The Province Of Gloucestershire.

medal by Grand Lodge in grateful recognition of its assistance . History does not relate Avhether the loan Avas ever repaid . It probably Avas converted b y force of circumstances into a donation .

W . IJRO . . TAJIKS U . AVIXTFRIJOTIIAM , P . G . D . KXGLAXD , PRO \ . GRAXD SKCRKTAHY .

The month of October in the folloAving year , ijbo , marks the birth of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire . In that month Bro . Dunckei'ley Avrote to the Royal Gloucester Lodge , informing the members that the Grand Master , the Duke of Cumberland , had issued to him a

new patent , in which the County of Gloucester and the City and County of Bristol Avere made separate independent provinces . He accordingly appointed all the Provincial Grand Officers and SteAvards for the IICAV Province of Gloucestershire from the Royal Gloucester Lodge , thereby

again sliOAving his partiality for that lodge , and in a manner more agreeable to the brethren than on the occasion previously alluded to . The Lodge of Jehosaphat seems to have been entirely ignored . The officers he appointed Avere Prov . S . G . W ., Bro . Thomas Woore ; Prov . J . G . W ., Bro . Thomas

Pruen ; Prov . G . Sec , Bro . Charles Evans ; and Prov . G . Treas ., Bro . Charles Elmes ; with twelve Provincial Grand Stewards . These Avere all the officers the Prov . Grand Master thought it

necessary to appoint in those davs . It will be observed that no mention is made of a Deputy Provincial Grand Master among the officers named . This officer was nominated and recommended by the Royal Gloucester Lodge to the Provincial Grand Master , Avho specially requested the brethren

to do this . It is recorded that Bro . Skipp Avas the first Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the Province . Contrary to our modern experience the Deputy Provincial Grand Master does not seem to have given satisfaction to his chief , for a few years later Ave find the latter complaining

that his Deputy did not write to him . Perhaps this was not altogether the fault of Bro . Skipp , for our Provincial Grand Master Avas no ordinary letter writer himself , and , being of a careful mind , had been known to economise to such an extent that , on one occasion , his

official communication to the province was written on a strip cut off the bottom of one of the Grand Lodge communications . It may Avell have been that some such missive

never reached his deputy ' s hands , in those dark ages of the Post Office , Avhich would account for his not receiving the reply he evidently expected . In 178 9 the number of lodges over Avhich Bro . Dtinckerlev presided as Prov . Grand Master of Gloucestershire Avas

increased to three by the advent of the Royal York Lodge , established in that year at Minchinhamplon Avith the number 455 . This lodge subsequently migrated to Stroud , Avhere it met at the "Green Dragon , " but it does not seem to have been happy there , and so returned to its old quarters

at the Salutation Inn at Minchinhampton , Avhere it appears to have died of inanition shortly afterwards . In the year 179 8 the office of Provincial Grand Master fell vacant from some cause or other , probably by the death of Bro . Dunckerley . It is someAvhat of a surprise to our

modern ideas to learn that the nomination of a new Prov . Grand Master Avas undertaken by the Royal Gloucester Lodge . Their choice fell upon the then Marquess of

Worcester , afterAvards sixth Duke of Beaufort . Not being quite sure Avhether he Avas a Mason or not they wrote to his father to enquire if he Avas , and if so Avhether he Avould accept the appointment . The ansAver to each question being in the affirmative , the nomination was referred to Grand

Lodge and duly confirmed . Before the Marquess ' s installation , howeA'er , it Avas discovered that he Avas only an E . A . He had consequently to be made an M . M ., Avhich Avas clone on the same clay that he Avas installed , but previous to the installation . The onl y lodge represented on the occasion Avas the

Royal Gloucester Lodge . It is recorded that Bro . Robert Morris Avas the Deputy Provincial Grand Master at that time . Freemasonry can scarcely be said to have nourished in the Province of Gloucestershire during the early years of the reign of the sixth Duke of Beaufort as Provincial Grand

Master , and friction arose from time to time betAveen the lodges of the " Moderns , " over Avhich he ruled , and the Royal Lebanon Lodge , Avhich belonged to the opposite camp

W . liliO . M . la . KVANS , PROV . ASSISTANT GRAND SKCIlKTAIlY . ( 1 'lwln ElilrVorlniil ('» . ) of the Athol Grand Lodge and had been founded on the 13 th January , 1 799 , to meet at the Booth Hall , Gloucester , This lodge did not , of course , acknowledge or recognise any jurisdiction in the Duke of Beaufort . In the year 1802