered the lodge as a P . M . ( Criesof " oh , oh . " ) It would be so . What he would have was this : let private lodges manage their own affairs and let them not by extreme centralisation endeavour to force a lodge to do that which the lodge would not willingly do of its own accord . —A brother
wished to know whether it was the fact that a lod ge could confer the rank of a Past Master of the lodge on a joining P . M . —Bro . MCINTYRE said they could elect him to thechair . ( Cries of " oh , oh . " )—The brother who a- > ked the question said he was quite aware of that , but he wanted to know whether they could elect him as a P . M . of their lodge . —The Rev . A . W . HALL ,
P . G . C , believed the amendment would be an innovation in Freemasonry . If it were carried a P . M . from another province would be able to take his status wilh the old Past Masters and the founders and burke every succeeding P . M . ( Cries of " no . " )—Bro . HAVERS would be very sorry if anything he had said with regard to the law had been misunderstood , and he should
be still more sorry if he had wrongly stated the law or the Grand Registrar had . In his opinion , and he had no doubt about it , it rested wholly and entirely with a private lodge what status a joining P . M . should hold in it . He had not stated , and had not meant to imply that it had the power to give the rank of Past Master in the lodge
with all its privileges , but the lodges had often decided that a brother should be a Past Master taking rank after such and such a brother . —Bro . Le FKVURE , Prov . Grand Sec . Hants and the Isle of Wight , said that according to the Constitutions as being now amended , a Past Master of a lodge was distinct from a Past Master in a lodge . The Fast Master of a
lodge took his rank according to seniority ; a Past Master who came from another lodge practically took no rank at all , and if that was laid down by Grand Lodge no lodge could go contrary to it . If they pleased to give to Bro . A . B . who joined their lodge a rank , it had no effect whatever against the Book of Constitutions as it already existed . He thought Grand Lodge
was this night prepared to improve the status of joining Past Masters , and he should wish to improve it as far as possible , and he would ask the brethren to go back to clause 141 , where it was pointed out that if no Past Master of the lodge was present then the Senior Past Master present who was a subscribing member of a lodge , should preside over the lodge ;
that made the position clear , and he asked Grand Lodge to adopt those views , and to carry them out in the present clause 186 , and give the joining Past Master rank next after the junior Past Master , and the VV . M . Bro . Brownrigg ' s amendment did not go so far , but he would suggest that Bro . Brownrigg should withdraw his
amendment for the present and allow the Grand Lodge to give a joining Past Master the full status and position of ranking immediately after the junior Past Master and the then W . M . If they adopted 141 they must , to be consistent , adopt this amendment to 186 . ( Hear , hear . ) — Bro . RAYMUND H . THRUPP reminded the brethren that the office of Master was
an office rather than a dignity , and lhat by the Constitutions Past Misters in England had greater privileges than in any lodge in the world . In Scotland they had no place whatever . In Ireland they ranked below the actual Wardens of lodges . —Bro . the Rev . R . J . SIMPSON said that every
brother was entitled to any honour he deserved . They must go much further than it was proposed to go now if they made the position of Past Masters . They must give the same rank to Past Masters for Scotch and Irish lodges —( cries of "no" )—and why not a little further , and give the same rank to brethren from the United States . There Past Masters had
no seat in Grand Lodge at all . — The amendment was put and lost . Bro . G . J . MCKAY then moved his amendment , to the effect that a joining P . M . should rank next after the then Junior P . M ., and he said this was the only logical conclusion to which Grand Lodge could arrive , and it was one which would give satisfaction to Grand Lodge . — Bro . LE FEUVRE
seconded the amendment . —Bro . the Rev . R . J . SIMPSON asked whether in making these emendations they had anything at all to do with the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland ? ( Cries of "no . " )—Sir J . B . MOWCHTOS said he disclaimed it altogether . The brother who suggested it just now rather gave it as an illustration of what might occur . The Board of General
Purposes confined themselves entirely to the Grand Lodge of England . —A brother thought that if a P . M . of a lodge going to another locality than that in which his lodge was held knew that he would not have the rights and privileges of a P . M . in a lodge in his new locality , he would not join a lodge there . —Baron DE FERRIERES believed it was a more defensible proposition
that P . Ms , admitted into a lodge should rank after all those who should come in after . —Bro . HAVERS said there seemed to be a feeling that he wanted to deprive P . Ms , of their privileges . He had no such desire . He wished to protect private lodges in their privileges , and he believed if this were carried it would have the result—and a very fatal one—of creating a great deal of
blackballing in London lodges . ( Cries of " no . " ) That , after all , was a matter of opinion . He wished to put one matter before Grand Lodge . A Past Master of a lodge came to grief . He retired ; but after five or six years he came back , having reinstated himsell . He "had lost his status in Grand Lodge . The man was a popular man , and what was the first act of the lodge ? Almost at its very first meeting it was moved and seconded that Bro . A . B .