Freemasonry In The Province Of Norfolk.

Freemasonry in the Province of Norfolk .

VLTHOUGH a Provincial Grand Lodge was not formed in Norfolk until 1759 , Freemasonry bad been flourishing for main years previously . When the Grand Lodge of England extended its embrace , in 1725 , to provincial lodges , there was included in the number of those that were incorporated with it a lodge which had

been meeting at the " Maid's Head" at Norwich . Bro . Hamon Le Strange , writing of these early provincial lodges , * observes that " there is reason to believe that they had existed as independent and autonomous bodies long before a Grand Lodge was thought of . " This was certainly the case

with the " Maid ' s Head" Lodge at Norwich , for the date of its warrant of constitution was 1724 . This warrant , however , only regularised , perhaps , a lodge that had been in existence for some yea : s One contemporary authority states that " about this time ( 1724 ) the Society of Free and Accepted Masons appeared publicly in this city , " and that their lodge was at the "Maid ' s Head . " A collection of

manuscripts belonging to Mr . Walter Rye , of Norwich , styled " Acta Norvicensia , " collected hy W . Massey in 1720 , contains an account of the doings of local Freemasonry , and the following extract from it may be reproduced in order to show the impression gained bv the unitiated of the character of the Craft in those early days : — " Several gentlemen and

respectable tradesmen were made brothers , for that is the appellation they give one another . We know little yet of their design or insliliilcs laiidaiilur ab his , ciilpanlur ab illis . However , I have it from their own mouths very gravely that they have certain signs by which they can know one another

in aiiA' part of Europe without speaking a word . And that the Masters have likewise a peculiar sign to themselves unknown to the junior fellows . When any new member is initiated , he presents all that lodge with a leathern apron and new gloves , which they wear that evening . Perhaps time may

give posterity better information concerning this mysterious brotherhood ! " The same manuscript authorit y recites a satirical song that Avas made upon the Craft , from which

lillO . LOUD . SI . 'I-TIL'LI ) , k ' . C . l ! ., I'A ST J'HOV . ( l . M .

a few stanzas will suffice to illustrate its splenetic character . It is genuinely funny , if coarse : — Good people give ear , And ( he triitli shall appear--We scorn to put any grimace on ; We ' ve been crammed long enough

With ye damn ' cl silly stuff Of a free and an accepted Mason . Willi aprons before ' em For belter decorum , Themselves they employ all their praise on ; In aprons array'd

, Of calves' leather made : True type of an accepted Mason . If on house ne ' er so high , A brother they spy ,

As his trowel he dexlrously lays orr ; He must leave off his work , And come down with a jerk , At the sign of an accepted Mason . Hut a brother , one time . Being hanged for some crime ,

His Brethren did stupidly gaze orr ; They made signs without end , But fast hung their friend , Like a free and air accepted Mason .

It is evident from the foregoing circumstances that the territory comprised in the present Province of Norfolk can boast of a very early introduction of Freemasonry . The earliest-established of the lodges still working in the province is Union Lodge , No . 52 , meeting at Norwich , which was originally warranted in 173 6 , and which , in 1816 , became

amalgamated with a larger but younger lodge , No . 23 6 , then meeting at the Gatehouse , upon Tombland . The latter lodgehad previouslv been numbered 192 . whilst meeting at the Black Horse Inn , and its interesting and curious Masonic seal , used during this period , is still preserved in the Norwich

Museum , and is represented on another page . At the time of the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk , few , if any , provinces were organised , and Bro . Henrv Sadler , in his life of Thomas Dunckerlev , observes that " the good Avork done by him Avas the means

of directing attention to the importance of the office of Provincial Grand Master , for at the time of his appointment ( 176 7 ) , the office was virtually dormant in England , as were also most of those who held it . " Norfolk , however , was a notable exception . At the formation of the province , in 1759 , there were twelve regularly constituted lodges working

in Norwich alone . The Masters and Wardens of those lodges had met in August , 175 8 , and resolved— "That a Provincial Grand Master for this City , the County of Norfolk , and Beccles in Suffolk , would greatly conduce to the benefit of Masonry in general and to the satisfaction of each lodge in particular , and that our worthy Brother , Edward Bacon , Esq ., is a proper person for that important office . "

The project was evidently promoted with much vigour , and Bro . Bacon was appointed first Provincial Grand Master of Norfolk by patent dated 13 th January , 1759 . He AV . IS a man of much popularity in Norfolk , and was descended from Lord Keeper Bacon . Residing at Earlham Hall , in Norwich , he represented King ' s Lynn in Parliament , in 1734 , and after

having sat for Callington and Newport ( Cornwall ) he was elected to succeed Horace Walpole , as Member for Norwich , and represented that city from 1756 to 1784 . His colleague in this position , curiously enough , was Sir Harbord-Harbord , Bart ., an ancestor of the present Lord Suffield , who was , until recently , Provincial Grand Master of Norfolk . Bro .