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SATURDAY , J 15 , 1901 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cheshire will be held under the presidency of Bro . the Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., Dep . Grand Mark Master England . Prov . G . M . M ., at the Hotel Victoria , New Brighton , on Saturday , the 22 nd

instant , at 3 p . m . The business will be of the usual character , and when Prov . Grand Lodge has been closed , the brethren will adjourn to high tea , tickets for which , at 2 s . 6 d . each , should be obtained as early as possible from Bro . J . Armstrong , P . M ., P . P . S . G . W ., Oriel Chambers , 14 , Water-street , Liverpool .

* •» Our readers will have heard with sincere regret of the death of two prominent and respected members of the Craft , Lord Wantage , V . C , K . C . B ., P . G . W ., Prov . Grand Master of Berkshire , and Bro . Sir Walter Besant , Founder and' Treasurer of the well-known

Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . 2076 . Both had been in ill-health for some time , and in both cases the fatal end came somewhat suddenly , in the one cise on Sunday , the gth , and in the other on Monday , the loth instant , there being hosts of friends to lament the loss the country has sustained b y the death of these English wotthies .

* » » Lord Wantage , who was born 18 th April , i 3 j 2 , ficeived his first com mission as Ensign and Lieuten ut in the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1850 , being then M-. R . J . Lind-ay . He served throughout thc whole of the ¦ campai gn in the Crimea , and for his conspicuous . gallantry at the battles of the Alma and of Inkerman

Masonic Notes.

was awarded the Victoria Cross . In 1858 he married the only daughter of Lord Overstone—better known to the public as Mr . Jones-Lloyd , the banker . Subsequently he became Lord-Lieutenant of Berk-shire , and having served as S . G . Warden of England in 1801 , was in 1898 chosen to fill the office of Prov . G .

Master of Berkshire , which had remainel vacant since the death of the lamented Duke of Clarence and Avondale in January , 1892 . The brief period in which he had ruled the Province had not afforded him many opportunities of winning distinction in Masonry , as he had previously done in the Army , the Volunteer ? ,

and the political world , but he had done much towards strengthening and bringing closer the relations between himself and the lodges and brethren under his charge , and was very greatly respected by the latter , to whom we tender our sympathy in thus , for the second time within a few years , being deprived of their chief .

* * # Bro . Sir Walter Besant was a younger man by some half-dozen years than Lord Wantage , but he had won fame in the world of literature as his lordship had done as a soldier , politician , and county magnate . In collaboration with the late Mr . James Rice , he

wrote a number of novels , beginning with " Ready Money Mortiboy , " and concluding with the most successful of the series , " The Golden Butteifly . " But it was not only as a successful novelist that Sir Walter was known . He had written much and ably about the history of London , and it was but in our issue of th ;

ist instant that we had the pleasure of calling the attention of our readers to the merits of one section of his history of our huge Metropolis , namely , his " East London . " As a Mason Sir Walter Besant was a P . M . ofthe Marquis of Dalhousie , No . 1159 , but he

will be best remembered as a founder and Treasurer of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , which has thus had the misfortune to lose within the space of a few weeks two of its most important officers , namely , Bro . G . W . Speth , P . A . G . D . C , its first and only Secretary , who died a few days before the stated lodge meeting in

May , and now Bro . Sir W . Besant , M . A ., F . S . A ., its

first and only Treasurer . * * # On the very day that these two prominent Masons died there passed away another puolic personage in Mr . Robert Buchanan , who , as far as we know , was not a member of our Society , but who had , un '

doubtedly , made his mark as a literary man of no mean order of metit . Mr . Buchanan was both a poet and prose writer , and had also written much for the stage , but during his later years he won fame as a controversialist and in connection with the Press . In all

the various fields of literary labour on which he embarked , Mr . Buchanan was a prolific writer ; and if he had not always the sympathy of his contemporaries , he undoubtedly enjoyed a large measure ot their respect . * » '»

We are pleased to state that Miss M . J . Reep , only daughter of Bro . John Robertson Reep , M . U . G . P ., & c , passed first class with honours at the Tripos Examination Girton College , Cambridge University . The news was embodied in the University note of Tuesday last , the nth instant .

It is a great misfortune that anything should occur which is calculated to delay the erection of the new School buildings at Bushey , and our readers will regret to hear that early on Monday morning a fire broke out in those buildings , by which , according to

the accounts we have seen , one of thc wings is said to have been " completely gutted . " It is dillicult to determine the extent of the damage that has been done to a building that is in course of being erected unless

you know what progress had been made with its erection . We trust , however , that efforts will be made to prevent any delay in the removal beyond the time mentioned at a recent Quarterly Court .

There seems to be just now a sort of rage—on a necessarily restricted scale—for the formation of Hospital lodges in the Metropolitan district . It is not so very long since we chronicled the consecration

of the Middlesex Hospital Lodge , and on Friday , the 7 th instant , it appears to have been the turn of the Charing Cross Hospital , in connection with which the Chore Reine was consecrated by the Giand Secretary ,

a-siated by Bro . Robert Grey and other Grand Ofiicers . The new lodge starts under the presidency , as W . Master , of Bro . the Rev . A . W . Oxford , M . A ., a Past ' U . Deacon of England and P . M . of that famous old Time Immemorial lodge—the Royal Somerset House

Masonic Notes.

and Inverness , No . 4 ; and with so experienced a brother to bring it into good working order , and Bro . Robert Grey , P . G . W ., as Treasurer to look after its monetary affairs , La Chere Reine Lodge , No . 28 53 , will , no doubt , prove a success . It certainl y has our sincerest good wishes for a long and useful career .

The title of the new lodge—Chore Reine—does not at first sight suggest any connection with an hospital . But light was thrown upon the point both by the Grand Chaplain in his oration , and by the W . M . in his speech in acknowledging the toast of his

health . According to the former Charing is derivedthough , as he was careful to point out , it is the less probable , if the prettier , of the two derivations he cited —from Chore Reine Eleanor , Queen of Edward L , who died at Lincoln in 1290 , and whose body was brought to

London for interment , a cross being erected by the King to mark each of the nine places at which the corpse rested—Chere Reine Cross being one of the nine . Thus the Chere Reine Lodge may be

designated as a memorial of the " dear Queen " Eleanor , while the W . Master added that it was intended to serve as a memorial of La Chore Reine Victoria , who died at the beginning of this year , as well as of La Chere Reine Eleanor who died over six centuries

ago . » » » It is to be regretted that his military duties in connection with the Warwickshire Yeomanry and the state of his health did not permit of the Earl of

Warwick being present at the recent annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Essex . Though the proportion of Mark Master Masons to the Craft Master Masons is small , the reports for the past year that were presented in lodge were of a very

encouraging character . There had been an increase in the aggregate membership , and the eight lodges now average 25 M . M . M . ' s per lodge . Moreover the audited statement of account showed a fair balance to the good . Thus had his lordship been able to

attend ne would have had good reason to be pleased with the progress that had been made during the year . We trust that the advice of Bro . Colonel Lockwood , M . P ., Deputy P . G . M . M ., will be followed , and that , as the years go on , the number of Mark Master Masons in Essex will be greatly augmented .

* » » The monthly meeting of the Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , the 12 th inst ., under the presidency of Bro . T . W . C . Winkfield

P . A . G . D . C . There was a fair attendance , and the business on the agenda was carried out , the most noticeable of the proceedings being a resolution for the retirement on a pension of Bro . John Mason , P . G . Std . Br ., Collector of the Institution .

# » # The recent annual meeting of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire at Dursley under the presidency of Bro . the Right Hon . Sir M . E . Hicks-Beach , Bart ., M . P ., appears to have been a great

success and the reports that were presented show that during the past year the Province has fared exceptionally well , there being a larger balance than in previous years at the close of the account . Our Gloucestershire brethren take a great interest

in the restoration of old ecclesiastical edifices , and it is evident from the report of the Tewkesbury Abbey Restoration Commi tee that the work is progressing satisfactorily and is being well supported by them . It was announced that owing to failing

eyesight , Bro . W . Window , the respected Provincial Grand Tyler—who has served as Tyler of the Lodge of Sympathy , No . 855 , Wotton-under-Edge , for the long period of 36 years—had resigned his o . Ttce , and Prov . Grand Lodge voted the sum of 10 guineas towards

the fund that is being raised for the purpose of presenting him with a testimonial , the Prov . Grand Master paying Bro . Window the compliment of

remarking that " there was no keener Mason in the Province . " The ofiicers for the ensuing year were subsequently appointed , and the brethren afterwards dined together under the presidency of their chief .

The motion for considering "the present mode of electing the Grand Treasurer , " of which Bro . T . J . Hutchinson , P . M ., No . 1392 , had given notice , was not brought forward owing to that brother ' s inability

to be present but we are pleased to hear that the subject has already been referred to a Sub-Committee of the Board of General Purposes , who had not yot handed in their report .