Thomas Dunckerley.

Thomas Dunckerley .

AMONGST the many ardent and earnest supporters of 18 th century Masonry , Thomas Dunckerley stands preeminent ; indeed , so conspicuous was the position which he filled in the ranks of his contemporaries that neither before his time , nor since , has any other person held a similar

one . The romantic story of his parentage having been recently published , it is unnecessary to more than briefly allude to it in this sketch . '' Suffice it to say that he was bom in 1724 , probably at Old Somerset House , in which his mother had apartmentsthis old palace being then a Royal Alms-house

, , or home for distinguished pensioners of the Crown , answering precisely the same purpose as Hampton Court Palace has clone since the rebuilding of Somerset House in 177 6-80 , when the former residents , including Dunckerley-, were removed to Hampton Court .

At a very- early period in life he entered the Royal Navy . According to one account he ran away from school at the age of ten and got on board the ship of Sir John Norris , then going abroad , and from the fact of his mentioning in after life the name of Sir John Norris , or " foul weather Jack , " as he was called by the sailors , as one of the commanders under

whose flag he had sailed , there is probably some truth in the popular account of his first entry into the sea-service of his country . However , it is more with his Masonic career than his naval life that we have now to deal . Of the latter very little is known , except that he served with distinction in many ships , chiefly of the larger class , and that he appears to have

enjoyed the friendship and even intimacy of several of his superior officers , although he himself never attained a higher rank in the service than that of gunner , to which important post he was appointed by warrant at the early age of twentytwo , subsequently serving in the dual capacity of gunner and schoolmaster . He took part in the capture of Louisburg , Cape Breton , in 1758 , and of Quebec in the following year . It was on his return , early in 1760 , from the last-named

important action , which resulted in the permanent overthrow of the French domination in North America , that an event occurred which materially affected his subsequent fortunes . At Portsmouth he received news of the death of his mother only a few clays before his arrival there , and , hastening to London , he was in time to attend her funeral . On the return

of the party to Somerset House , Dunckerley was made the recipient of the death-bed confession of his mother , that the then King of England , George II ., was his father . To use Dunckerley's own words , " this information gave me great surprise and much uneasiness , and as I was obliged to return immediately to my duty on board the Vanguard I

made it known to no person at that time but Captain Swanton . He said that those who did not know me would look on it to be nothing more than a gossip's story . " We were then bound a second time to Quebec , and Captain Swanton did promise me that on our return to England he would endeavour to get me introduced to the King , and that he would give me a character , but when we came back to England the King was dead . "

Dunckerley continued to serve his country until 1764 , when , the war being ended , he was , at the interest of Lord Digby , superannuated . At this time , owing to arrears of pay and domestic afflictions , he was in financial difficulties , and in order to avoid arrest for debt he took a trip as a passenger to the Mediterranean with his friend , the Hon . Captain John Ruthven

, in the Guadaloupe frigate . Meanwhile , Dunckerley appears to have had more than one influential friend at court , amongst others , the celebrated Lord Chesterfield , with whom he appears to have been sufficiently intimate long before the question of his parentage came to the front to warrant his ' writing interesting letters

descriptive of various places which he had , in the course of his voyages , visited . In view of his comparatively humble social position it is not easy to account for this condition of things , except upon the hypothesis that although himself in

ignorance of the peculiar circumstances of his parentage and birth , others in higher places were better informed . At all events , owing to the friendly offices of certain gentlemen about the person of the young King , George III ., his mother ' s confession wasin May-1767 laid before that warm-hearted

, , , monarch , who at once ordered . £ 100 a year to be paid to Dunckerley out of his privy purse , which , after investigation , was materially increased , and , according to his biographer , by the munificence of his Sovereign , the Prince of Wales , and the Duke of York , he was placed in a very comfortable situation .

Amongst the early- Masonic writers and historians it was an open question as to the lodge which had the honour of conferring the light of Masonry on the subject of this sketch . Indeed , it was not until a few years ago that this point was definitely settled by the discovery in the archives of the Grand Lodgeby the compiler of the book before referred

, to , of a letter of Dunckerley ' s , dated December 19 th , 1773 , in which he refers to the Lodge of Antiquity , Portsmouth , as his " Mother Lodge . " From another source we learn that he was initiated in 1754 at the age of thirty .

Notwithstanding the exigencies of the service , Dunckerley entered upon his Masonic life with characteristic energy and enthusiasm . His admission into the Craft was followed in the same year by exaltation in the Royal Arch , and less than three years later ( April , 1757 , ) he delivered a charge at the opening of a new Masonic room at Plymouth . He was the

first to hold a regular lodge under the Union Jack in the broad dominions of Father Neptune , a warrant bearing date 16 th January , 1760 , having been granted to him for a lodge to be held on board the Vanguard . On his appointment to the Prince in the following year he lost no time in applying for a warrant for that ship , which was granted in clue course ,

bearing date , 22 nd May , 1762 . This warrant he took with him on board the Guadaloupe in 1764 , and subsequently worked under it in his private apartments at Somerset House , the lodge hence taking the name of the Somerset House Lodge , under which denomination it united with the Old Horn LodgeNo . 2 in 1774 the united lodges being now on

, , , the register of Grand Lodge as the Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge , X o . 4 . Of the Vanguard Lodge , as a sea lodge , nothing is known from the time of Dunckerley ' s leaving that ship in the latter part of 1761 until it reappears in 1768 as a full blown lodge in London , meeting at the Queen of Bohemia ' s HeadWych StreetSt . Clementsunder

, , , Dunckerley ' s guidance and protection , he being the first R . W . M . after its resuscitation . In 1772 it was removed to the London Coffee House , Ludgate Hill , then kept by one of his most intimate friends , where it remained for about forty years , taking the name which it still bears , the London Lodge , Xo . 1 . 08 , on the Grand Lodge register .

With the exception of the time devoted to legal studies , between 1770 and 1774—he was called to the bar in the year last named—Dunckerley gave his whole time to the best interests of Freemasonry . In addition to the two lodges before mentioned , he joined or became a founder of several others , both in town and Country ; it is , however , as a Provincial

Grand Master and a Superintendent of the Royal Arch that his name is best known in the annals of Masonry . Commencing in Februarys , 1767 , as Prov . Grand Master for Hampshire , he filled the same office with conspicuous ability for the Provinces of Bristol , Dorset , Essex , Gloucester , the Isle of Wight , Hereford , Somerset , Southampton , and

Wiltshire . In addition to being Superintendent of Royal Arch Masonry in the above-named provinces , he filled that office in Cornwall , Devon , Durham , Kent , Xottinghamshire , Suffolk , Surrey , and Sussex , besides being the first Grand Master of the Masonic Knights Templars in England , as well

as the acknowledged head and organizer of that body during his lifetime . Most of these offices he held at the same time , and , indeed , did little but travel about the country impressing on his constituents the necessity of properly conducting their lodges and chapters , subscribing liberally to the Charity Fund of Grand Lodge , the Hall Fund , and the Fund for the support of the Royal Cumberland School , now known as the Royal Masonic Institution lor Girls .