The Table Of Precedence.

THE TABLE OF PRECEDENCE .

BY MASONIC STUDENT . Some questions having arisen in reference to this subject , it seems well to call attention to certain salient points respecting it . I may add that what follows is based on Northouck ' s edition of the Constitutions of 17 S 4 and Williams ' s of 181 =:. There seems to have been no recognized or

authoritative table of precedence until the one published by authority of Grand Lodge , as the Book of Constitutions , 1 S 15 , by Bro . Wm . Williams , Provincial Grand Master for Dorsetshire , and who held the copyright of same for three years . Indeed , as the Grand Officers in the last century were so few , the whole matter resolved itself into a very easy solution .

In 1724 , at the procession in Merchant Taylors' Hall , June 24 th , the Stewards , preceded by Bro . Clinch , and followed by the Grand Secretary , and three Masters of lodges . bcaring the three great lights , were succeeded by Past Grand Wardens , Past Grand Masters , the two Grand Wardens , and the Grand Master . In 1721 the only officers of Grand Lodge were the Grand Master , the Deputy Grand Master , the two Grand Wardens , and one

Grand Steward . In 1722 a Grand Secretary was appointed . In 1723 six Grand Stewards . For three years one Grand Steward is appointed annually and in 172 S , twelve . In 1729-30 the Grand Treasurer is appointed , and in 1733 a Grand Sword Bearer . And thus it remained until 1784 , except that in 1775 the office of Grand Chaplain was revived , so it is said , and , though afterwards in abeyance , was again filled up in 17 S 1 , and a Grand Architect

wasappointed temporarily in 1776 . In those times the Grand Chaplain seems to have taken the lowest position of all the Grand Officers , —after Grand Sword Bearer . Our excellent Bro . Col . James Peters will be pleased to hear of the great antiquity of his honourable office . After the Union the following officers were dealt with in the Book of Constitutions for 1 S 15 :

1 . The Grand Master . 12 . Past Grand Treasurer . 2 . Past Grand Master . 13 . Grand Registrar . 3 . Deputy Grand Master . 14 . Past Grand Registrars . 4 . Past Deputy Grand Master . 15 . Grand Secretary . 5 . Prov . Grand Master . 16 . Past Grand Secretaries .

6 . Past Prov . Grand Master . 17 . Grand Deacons . 7 . Grand Wardens . iS . Past Grand Deacons . 8 . Past Grand Wardens . 19 . Grand Superintendent of Works . 9 . Grand Chaplains . 20 . Grand Director of Ceremonies . 10 . Past Grand Chaplains . 21 . Grand Sword Bearer . 11 . Grand Treasurer . 22 . Grand Organist .

The Grand Stewards . The Table of Precedence then came under the one heading " General Regulations for the Government of the Craft established by the Grand Lodge ; " but the paragraph beginning " By one solemn act of Union " in our present Constilutions are not in the Edition of 1815 .

If we compare the present Book with the Constitutions of 1815 , we shall find additional officers , a different collocation of passages , and altered verbiage to some extent , effected no doubt in successive revisions by the Board of General Purposes . But when Bro . Williams says in his " preface to the corrected edition , " the laws enacted for the regulation of the Craft on the 23 rd August , 1815 , having in pursuance of the plan then proposed and of subsequent resolutions of Grand Lodge been revised , and several

amendments having been made therein , the sheets in which any alteration occurred have been reprinted , & c , what does he mean ? Does he intend to convey that all those regulations were passed in Grand Lodge , or that the table of precedence drawn up by the authority of the Grand Master was only " read for information" and the rest was passed by Grand Lodge . As the Book was published by " authority of the United Grand Lodge " it has some importance on the present little controversy . But we must leave the " Crux " to more authoritative brethren to decide .

The Festival Of Wednesday Next: Its Chairman And His Province.

THE FESTIVAL OF WEDNESDAY NEXT : ITS CHAIRMAN AND HIS PROVINCE .

The last of the great Masonic Festivals for the current year—that of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys—will be held at the Crystal Palace on Wednesdy next , under the presidency of Viscount Holmesdale , the highly respected and popular Provincial Grand Master of Kent , and from what we hear on all sides there appears to be every reason to believe it will prove to be the greatest of the many great successes which

Bro . Binckes , in his long career as Secretary , has had the good fortune to achieve . That such a success is most desirable—we may go further and say most necessary—for the welfare of the School admits of no question . It has been greatly enlarged during the past few years , but from circumstances into which it is unnecessary we should stop to enquire , the Institution is quite unable to meet the heavy demands that are constantly being made upon its resources . We are very far from saying that it should always be

in a position to receive within its hospitable walls all the children whose names are submitted and placed on the list of approved candidates by the executive ; but it happened at the last election , as it has happened at several previous elections , that the number of candidates was very largely in excess of the number of vacancies to be filled . In these circumstances , it has long been evident to those best qualified to form an opinion that a substantial endeavour , a kind of " long pull , a strong pull , and a pull altogether , " should be made in order to increase the school accommodation so that , for

many years to come at all events , it may be able to accord its benefits to the majority at least of those who are compelled to seek them . To this end it has been determined on creeling a preparatory school sufficiently large to accommodate in time 100 boys . The cost of this additional school has been estimated at £ Sooo , and towards this a sum of £ 3000 has already been subscribed . One of the principal objects of the festival of Wednesday next is

to raise the remaining £ 5000 and , with a view to encouraging the brethren to give promptly , as well as with their accustomed liberality , all who send or have sent donations to the Preparatory School Building Fund prior to the 31 st December of the present year will be entitled to double the usual number of votes . There are those who have questioned the wisdom of offering this special attraction , but something of the same kind has been

done in other cases of a somewhat similar character , and at all events , if it is worth while making a supreme effort to raise so large a sum as £ 5000 over and above what is required for the normal expenditure of the year , the policy of offering special privileges in return for special donations must appear to most of us as not unreasonable . This is one reason which inclines us to anticipate the . announcement of a brilliant success on Wednesday next .

The Festival Of Wednesday Next: Its Chairman And His Province.

There are others of course which occur to us and will occur to all our readers , but they may be dismissed more promptly . They are the known popularity of the Chairman , the strength and importance of the province he has ruled so long and so ably , the smallness of the School ' s invested property as compared with that possessed by the other institutions , and last but not least , the zeal and energy of Bro . Binckes , to whom the Craft is chiefly indebted for the immense aggregates of subscriptions and donations announced during these latter years at the festivals of all our charities

But our next duty—and the duty is a pleasure likewise—is to lay before our readers a short account of Lord Holmesdale ' s career . In describing his lordship as "the highly-respected and popular Provincial Grand Master of Kent , " we have been guilty of no exaggeration . He is a frequent and always a welcome visitor at the lodges in his province , so that the brethren who are so fortunate as to hail him for their chief may be said to know him

personally as well as by repute . He was appointed to his high office by the late Earl of Zetland in i 860 at the unanimous desire of the then existinolodges in Kent , and that he has discharged the duties of that office in no halt-hearted perfunctory manner may be judged from the one fact that during the twenty-three years of his Provincial Grand Mastership the number of lodges in his province has been almost trebled : in 1 S 60 it numbered seventeen lod

ges ; now there are , in round numbers , so But to give details , Viscount Holmesdale , eldest son of Earl Amherst , is yet in the very prime of life , having been born in the year 1 S 36 . After being educated at Eton , his lordship received his commission in May , 1854 , as ensign and lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards . The year lollowing he was promoted lieutenant and captain , and in 1862 retired from the service on his

marriage with Lady Julia , only daughter of the last Earl of Cornwallis . He had the good fortune to be present with his regiment during the jrreater portion of the Crimean war , and for his services , in the course of which he was severely wounded ; has received the medal and clasps and other decorations . He was first returned to Parliament in 1859 for West Kent , which he represented continuously till 1 S 68 , when he was chosen to represent the

new constituency of Mid Kent . In 1880 , just previous to the retirement of the late Earl of Beaconsfield ' s administration , he was raised to the Upper House by the style and title of Baron Amherst . He was initiated into Freemasonry in the year 1 S 56 , in the Westminster and Keystone Lodge , No . 10 , and joined the Invicta Lodge , No . 709 , Ashford , in i 860 . On the resignation by the late Bro . C . Purton Cooper , Q . C , of the Provincial Grand

Mastership of Kent , his lordship was , at the unanimous wish of our Kentish brethren , as we have said , appointed by the late Earl of Zetland , M . W . G . M ., to succeed that learned brother . His installation took place at the New Falcon Hotel , Gravesend , on the 20 th October , i 860 , in the presence of some 300 brethren , or about half the number constituting the then strength of the province , the officiating Master being the late R . W .

Bro . Thos . H . Hall , Past Grand Registrar of England and Prov . Grand Master of Cambridgeshire . At the banquet which followed in the Assembly Rooms , Harmer-street , Bro . Dobson , Deputy P . G . M ., in proposing the health of their newly-installed chief , addressed the following remarks to his lordship personally , and the experience of 23 years has shown that the confidence with which they were uttered has been verified to the letter

" My lord , you are a young man and a young Mason , but the members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Kent look with perfect confidence to you in every respect . VVe believe you have Masonic princi ples at heart ; we know you have all the courage of an Englishman ; we therefore anticipate that while your conduct will be firm and dignified to every member of the province , yet that thosequalities will be combined with that courtesy which

^ always becomes an English nobleman , and with that kindness which always characterises an English gentleman . " We have said these anticipations have been verified to the letter—how worthily may be gathered from the particulars we published at the time in these columns of the grand gathering held at Rochester , on the , 13 th July , 1 S 81 , to celebrate the 21 st anniversary of his lordship ' s appointment to the Provincial Grand Mastership of

Kent . On that occasion he was presented with three magnificient silver vases , value five hundred guineas , and a handsome gold bracelet for Lady Holmesdale . His patent of appointment as Provincial Grand Superintendent 01 Kent bears dale the 20 th March , 1877 . He was advanced to the Degree of Mark Mason in the Carnarvon Lodge , No . 7 , on the 17 th May , i 860 . At the time of his installation as Provincial Craft Grand Master

of Kent he held the high office of Deputy Grand Master of the Mark Grand Lodge of England and Wales , & c , and in 1863 succeeded the Earl of Carnarvon in the Grand Mastership of that Degree . It only remains for us to add that Lord Holmesdale is a supporter of all our Masonic Institutions , being a Life Governor of the two Schools . as well as of both the Male and Female Funds of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution .

To attempt to give a description of the rise and progress of Freemasonry in this delightful county— " the Garden of England " as it has been again and again designated—that should be worth y of the province and this journal would occupy more space than is at our disposal . Nor , having regard to the fact that a very serviceable history of Kentish Masonry has already been published , does it seem desirable . But following up our custom

of late we must not deny ourselves the pleasure of furnishing just a few particulars . Of course much of what was once purel y Kentish Freemasonrywe are alluding to such homes of the Craft as Greenwich and Woolwichbelongs now-a-days to the metropolitan district , but leaving out of the question the lodges that meet in those localities , it will be found that Kent is one of our great strongholds , while one-fifth of its lodges can trace

back their history to years anterior to the celebrated Union of 1813 . It has one very distinctive feature . The provincial lod ge which stands highest on the roll of Grand Lodge meets within its borders—the Royal Kent Lodge of Antiquity , No . 20 , Chatham , which was constituted originally as a London lodge in the year 1723 , but in 1750 migrated to the Bunch of Grapes Tavern , Chatham , and has retained its connection with that

important military centre ever since . The next in order of seniority is the Industrious Lodge , No . 31 , Canterbury , which is the result of an amalgamation in 1819 ol former Lodge No . 24 of the" Ancients , " founded originally at Bristol in 1753 , with the then No . 416 , previously No . 326 " Moderns , " dating from 28 th November , 1776 . Other lodges of early creation are Freedom , No . 77 , Gravesend , constituted 1751 ; Union , No . 127 , Margate , of the year 1763 ; Harmony , No . 133 , Faversham , of 1764 ; all which were

of " Modern " origin and have received centenary warrants- and Emulation Lodge , No . 299 , Dartford , also " Modern , " together with the following lodges constituted by the "Ancients , " namely : —Prince Edwin , No . 125 , Hythe , 1771 ; Adams , No . 158 , Sheerness , 1778 ; United Chatham Lodge of Benevolence , No . 184 , Brompton , 1787 ; and Peace and Harmony , No . 199 , Dover , 1791 . Seven other lodges date subsequently to the Union , but prior to the appointment of Lord Holmesdale as Grand Master