Ar00100

CONTENTS . L HADHR— PAGE Craft and Royal Arch Masonry ... ... ... ... 357 Time Immemorial Lodges ... ... ... ... ... 357 Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire ... ... ... ... 350 Provincial Grand Lodge of Lincolnshire ... ... ... ... 3 ° The Craft Abroad ... ... ... ... ... - 360 Science , Art and the Drama ... ... ... ... ... 3

M ASONIC NOTES— « - Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge ... ... ... 36 3 Unused Votes at the recent Benevolent Elections ... ... ... 3 G 3 Order of the Secret Monitor ... ... ... ... __... 363 Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... 3 G 3 Quarterly Communication of District Grand Lodge of Madras ... 3 6 3 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 364

Presentation to the Alderney Lodge ... ... ... ... 364 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 G 4 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 < 5 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 G 7 Provincial Grand Lodge of Norths and Hunts ... ... ... 3 6 7 Gould's Military Lodges ... ... ... ... ... 3 G 7 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 3 CS Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 GS

Craft And Royal Arch Masonry.

CRAFT AND ROYAL ARCH MASONRY .

We publish elsewhere a most interesting Table , which has evidently been compiled with the greatest care by Comp . HERBERT G . E . GREEN , Prov . G . Scribe E . of West Yorkshire , and which shows the strength , both actually and relatively ,

to each other of Craft and Royal Arch Masonry in the Provinces . It will probably be somewhat disappointing to many of our readers , and more especially to those among them who may have been encouraged to hope that the change effected some few years in

reducing the period of probation through which the Master Mason must pass before being exalted to the Royal Arch from one year to one month . However , the Table tells its own tale , which is simply to the effect that the Holy Royal Arch , which ,

according to our Book of Constitutions , is essentially a part of pure and ancient Masonry does not meet with the degree of support among Craft Masons to which it is entitled . Here

and there among the Provinces of medium strength are to be found a few in which the proportion of Royal Arch to Craft Masons is about one to two , but in the majority of the larger and more influential Provinces about one-third of the Master

Masons arc exalted , while in the case of sundry , the Royal Arch is weakness itself . In Comp . GREEN ' S own Province , in which great efforts have for some few years past been made to strengthen the chapters , and the companions have been again and

again urged to encourage , by every means in their power , and even to go so far as to invite Master Masons to join the Royal Arch , there are about three out of every eight Craftsmen who have been exalted , there being 45 chapters to 81 lodges at the date—June ,

1 S 99—to which the Return is made up , while the number of companions is given as 1559 out of 4142 Master Masons . In the two Lancashires , which are our strongest Provinces , the position is far less favourable , there being in West Lancashire , with its 122

lod ges and 8125 subscribing members , only 4 6 chapters , and ' 44 ^ companions ; while East Lancashire , which musters 113 lod ges , with 4800 subscribing members , the number of chapters ls 41 and that of companions 1100 . Thus in the whole county

° f Lancashire there arc 235 lodges , with an aggregate membershi p of 12 , 925 Master Masons , but there are only 87 chapters , with 2546 companions , the proportion of Royal Arch to Craft Masons being , in round figures , as one to five . The next

strongest Provinces after the Lancashires and West Yorkshire , are Kent and Devonshire . The former of these has a roll of " 5 lod ges with 4266 subscribing members , the chapters being 2 ^ in number and the companions 1000 , while in Devonshire

Craft And Royal Arch Masonry.

with its 59 lodges and 38 S 7 members , there are 30 chapters with an aggregate membership of 9 6 9 . Cheshire has 52 lodges and 26 3 6 members , and 21 chapters with 6 59 members , while in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight there are 48 lodges and 4

members , with 26 chapters and 975 companions . Essex , with 44 lodges and 2297 members , has only 13 chapters and 355 companions , while in Surrey whose 42 lodges muster only 1700 members , there are 17 chapters but only 326 companions . In

Durham there are 37 lodges with 3 610 members , that is , nearly 100 members per lodge , but the chapters are only 13 in number , though with an aggregate membership of 547 , or as nearly as possible 42 companions per chapter . In Northumberland , which

has 32 lodges and 278 3 members , there are but 11 chapters and the number of companions is only 440 , while in Sussex there are but nine out of 33 lodges that have chapters attached to them and only 290 companions as compared with 1600 Craftsmen .

In Bristol there are nine lodges with 550 members , while the chapters , though but three in number , have amongst them 220 companions . In Oxfordshire there are 12 lodges and four chapters , there being 1018 members of the former and 271 of

the latter . However , it is not necessary that we should go through the whole Table , the Provinces we have quoted being sufficient for the purpose of showing that Royal Arch Masonry is in need of still greater encouragement and support .

Time Immemorial Lodges.

TIME IMMEMORIAL LODGES .

By BRO . R . F . GOULD , P . G . J ) . III .

( Cont' tinted from page 326 . ) With the exception of St . Andrew , Strathaven , present No . 215 ( which may or ma } ' not be a revival of Strathaven Kilwinning , orig . No . 18 7 ) , all the lodges in the foregoing table are ( according to the best authorities ) of older date than their Grand

Lodge . Nor does the list given profess to be an exhaustive one , though as several Scottish brethren are prosecuting inquiries on my behalf , I am not without : hope that some of the omissions they may succeed in detecting , will be incorporated with the text before the present article is reprinted in pamphlet form .

The origin of a great number of these old lodges is unknown , and the dates placed after their names arc merel y conjectural . These are in the strictest sense of the term "Time Immemorial Lodges , " while the others , though classified in the same way , are

only accorded a similar status in the narrower and more restricted ( or perhaps it would be better to say , Masonic or conventional ) sense , of having been in existence before the formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736 . , .

In November , 1737 , it was resolved that all the lodges holding of the Grand Lodge should be enrolled according to their seniority , which should be determined from the authentic documents they produced ; and , in accordance with this principle , the first place on the roll was assigned to Mary ' s Chapel and the

second to Kilwinning . The latter , however , ( in 1 743 ) resenting this conclusion ; resumed its independence , and for well ni gh 70 years continued to exist as an independent Grand Body , dividing with the Grand Lodge of Edinburgh , the honour of forming branches in Scotland , as well as in the North American Colonies and other British possessions beyond the seas .

Ultimately it was agreed ( 1807 ) that Mother Kilwinning should be placed at Ihe head , and her daughter lodges at the end of the roll of the Grand Lodge ; but that so soon as the roll should be re-arranged and corrected , the lodges holding of Mother Kilwinning should be ranked according to the dates of their orginal charters and of those granted by the Grand Lodge .