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Article FREEMASONRY IN 1886. ← Page 3 of 4 Article FREEMASONRY IN 1886. Page 3 of 4 →
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Freemasonry In 1886.
different Templar organisations , taken together , muster considerably over 60 , 000 members . But we are the reverse of dissatisfied with the position of the Order in this country , and we should certainly regret if any attempts were made to ensure for its proceedings such an amount of publicity , as it appears to enjoy in the United States . The Order of Rome and the Red Cross of Constantine seems also to be making its way quietly . A new
conclave has been established at Greenwich , and , speaking generally , where there was lethargy a short while since , there is now a marked revival of activity . As to the Allied Masonic Degrees , the Royal and Select Masters , and the Rosicrucian Society , they seem to have for the most part shared in the general prosperity of Freemasonry . Their field of operations is somewhat limited , but they are well-ordered , and what they do merits the success which has almost invariably attended them .
OUR INSTITUTIONS . There is good reason for congratulating ourselves on the measure of support which the Craft has extended towards our central Charitable Institutions . The subscriptions may not quite have reached the figures of the previous year , but the falling off has not been such as many had good grounds for anticipating from the unsettled position of our political and
commercial affairs . Stagnation in trade and a political crisis , followed by a General Election , are not calculated to assist Institutions which depend for support almost entirely on voluntary contributions . Bad trade lessens our means of giving , and Elections divert a large proportion of what remains into unusual channels . Yet in spite of the commercial depression , prevailing during the greater part of the year , and the excitement and outlay
necessarily involved in electing a new House of Commons , the totals of the three Festival Returns amount together to very little short of £ 41 , 000 , the Benevolent Institution heading the list with £ 15 , 000 , the Girls' School following with some £ 13 , 050 , and the Boys' School bring up the rear with £ 12 , 700 . The total for the three in 1885 , omitting a kind of supplementary
Festival connected with the laying of the memorial stone of the new buildings of the Boys' School , was , in round figures , some £ 42 , 000 . We may comfort ourselves with the assurance that the difference in amount between the totals of the two years is , under the circumstances , insignificant . There are few people who would have set the probable diminution in receipts through bad trade and political excitement at so low a figure as £ 1000 .
Taking the three Institutions separately , the R . M . Benevolent Institution , which takes the lead in celebrating its anniversary , and has fared the best of all , was supported in February to the extent of £ 15 , , the Marquis of Hertford , S . G . W . of England , being in the chair , and the Board of Stewards which assisted him 276 strong . The result was all the more satisfactory because most people had expected that the falling off , as
compared with the total of 18 S 5 , would have reached to between £ 4000 and £ 5000 , instead of being only about £ 2770 . Unfortunately the return was not such as to justify the Committee of Management in recommending any increase in the number of annuitants , especially on the Widows' Fund , on whose resources the pressure at the time was—and we regret to say still ismost terrible . Thus , when the election came on in May 24 men out of 58
were elected on the Male Fund , and 11 women out of 71 on the Widows ' Fund , the three deferred annuitants in each case being included . Consequently there were left over for the election in 1887 close on too candidates —34 men and 60 widows—and before the year is out it is almost certain this list will be increased by some 50 per cent . —a lamentable state of things
in the case of any one of our Institutions , but particularly as regards this , because the applicants are all of them advanced in years as well as reduced in circumstances . We sincerely hope that as there has been this year a falling off of between £ 2700 and £ 2800 , so in 1887 there may be an increase corresponding in amount , and the Committee be thereby enabled to enlarge the number of annuitants .
The Festival of the Girls' School was held in May , with Bro . General Brownrigg , Prov . G . M . of Surrey , in the chair . There were 274 brethren on the Board of Stewards , and the amount they succeeded in raising amongst them was £ 13 , 029 . This , in reality , is about the same as was obtained in 1885 , the " Sir Henry Edwards Presentation" of £ 1050 forming part of the £ 14 , 188 announced at the table by the Secretary , Bro .
Hedges . Here , again , however , we could have wished the total had been larger , and for this reason . The Court of Governors , on the recommendation of the House Committee , had not long previously authorised the expenditure of £ 5700 in purchasing certain land adjoining the School at Battersea-rise , and a further outlay of some £ 1300 for gates , lodges , boundary-wall , & c , had become necessary . In other words , the regular expenditure of the year
had been increased by some £ 7000 , and the more of this outlay was defrayed out of Festival receipts , the less would be the drain on the permanent resources of the Charity . Apart from this consideration , however , we must congratulate the authorities on having obtained so excellent a result . As regards the conduct of the School , nothing could have been better . The pupils who submitted themselves as candidates at the Local Middle Class
Examinations were nearly all successful , and the high character of the Institution has thus been well maintained . It is true that the loss sustained through the death of Miss Jarwood , who , as pupil , governess , assistant matron , and matron successively , had spent nearly the whole of her long and active life in the School , has been the subject of very general sorrow . But the influence of her government will be felt for years to come , while her name
will be always remembered with respect by succeeding generations of pupils . Moreover , if Miss Jarwood has gone , there still remains her able coadjutor in the work of education ( Miss Davis ) , who has held the position of head governess for a quarter of a century , and to whom , in consideration of that circumstance , a testimonial will be presented at an early date , in order that the Craft may have the opportunity of signalising its appreciation both of
the ability she has shown in fulfilling her duties and the success which has resulted from her instruction . The Boys'School Festival was held towards the close of June , in the Dome of the Royal Pavilion , Brighton , Bro . Lord Suffield , Prov . G . Master of Norfolk , being the Chairman , the | Board of Stewards being 280 strong , and the total of their subscription lists not far short of £ 12 , 700 . In this
instance , we confess to having been both surprised and disappointed—disappointed because we had certainly looked for an increase of support more nearly commensurate with the pressing needs of the School ; and surprised , because while the Stewards were more numerous , the average of their returns was low . However , it is not difficult to understand why the amount
realised was not more considerable . The country was at the time in the turmoil of the Parliamentary Election , and people were thinking more about the rival claims of Conservatives and Liberals than of the needs of our Boys' School at Wood Green . Had it not been for this , we should probably have been in a position to congratulate Bro . Binckes on a still more substan-
Freemasonry In 1886.
tial total . However , it may be that matters will improve in the coming year and it certainl y is most desirable the tendency as regards the funds needed to support this Institution should be upwards instead of downwards . The Preparatory School was opened in January and 20 additional boys have been placed on the roll , so that the number of pupils educated and maintained at Wood Green is now 250 as against 215 in 1885 . This is a very
substantial increase , and one that cannot be maintained unless the money is forthcoming in an increased proportion . That the Institution deserves to be well supported is shown by the continued successes achieved at the Cambridge Middle-class Examinations , the whole of the boys who went up for examination in December , 1885 , having passed , the greater number of them with honours .
PROVINCIAL AND OTHER CHARITABLE ASSOCIATIONS . _ The Associations which may be grouped together under this head are principally of two kinds . There are the Provincial Charitable Associations , like those of the two Lancashires and Cheshire , which devote their means to educating and advancing the children of deceased or distressed brethren , and voting sums in relief of poor Masons and their widows ; and there are
the Associations which enable brethren of moderate means to become Life-Governors or Life-Subscribers by spreading the amount necessary to confer one or other of those qualifications over a period of several months . Both classes are invaluable as regards the help they render . The former relieve the central Charities of a considerable amount of pressure , while the latter are the means of raising very considerable amounts , which , as they are the
aggregate of still smaller sums , might or would not otherwise be subscribed . The best known among those which do the work of educating or relieving out of their own funds are the several organisations of West Lancashire , and those of Cheshire , East Lancashire , Devonshire , & c . As regards the other class of Association—those which raise large sums by means of small periodical subscriptions and then hand them over to the Institutions—a
large number of provinces can now boast of something ot the kind , and the list is continually increasing . In London many of our lodges and lodges of instruction organise similar associations , and , as the cost of management is always small , we trust the system will remain in force for many years . There are not a few Life-Governors of our Institutions who might have had some difficulty in paying down ten guineas in one sum , but who have
all the same rights and -p-riv-A-eges as their wealthier brethren by adopting the simpler system of payment by small instalments spread over a period of time more or less prolonged . During the year now ending these two classes of Associations have been maintained vigorously , and the help they have given must have been very gratifying to the Secretaries of the two Schools and the Benevolent Institution .
BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE . There has been no evidence during the year of any diminution of the pressure of which notice was taken in our last year ' s summary . On the contrary , the number of applicants has been quite as large , and the aggregate of the grants made to them as considerable . The cases relieved and the sums awarded for each of the twelve months are as follow * . —In
December , 1885 , 47 cases , amount £ 1512 ; January , 1886 , 27 cases , amount £ 715 ; February , 34 cases , amount £ 1015 ; March , 50 cases , amount £ 1071 ; April , 40 cases , amount £ 925 ; May , 33 cases , amount £ 875 ; June , 33 cases , amount £ 895 ; July , 22 cases , amount £ 760 ; August , 14 cases , amount £ 480 ; September , 16 cases , amount £ 500 ; October , 29 cases , amount £ 940 ; November , 41 cases , amount £ 1060 . Total for the whole
period 386 cases , amount £ 10 , 618 . The return for the corresponding period last year was 378 cases , relieved with sums ranging from £ 3 and upwards , amounting to £ 9 , 468 . This represents the work done by the Board . As to its constitution there has been one important change . Bro . Joshua Nunn , who had taken a leading part in its deliberations , either as Vice-President or President for some 16 years , died somewhat unexpectedly in the autumn ,
to the unfeigned regret of the whole English Cralt , but especially of the brethren associated with him in the trying work which devolves upon the administrators of our Fund of Benevolence . He succeeded a kind yet firm distributor of its moneys—Bro . J . Moxon Clabon—who had secured to himself the respect of his associates . Yet under Bro . Nunn ' s guidance the Board maintained its high character for a wise and tender discrimination in
relieving distress , and at the meeting next ensuing after his death , the brethren made a point of recording on their minutes a resolution , not only of sympathy with his family , but expressing their high sense of his worth . Nor is the loss we have sustained quite without some compensating benefit which makes it less difficult for us to bear . The step taken by the Grand Master in enrolling the President of the Board amongst the officers of Grand Lodge , and
assigning him rank next after Past Grand Secretaries , will confer additional dignity on the Board , and secure for its labours a far larger share of respect Not that any such increase of dignity was at all necessary in order to secure respect from the general body of English Freemasons for the decisions of the Board—that it already enjoyed to the fullest extent , the cases in which Grand Lodge has thought fit to revise the recommendations of
its Charity Committee being unusually rare . But with a brother presiding over it who is ex-officio a Grand Officer , the Board will be sure to find its position strengthened , especially if all future presidents possess in an equal degree the sterling qualities of Bro . Robert Grey , P . G . D ., whom his Royal Highness has selected as the first occupant of the office under the
altered state of circumstances . There is only one other matter that calls for any expression of opinion . We consider it was ill-advised on the part of any one to propose in Grand Lodge that the annuitants of the Benevolent Institution should be excluded from a participation in the benefits of the Fund of Benevolence , and we are glad that Grand Lodge so summarily rejected the proposal .
MASONIC LITERATURE . There is little to be said under this head , but that little is most creditable . The number of Masonic works published during the year has been smaller than we have known it for some time past , but there is compensation for his paucity of publications in the unrivalled excellence of the one great work of the year—we allude , of course , to the "Masonic Records "
of Bro . John Lane , of Torquay , which is dedicated by permission to H . R . H . the Grand Master , and which has appeared so recently that even now the review of its contents in the pages ol this journal is still incomplete . It is our firm belief that this work of Bro . Lane ' s will remain always the guide to all brethren who may endeavour to follow the ramifications of
English Masonry from 1717 onwards . Il has taken years to compile , and if there are any shortcomings to be detected in it , they are due , not to any carelessness or want of judgment on the part of the author , but to the inherent difficulty of the task he proposed to himself—a difficulty mainly caused by the lack of material from which to obtain the desired information ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In 1886.
different Templar organisations , taken together , muster considerably over 60 , 000 members . But we are the reverse of dissatisfied with the position of the Order in this country , and we should certainly regret if any attempts were made to ensure for its proceedings such an amount of publicity , as it appears to enjoy in the United States . The Order of Rome and the Red Cross of Constantine seems also to be making its way quietly . A new
conclave has been established at Greenwich , and , speaking generally , where there was lethargy a short while since , there is now a marked revival of activity . As to the Allied Masonic Degrees , the Royal and Select Masters , and the Rosicrucian Society , they seem to have for the most part shared in the general prosperity of Freemasonry . Their field of operations is somewhat limited , but they are well-ordered , and what they do merits the success which has almost invariably attended them .
OUR INSTITUTIONS . There is good reason for congratulating ourselves on the measure of support which the Craft has extended towards our central Charitable Institutions . The subscriptions may not quite have reached the figures of the previous year , but the falling off has not been such as many had good grounds for anticipating from the unsettled position of our political and
commercial affairs . Stagnation in trade and a political crisis , followed by a General Election , are not calculated to assist Institutions which depend for support almost entirely on voluntary contributions . Bad trade lessens our means of giving , and Elections divert a large proportion of what remains into unusual channels . Yet in spite of the commercial depression , prevailing during the greater part of the year , and the excitement and outlay
necessarily involved in electing a new House of Commons , the totals of the three Festival Returns amount together to very little short of £ 41 , 000 , the Benevolent Institution heading the list with £ 15 , 000 , the Girls' School following with some £ 13 , 050 , and the Boys' School bring up the rear with £ 12 , 700 . The total for the three in 1885 , omitting a kind of supplementary
Festival connected with the laying of the memorial stone of the new buildings of the Boys' School , was , in round figures , some £ 42 , 000 . We may comfort ourselves with the assurance that the difference in amount between the totals of the two years is , under the circumstances , insignificant . There are few people who would have set the probable diminution in receipts through bad trade and political excitement at so low a figure as £ 1000 .
Taking the three Institutions separately , the R . M . Benevolent Institution , which takes the lead in celebrating its anniversary , and has fared the best of all , was supported in February to the extent of £ 15 , , the Marquis of Hertford , S . G . W . of England , being in the chair , and the Board of Stewards which assisted him 276 strong . The result was all the more satisfactory because most people had expected that the falling off , as
compared with the total of 18 S 5 , would have reached to between £ 4000 and £ 5000 , instead of being only about £ 2770 . Unfortunately the return was not such as to justify the Committee of Management in recommending any increase in the number of annuitants , especially on the Widows' Fund , on whose resources the pressure at the time was—and we regret to say still ismost terrible . Thus , when the election came on in May 24 men out of 58
were elected on the Male Fund , and 11 women out of 71 on the Widows ' Fund , the three deferred annuitants in each case being included . Consequently there were left over for the election in 1887 close on too candidates —34 men and 60 widows—and before the year is out it is almost certain this list will be increased by some 50 per cent . —a lamentable state of things
in the case of any one of our Institutions , but particularly as regards this , because the applicants are all of them advanced in years as well as reduced in circumstances . We sincerely hope that as there has been this year a falling off of between £ 2700 and £ 2800 , so in 1887 there may be an increase corresponding in amount , and the Committee be thereby enabled to enlarge the number of annuitants .
The Festival of the Girls' School was held in May , with Bro . General Brownrigg , Prov . G . M . of Surrey , in the chair . There were 274 brethren on the Board of Stewards , and the amount they succeeded in raising amongst them was £ 13 , 029 . This , in reality , is about the same as was obtained in 1885 , the " Sir Henry Edwards Presentation" of £ 1050 forming part of the £ 14 , 188 announced at the table by the Secretary , Bro .
Hedges . Here , again , however , we could have wished the total had been larger , and for this reason . The Court of Governors , on the recommendation of the House Committee , had not long previously authorised the expenditure of £ 5700 in purchasing certain land adjoining the School at Battersea-rise , and a further outlay of some £ 1300 for gates , lodges , boundary-wall , & c , had become necessary . In other words , the regular expenditure of the year
had been increased by some £ 7000 , and the more of this outlay was defrayed out of Festival receipts , the less would be the drain on the permanent resources of the Charity . Apart from this consideration , however , we must congratulate the authorities on having obtained so excellent a result . As regards the conduct of the School , nothing could have been better . The pupils who submitted themselves as candidates at the Local Middle Class
Examinations were nearly all successful , and the high character of the Institution has thus been well maintained . It is true that the loss sustained through the death of Miss Jarwood , who , as pupil , governess , assistant matron , and matron successively , had spent nearly the whole of her long and active life in the School , has been the subject of very general sorrow . But the influence of her government will be felt for years to come , while her name
will be always remembered with respect by succeeding generations of pupils . Moreover , if Miss Jarwood has gone , there still remains her able coadjutor in the work of education ( Miss Davis ) , who has held the position of head governess for a quarter of a century , and to whom , in consideration of that circumstance , a testimonial will be presented at an early date , in order that the Craft may have the opportunity of signalising its appreciation both of
the ability she has shown in fulfilling her duties and the success which has resulted from her instruction . The Boys'School Festival was held towards the close of June , in the Dome of the Royal Pavilion , Brighton , Bro . Lord Suffield , Prov . G . Master of Norfolk , being the Chairman , the | Board of Stewards being 280 strong , and the total of their subscription lists not far short of £ 12 , 700 . In this
instance , we confess to having been both surprised and disappointed—disappointed because we had certainly looked for an increase of support more nearly commensurate with the pressing needs of the School ; and surprised , because while the Stewards were more numerous , the average of their returns was low . However , it is not difficult to understand why the amount
realised was not more considerable . The country was at the time in the turmoil of the Parliamentary Election , and people were thinking more about the rival claims of Conservatives and Liberals than of the needs of our Boys' School at Wood Green . Had it not been for this , we should probably have been in a position to congratulate Bro . Binckes on a still more substan-
Freemasonry In 1886.
tial total . However , it may be that matters will improve in the coming year and it certainl y is most desirable the tendency as regards the funds needed to support this Institution should be upwards instead of downwards . The Preparatory School was opened in January and 20 additional boys have been placed on the roll , so that the number of pupils educated and maintained at Wood Green is now 250 as against 215 in 1885 . This is a very
substantial increase , and one that cannot be maintained unless the money is forthcoming in an increased proportion . That the Institution deserves to be well supported is shown by the continued successes achieved at the Cambridge Middle-class Examinations , the whole of the boys who went up for examination in December , 1885 , having passed , the greater number of them with honours .
PROVINCIAL AND OTHER CHARITABLE ASSOCIATIONS . _ The Associations which may be grouped together under this head are principally of two kinds . There are the Provincial Charitable Associations , like those of the two Lancashires and Cheshire , which devote their means to educating and advancing the children of deceased or distressed brethren , and voting sums in relief of poor Masons and their widows ; and there are
the Associations which enable brethren of moderate means to become Life-Governors or Life-Subscribers by spreading the amount necessary to confer one or other of those qualifications over a period of several months . Both classes are invaluable as regards the help they render . The former relieve the central Charities of a considerable amount of pressure , while the latter are the means of raising very considerable amounts , which , as they are the
aggregate of still smaller sums , might or would not otherwise be subscribed . The best known among those which do the work of educating or relieving out of their own funds are the several organisations of West Lancashire , and those of Cheshire , East Lancashire , Devonshire , & c . As regards the other class of Association—those which raise large sums by means of small periodical subscriptions and then hand them over to the Institutions—a
large number of provinces can now boast of something ot the kind , and the list is continually increasing . In London many of our lodges and lodges of instruction organise similar associations , and , as the cost of management is always small , we trust the system will remain in force for many years . There are not a few Life-Governors of our Institutions who might have had some difficulty in paying down ten guineas in one sum , but who have
all the same rights and -p-riv-A-eges as their wealthier brethren by adopting the simpler system of payment by small instalments spread over a period of time more or less prolonged . During the year now ending these two classes of Associations have been maintained vigorously , and the help they have given must have been very gratifying to the Secretaries of the two Schools and the Benevolent Institution .
BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE . There has been no evidence during the year of any diminution of the pressure of which notice was taken in our last year ' s summary . On the contrary , the number of applicants has been quite as large , and the aggregate of the grants made to them as considerable . The cases relieved and the sums awarded for each of the twelve months are as follow * . —In
December , 1885 , 47 cases , amount £ 1512 ; January , 1886 , 27 cases , amount £ 715 ; February , 34 cases , amount £ 1015 ; March , 50 cases , amount £ 1071 ; April , 40 cases , amount £ 925 ; May , 33 cases , amount £ 875 ; June , 33 cases , amount £ 895 ; July , 22 cases , amount £ 760 ; August , 14 cases , amount £ 480 ; September , 16 cases , amount £ 500 ; October , 29 cases , amount £ 940 ; November , 41 cases , amount £ 1060 . Total for the whole
period 386 cases , amount £ 10 , 618 . The return for the corresponding period last year was 378 cases , relieved with sums ranging from £ 3 and upwards , amounting to £ 9 , 468 . This represents the work done by the Board . As to its constitution there has been one important change . Bro . Joshua Nunn , who had taken a leading part in its deliberations , either as Vice-President or President for some 16 years , died somewhat unexpectedly in the autumn ,
to the unfeigned regret of the whole English Cralt , but especially of the brethren associated with him in the trying work which devolves upon the administrators of our Fund of Benevolence . He succeeded a kind yet firm distributor of its moneys—Bro . J . Moxon Clabon—who had secured to himself the respect of his associates . Yet under Bro . Nunn ' s guidance the Board maintained its high character for a wise and tender discrimination in
relieving distress , and at the meeting next ensuing after his death , the brethren made a point of recording on their minutes a resolution , not only of sympathy with his family , but expressing their high sense of his worth . Nor is the loss we have sustained quite without some compensating benefit which makes it less difficult for us to bear . The step taken by the Grand Master in enrolling the President of the Board amongst the officers of Grand Lodge , and
assigning him rank next after Past Grand Secretaries , will confer additional dignity on the Board , and secure for its labours a far larger share of respect Not that any such increase of dignity was at all necessary in order to secure respect from the general body of English Freemasons for the decisions of the Board—that it already enjoyed to the fullest extent , the cases in which Grand Lodge has thought fit to revise the recommendations of
its Charity Committee being unusually rare . But with a brother presiding over it who is ex-officio a Grand Officer , the Board will be sure to find its position strengthened , especially if all future presidents possess in an equal degree the sterling qualities of Bro . Robert Grey , P . G . D ., whom his Royal Highness has selected as the first occupant of the office under the
altered state of circumstances . There is only one other matter that calls for any expression of opinion . We consider it was ill-advised on the part of any one to propose in Grand Lodge that the annuitants of the Benevolent Institution should be excluded from a participation in the benefits of the Fund of Benevolence , and we are glad that Grand Lodge so summarily rejected the proposal .
MASONIC LITERATURE . There is little to be said under this head , but that little is most creditable . The number of Masonic works published during the year has been smaller than we have known it for some time past , but there is compensation for his paucity of publications in the unrivalled excellence of the one great work of the year—we allude , of course , to the "Masonic Records "
of Bro . John Lane , of Torquay , which is dedicated by permission to H . R . H . the Grand Master , and which has appeared so recently that even now the review of its contents in the pages ol this journal is still incomplete . It is our firm belief that this work of Bro . Lane ' s will remain always the guide to all brethren who may endeavour to follow the ramifications of
English Masonry from 1717 onwards . Il has taken years to compile , and if there are any shortcomings to be detected in it , they are due , not to any carelessness or want of judgment on the part of the author , but to the inherent difficulty of the task he proposed to himself—a difficulty mainly caused by the lack of material from which to obtain the desired information ,