Gould's "Military Lodges."*

military Mason must have his own experiences in this respect , and it may not be out of place to mention two cases which struck me in early days , and led me to think most highly of the effect of Masonry in the army . The first was the remarkable sight of Serjeant F . G . Irwin ( afterwards Major Irwin ) ably controlling a lodge at Gibraltar , about 1859 , assisted by several of the commanding officers and senior officers in garrison . The second was the converss of this : Two young subalterns , Master and Senior Warden , owing to changes in the garris 3 n , the only officers

left among 40 or So non-commissioned officers of all corps for 12 months . During a great part of the time one of the subalterns was away , and the other , the Senior Warden , not yet aged 21 , ruled the lodge and presided at the banquets , surrounded by N . C . O ., and yet never feeling out of place from the , true Masonic behaviour that prevailed . With such experiences it is impossible not to feel the enormous benefit Masonry effects in binding together the ranks of our army , leading rank to sympathise with rank . I would not wish to propose that

Masonry is more than one of the factors that adds to this sympathy between ranks , for we have exactly the same result from football , cricket , and all other manly sports in which ofiicers and soldiers combine . It may be argued that our national instincts of banishing class distinctions have led to the great success of both Masonry and games among us , or on the other hand that

with the good example of Masonry before us we adopt the same rules in our games of meeting on the level and parting on the square . Whatever may be the true cause of the happy results we witness about us , we must attribute a considerable part to the existence of military lodges in early days , and I now with great diffidence make some observations on the volume Bro . Gould has put before us .

Chapters I . and II . are devoted to a very interesting brief history of the Cratt , with some speculations as to its origin and early establishment in Great Britain and Ireland , and on account of the various Grand Lodges during the last 300 years and Iheir proceedings . All Masons , military brethren in particular , will read with pleasure the reasons Bro . Gould assigns why the names of those valiant soldiers , the stout-hearted Charles Martel and our " Glorious Athelstan , " have been accorded such prominence in the traditions of the Freemasons .

Asa fitting tribute from a distinguished member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , a most interestingaccount is given of the ancient Ars Quatuor Coronatorum , showing that four Roman ofiicers ( Cornicularii ) of the Army of Diocletian ( A . D . 302 ) , who had embraced the Christian faith , refused , on a public occasion , to throw incense over the altar of / Esculapius , this being contrary to their principles , and suffered martyrdom in consequence . Upon them was bestowed the title of Quatuor Coronati , or Four Crowned Ones , and , owing to a very curious supposed confusion between these four and other five stonemasons , who had previously

refused to execute the statute of / Esculapius , and also suffered death , the Quatuor Coronati ( instead of the five masons ) have become the patron saints of the building trades . It seems impossible to avoid the thought that there may be less confusion on this subject than is supposed , and that the five stonemasons were acting in unison with the four officers , and were , with them , members of some ancient guild . May I be allowed , as coming from the Ordnance Corps , to suggest that these five stonemasons and the four officers were all members of the Roman Ordnance Corps , in which the duties of Artillery and Engineers were interchangeable .

We are told " that the legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs must have penetrated into Britian at a very early date is quite clear , as we find it recorded by Bede , in his Historia Ecclesiasticc , that there was a church in existence a * Canterbury , dedicated to the Quatuor Coronati , A . D . 619 , " but , at the same time , Bro . Gould finds himself " obliged to pronounce , however reluctantly , against the popular theory that the germs of our present Freemasonry were introduced into this country by the Legions of Imperial Rome . " After tracing Masonry , in connection with building

fraternities , through the middle ages in Britain , he points out that in the 16 th century , the Reformation struck the death-blow of mediaeval architecture , and that the builders almost died out , and the unions of these men naturally dissolved . A few , however , contrived to escape the great cataclysm of the Reformation , an d these unions , or lodges , taking anew departure about the year 1717 , appeared under a new guise as Masonic bodies . Thus Operative Masonry had almost come to an end , and Speculative ( or Symbolical ) Masonry , with a remnant of the old germs , alone remained .

From this point he branches out into descriptions of Masonry throughout the three Kingdoms . The first reference to a lodge in London appears in an essiy of Sir Richard Steele in 1709 , but we may be quite certain that at this time there must have been many lodges in the Metropolis , as between i 7 ioand 1735 there were numerous references to lodges throughout the British Dominions .

The first naval officer of the United Kingdom who can be identified as a member of the Craft , is Admiral Robert Fairfax , who was admitted into the Fraternity of Freemasons , in the city of York , 1713 , but during the previous 200 years there are many recorded cases of eminent military men becoming Craftsmen .

Chapter ll . is devoted to an account of thc earliest Grand Lodges , which date back only to June , 1717 , the union of the two Grand Lodges of England taking place in 1813 . Lodges were established in British regiments by all the Grand Lodges , as well as by " Mother Kilwinning , " and considerable importance was attached to them , if we may judge from the ceremonies and distinguished personages engaged at their inauguration ; vide the affiliation of a regimental lodge by the Grand Master in Scotland , p . 44 . Several lodges appear to . be able to lay claim to being the first military lodge , as follow : —

"Thc first purely military lodge ( of which any distinct word is forthcoming ) would seem to have been the one originally numbered 51 on the lists , which was established at Gibraltar in 1728 . This however was of a stationary character . " P-3 L r " Thc first warrant creating a travelling lodge of Freemasons , to which the number 11 was subsequently assigned , was issued to the ist Foot , now the Royal Scots , by the Grand Lodge ot Ireland , in 1732 . "

"It was at the recommendation of the 4 th Earl of Kilmarnock , that in 1743 the first military lodge ( under thc Grand Lodge of Scotland ) was erected , the petitioners being some sergeants and sentinels of the 55 th foot , " now the Border Regiment . As will be seen subsequently in speaking of Gibraltar , there are other lodges , that of of St . John in particular , which may claim to having been the earliest military . lodge .

Chapter III . gives interesting , and often very entertaining , anecdotes of the fortunes of naval and military Masons when in the hands of the enemy and elsewhere .

We learn ( p . 56 ) from Lord Wolseley that during the Crimean war Capt . Vaughan , 90 th Foot , was the onl y English officer removed at once from the Redan to the hospital . * ' And this he owed to the fact that he was a Mason . " During the war with Spain ( in 1762 ) an English crew cast on shore near Tarragona , were most kindly treated by the Governor , on finding that the captain of the lost ship was a Freemason ; this so charmed the Governor of Gibraltar that he forthwith released 16 Spaniards belonging to the garrison of Tarragona , and the same night he vas himself made a Mason . Chapter . IV . gives accounts of eminent sailors and soldiers who have been Masons , with anecdotes about tlicm .

Gould's "Military Lodges."*

Admiral Sir William Hewitt , in 1885 , at the annual festival of the Moira Lodge , expressed the benefit he had personally derived from having been admitted a member of the Fraternity , and Admiral Sii Henry Keppel states " that in his opinion Freemasonry did a great deal of good in the Navy , that it was a useful and valuable link between the ollicer and the man , and he had never known an instance when one of the latter class presumed on his Fraternity with one of the former . "

Among eminent soldiers now living we find Lord Wolseley , Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener . ' Chapter V . is devoted to an account of the various military lodges at home and abroad , except in India . " There were lodges in every branch or division of the land service , " Infantry 220 , British and Irish Militia 68 , Cavalry 46 , Artillery

28 , and about 20 others . The greater number of these lod ges ceased to exist when the Army was reduced after 1815 , and others have gradually died out from time to time , until , at the present day , there are six ( not stationary ) under the Irish , and three under the English , obedience . This chapter contains quite a mine of information to those interested in the history of military lodges , and it will not be doing justice to the work to make selections .

I will , therefore , take one military foreign station ( Gibraltar ) as an example of what the military have done in spreading Masonry over the world , but in doing so , I have only available the records of the United Grand Lodge of England , and have no doubt that the Scottish and Irish Grand Lodges also furnished many military lodges there . The oldest Iodge at Gibraltar under the English Constitution was the

Gibraltar Lodge , date of warrant 1725 . In 1765 it was called the St . John ' s Lodge , and in 1785 " the Mother Lodge of St . John . " I suppose it to be the same as the St . John ' s Lodge , No . 115 , Gibraltar , date of warrant 1767 , and meeting at Gibraltar , in 1773 , as the 2 nd Batt . R . A . Lodge , and shown in the records as still meeting at Horse Barrack-lane , in 1881 . It probably was not working for several years in the interval , as from 1859 l ° ' 864 , the Royal Artillery N . C . Os . used to join the Inhabitants Lodge .

Bro . Gould , however , gives ( pp . 30 , 31 , 123 ) as the oldest regimental lodge No . 128 , established in the 39 th Foot by the Grand Lodge of Ireland , so far back as 1742 . Thus the Gibraltar Lodge is said to have been erected in the battalion when forming a part of the garrison daring one of the eventful sieges of the Rock .

It seems then that the 39 th Regiment under the Irish Constitution and 2 nd Battalion Royal Artillery under the English may ea-. h lay claim , not only to being the first military lodge at Gibraltar , but throughout the Army . Thc other military lodges at Gibraltar were—I . Battalion R . A . 1785 to 1826 . 3 . Co . — R . A . 1813 to 1821 .

4 . Bat . — R . A . to 1799 . 1809 to 1827 . 9 . Bat . R . A . 1812 to 1822 . Ordnance Lodge to 1826 . 24 th Regt . 1768 to 1813 . 1 . Bat . 5 th Regt . established at Gibraltar 1812 ( now 1862 ) . 68 . Regt . „ „ 1810 ( now 1844 ) .

During the existence of the greater number of these military lodges there were no civil lodges of the English rites . The first was the Inhabitants Lodge , which was established in 1762 , and was erased and again established 1788 , " in His Majesty ' s Ordnance , in the Garrison of Gibraltar , " it continues to the present day and for many years was entirely in the hands ot the military of the garrison . In 1788 the Lodgeof Friendship was established , and continues to the present day as a civil lodge . Other lodges have been established in Spain from Gibraltar , their positions not known as Masonry was for many years prescribed in that country .

It will be seen from this instance that the military have had a special function to perform , in the early days of our possessions , to carry out Masonry in the military lodges and to establish it there permanently—when once located among the people it was no longer necessary to have ambulatory military lodges , and so they have died out as they were no longer required . Chapter VI . gives an account of military lodges in India , with a most picturesque account of the Earl of Moira and his doings as a Mason . His

interview with the Mason ' s widow is most pathetic . She came to him just as he was starting for India to get her second son , who supported the whole family , off from serving as a soldier . " I cannot help you , " said the Earl , " if your son has been regularly balloted for and drawn in the Militia , he must serve . " " Serve I " exclaimed the poor woman bitterly and vehemently , " Yes , that ' s the

wordserve . ' My three brothers did so , and fell on the field of battle . My father did so , and his bones lie in the sand of E gypt . My husband did so , and fell at Corunna . " On further enquiry it was elicited that her husband had served in the 63 rd regiment under Lord Moira , and was a Mason . A substitute for the woman ' s son was procured , paid for no doubt as the woman conjectured by Lord Moira .

It may be said that India is the only part of the British possessions where ambulatory lodges can be required : we learn " there are many obstacles to the success of Masonry in India , and , perhaps , the chief one is the peculiar nature of the Society there , and its liability to perpetual fluctuation . Most of the lodges are composed chiefly , and some exclusively , of military members , ajl of whom are liable to be removed from particular stations at a moment ' s notice "

It is curious and noteworthy that amid the general devastation which occurred during the Mutiny , the " Masonic temples " in the various cantonments were often left totally uninjured . " The Sepoys understood there was something mysterious transacted there , and that it might not be safe or lucky to interfere with them in any way . There is the same feeling at the present day at Singapore , the lodge was called in Malay the " House of the Ghosts , " and the General Ollicer when he was District Grand Master was often called by the Malays the " Head of the Ghosts . " J

Chapter VII . describes Military Freemasonry on the Continent . During the Peninsular War there were many instances of kindly acts between Masons on either side , but it is feared that Masonry does not now exist in the French Army , for Marshal Soult in 1844 laid down " that it was contrary to the rules of the service for any of the military to become members of the Institution , " In the Prussian Army also the field or garrison lodges are either extinct or havo long ceased to possess any military character .

Chapter VIII . describes Military Masonry in America . "There is abundance of proof to show that while Commander-in-Chief of the American Army , Washington both continued the formation and encouraged the labours of the Army lodges , that he found frequent opportunities to visit them , and that he thought it no degradation to his dignity to stand there on a level with his brethren . "

There is at present in the United States Army General John Corson Smith , who served through all the grades from private soldier to general officer , and has since beon Lieutenant Governor and Grand Master of hi * State . He has eitablishedthc Masonic Veterans' Association of Illinois at Chicago , which at the end of 189 S amounted to over 300 active and 100 honorary members , nearly half of the latter being distinguished Masons of the British Isle > , In June , 1 S 9 S , ha attended the Masonic Commemoration at Ro : hester Cathedral , wne . i tha . vl ! w \ Pro Grand Master was present with members of the Grand Lodge at England .