Told By The Lodge Register.

In March , 1771 , there joined Bro . Lord Petre , who was M . W . G . M . 1772—76 , and who had the great honour of laying the foundationstone of Freemasons' Hall in 1775 , and in May of the following year dedicated the building for ever to the purposes of Freemasonry ; his portrait worthily adorns the Hall of Grand Lodge . On thc 10 th April Viscount Wentworth was elected , and during 1772 Lord

Mountgarret . Charles Howard—afterwards Earl of Surrey—and Lord Shuldham . In 1773 , the Earl of Kildare , afterwards Dnke of Loinster—who had been Grand Master of Ireland in 1771 , and was appointed for the second time to the same office in 1778—and Thomas Parker , S . G . W . in 1775 , and Provincial Grand Master of Surrey 1772 to 1795 were elected members , while Bro . Charles

Marsh , who was admitted an honorary member on the 13 th March , 1776 , and served as J . G . W . two years later , was elected on 14 th December , 1774 , and Bro . Geo . Calcraft Hesse . J . G . W . in 1778 , on thc 31 st January , 1776 . Among those admitted in 1779 were Bro . Sherborne Stewart , S . G . W .. 1804 , who succeeded Dunckerley as Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire , and was the

father of the lodge at the Union on 27 th December , 1813 , and the Hon . Edward Butler , who was excluded for non-attendance . In 1781 there were initiated in the lodge Bros . George Beauclerk and James Mcyrick , the latter of whom served as J . G . W . in 17 S 4 , while the joining members include Bro . Sir John St . Aubyn , Bart ., S . G . W . the same year , who was appointed Provincial Grand Master of

Cornwall in 1785 , and Bro . Thomas Fitzherbert , who was S . G . W . in 178 S . In 1782 there joined Lord Stourtou and Bro . II . Crathorne , S . G . W . in 1790 , and in 1782 the Hon . Washington Shirley , S . G . W . in 1783 , and Sir Nicholas Nugent , Bt ., S . G . W . in 1786 ; while in the following year , Bro . Lionel , afterwards Sir Lionel Darell , Bart ., J . G . W . in 1785 , and an ancestor of the present Sir Lionel Darell , Bart ., who was

S . G . D . in 1889 , was elected a joining member . In 1785 the lodge roll was added to considerably , among the brethren admitted members being Bro . George Shum , who was S . G . W . in 1789 , Bro . Edmund Armstrong , J . G . W . 1793 , William Ashe AX'ourt , M . P ., Charles Edward Repington , the Earl of Breadalbane , and Lord Compton .

There are no entries in the Register during the two following years , but in 17 S 8 I find first of all Bro . John Meyrick , who was S . G . W . in 1795 , and was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Surrey the same year ; John Dent , S . G . W . in 1793 , and , if I may hazard a conjecture , the same brother who was appointed Grand Treasurer at the Union , and retained that office till 1826 . He was also Provincial Grand Master of Worcestershire in 1792 . The Hon .

rrancis North was admitted in the same year on the llth December . In 1790 the entries include the Hon . Edward Stopford and John Earner , both of them being initiates , while the latter was S . G . W . in 1798 , and Bro . Thomas Boothby Parkyns , who joined , and was subsequentl y created Lord Ranclilfe . He was a very distinguished brother , who , in 1780 , was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Rutland , in

1 / 83 Provincial Grand Master of Nottinghamshire , and in 1793 Provincial Grand Master of Leicestershire . In 1791 Bro . George Porter , S . G . W . in 1796 , joined , and in March of the following year the Hon . Wm . Fermor . who was S . G . W in 1790 , and the Hon . Alexander Hope were initiated , fn 1793 the Karl of Pom fret , the head of the Fermor family , was initiated , and three years later was appointed Provincial

Grand . Master of Northamptonshire ; while in 1795 Dr ., afterwards Sir John McNainara Hayes , Bart ., who was the first Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire , fo which office he was appointed in the year he joined this lodge , and who was father of thc present Bro . the Rev . Sir John Warren Hayes , Bart ., who was initiated in the Apollo University Lodge of Oxford in 1819 , the year of its

constitution , and was Grand Chaplain of England from 1844 to 1846 , or 45 years ago , and who must be one of the oldest Masons , both as regards age and the period he has been a member of our Society , in England . The prie-Unioii Register closes with the names of Lawrence Bradshaw and Edward Burnaby , the former of whom was

received into the lodge on the llth February , 1796 , and figures on the roll of members at the first closing up of the lodges after the Union , that is . in 1832 . During the period from 1796 to the Union , the Register is a complete blank , but as will be seen from the next , or Part II ., I am fortunately able fo give some idea of those who were received into the lodge in the interval .

PART 11 ,-1814—1832 .

After the Union of the ' Ancient'' and "Modern" Societies of English Freemasons in December , 1813 , and the establishment of the United Grand Lodge of England , a new Register was commenced , and it is from this I have been able to form some idea of the

prosperous condition of the lodge during the period from 1796 to the Union . At the time the schism in English Freemasonry was healed the father of the Lodge of Friendship was Colonel Sherborne

Stewart , who had been admitted a member on the 12 th May , 1779 , and in 1796 had been appointed Provincial Grand Master of Jiampsliire in succession to Bro . Thomas Dunckerley . The Earl of Pomfret and three other brethren who had been received into the lodge before 1797 were also members . Among those who were elected members 'luring the period for which no Register exists in the records of

Grand Lodge , thc first of any importance is Bro . John Bayford , who was elected in 1799 , appointed J . G . W in 1800 , and Grand ' Treasurer from 1805 to 1813 . Then follow the names of several officersgenerals , colonels , majors , ami the like —from which it is evident that

Told By The Lodge Register.

at this epoch in its history the military element very greatly preponderated . Thus in 1800 General G . D . Drummond was admitted , in 1801 General Ponsonby ; in 1802 Colonel John Kelly and General Anson ; in 1803 Colonel Udney ; Major Arthur Gore , who had been S . G . W . in 1797 , and Colonel ' the Hon . James Macdonald ; in 1804 Generals the Hon . John Leslie and Sir W . Sheridan , Bart . ; and in

1805 General the Hon . William Stewart , a son of the Earl of Galloway . But the civilian element was by no means undistinguished , among the non-military members of the years I have just enumerated being Bro . John Skynner , who was J . G . W . in 1816 , and President of tho . Board of General Purposes in 1 S 17 ; Sir Emannel F . Agar , Bart ., and Thomas H . Farqnhar , one of a family of bankers bearing that

name . In March , 1806 , H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex , subsequently M . W . Grand Master , joined , and the month following Bro . W . H . White , who had been initiated in the Lodge of Emulation in March , 1799 , and at the time of joining No . 3—now No . 6—was W . M . of his mother lodge . Bro . White had also been accepted as Grand Steward in 1805 , and served the office of Grand Secretary

conjointly with his father , Bro . William White , from 1810 till the hitter ' s death in May , 1 S 13 , then solely till the Union , and after that event conjointly with Bro . Edwards Harper till 1838 , and then solel y till his resignation in 1856 . In the same year the lodge was joined by Colonels Lord Frederick Bentinck and W . C . Power , and General L . B . Wallis ; while

in 1807 the recruits included Bro . R . F . Farquhar , Governor of the Mauritius , and Colonel W . A . Keate . Among those elected in 1 S 08 were Bros . Sir Thomas H . Apreece , Bart ., Majors Chas . Duke and thc Hon . Alex . Gordon , a younger brother of the late Earl of Aberdeen , who was Foreign Secretary 1841-46 , and Prime Minister 1852-55 ; Col . W . Stothart , and the Marquis of Tweeddale , who

served with distinction in the Peninsular War , was Governor of Madras 1842-48 , and subsequently a Field Marshal , and what is more important to us was Grand Master Mason of Scotland during the years 1818 and 1819 . In 1809 there joined , among others , Bros . M . G . Prcndergast , M . P ., Major Carnac , and General Denzil Onslow ; in 1810 Captain Valentine Jones , Col . Walhouse ,

and the Hon . Archibald Macdonald , S . G . W . in 1816 ; and in 1811 Bros . Sir John Cope , Bart ., Colonel Meyrick Shaw , Stewart Marjoribanks , subsequentl y Member of Parliament , and Captains C . C . Blacket , S . C . Graves , and J . M . * Clements , the most distinguished in his Masonic career of the last group of brethren being Bro . Stewart Marjoribanks , who , if I

remember rightly , was initiated in the Shakespeare Lodge , now No 99 , in the year 1796 , and was a joining member and for a time Deputy Master to the Duke of Sussex in the Royal Al pha Lodge , No . 16 . In 1823 he had the honour of being appointed S . G . W . of England . Seven years later , being a resident in the neighbourhood of Watford , he was elected a joining member of what is now tho

Watford Lodge , and it was by his kind offices that the Duke of Sussex was led to become an honorary member of that lodge . Bro . Marjoribanks , while his health permitted , took a deep interest in the Watford Lodge , and not only presided over it as W . M ., but also rendered it material service in the erection of its hall , and from time to time presented it with some memorial of his goodwill and respect ,

among the presents he thus made it being the sword he had worn as one of the Barons of the Cinque Ports at the coronation of George IV . Bro . Marjoribanks remained a member of this and the Watford Lodge , and not improbabl y of the other lodges with which he was , or may have been , connected until his death in 1865 . In

1878 his nephew , Bro . Sir Dudley Contis Marjoribanks—now Lord Tweedinouth—presented the Watford Lodge with a marble bust of their late member , a vote of thanks to Bro . Sir D . C . Marjoribanks for his handsome gift being unanimously passed at the instance of the present Provincial Grand Master , Bro . Hal soy , M . P ., who was then , and still is , a member of the lodge .

Among those who were admitted in 1 SI 2 were Bros . Colonel Cecil Bishopp , R , A . Crickett , M . P ., C . E . Prescott , and Viscount Pollington , afterwards Earl of Mexborongh , who in 1829 was appointed Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire , and retained the office till his death , in 1860 . In the year of thc Union there wove elected Bros . Captain W . DavisonWelbore

, Ellis , a well-known member of the Stock Exchange , Theodore llooke , who was so notorious for his practical jokes , and who , the Register tells us , was excluded ; W . Willoughby Prescott , S . G . W . in 1817 , and Grand Treasurer from 1826 till his death in 1836 ; Captains Hesketh . Hawkins , and Peters ; John Rainsbottom , M . P ., S . G . W . in 1820 , and for several years Treasurer of the Girls *

School ; ' Money Wigrain , member of the well-known shi pping firm ; and Captain , afterwards Colonel . Thomas Wildman , a very distinguished military officer , and Provincial Grand Master of Nottinghamshire 1823-60 . These arc the more prominent members of whose connection with the lodge there is no doubt , their names being recorded in Grand Lodge Register ; but it is possible , and , indeed , in the highest

degree probable , that it the Register had been complete , I might have been able to cite others who were connected with the lodge and rendered services of greater or less degree to the Craft in this country . The first to be elected a member after the Union was Bro . Lancelot Shiulwell , a barrister , subsequently Viee-Chancellor Sir

Jjancelot fehadwell , who was drowned in the Thames , and whose career was thus prematurely cut short just when it promised to bo still more distinguished . Two months later Bro . Louis Hayes Petit , one of the most generous benefactors to our Schools , aiid Junior Grand Warden in 1818 , was received into the lodge . Among those elected in 1818 were the Hon . Wm . Thomas Twisleton—entered in