The Province Of Hertfordshire.

upon it rather as a Metropolitan conquest , than a county settlement . Bro . Francis Crew , the W . M . designate of the Hereford Lodge , No . 8 49 ( now 403 ) , with his seven co-founders , obtained a warrant from the M . W . G . Master , H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex , dated August 31 st , 182 c } , to found a lodge in

Hert-BRO . PETER CLUTTERBUCK , SECOND AV . M . WATFORD LODGE . No . 1 , DEPUTY PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER , 1 SWI . ford to meet at the Salisbury Arms Hotel on the first Tuesday in every month . No time seems to have been lost in carrying out the object of the warrant , for eight days

afterwards the lodge was consecrated by Bro . John Bott , P . G . D . of England , but appearently in the absence of the Provincial Grand Master , and not improbably without his knowledge . As soon as the W . M . was duly installed , he set to work in a most masterly fashion . On the same clay fifteen

candidates were proposed , balloted for , ejected , and straightway initiated in batches . We do not wonder at the record , that occasionally the lodge was called from labour to refreshment .

Thus , in the county capital , was inaugurated the first lodge of the new regime under more favourable auspices and with a greater promise of success than those previously established in the Masonic Mecca . The second meeting of the lodge in October was the scene of even more strenuous labour , for sixteen candidates for initiation were admitted to

the light of the Order , the most prominent being the second Marquis of Salisbury Bro . Henry Lytton Bulwer , the distinguished diplomatist , who subsequently became Baron Dalling , joined as an initiate , and completed his Masonic Degrees in the lodge .

When the W . M . surrendered his gavel to his successor , the membership had grown to fifty-five—forty initiates in one year . Truly a goodly record for the state of things more than two generations ago . Meanwhile , another part of the county had not been unmindful of the interests of the

Craft . The town of Watford possessed a number of Masons who desired to form themselves into a lodge , and so plant another colony in the province . These placed themselves under the ajgis of the Provincial Grand Master , who presented a petition to the Duke of" Sussex to grant a warrant

for the Bamborough Lodge to be held at the Spread Eagle Inn , in that town . The warrant was granted constituting the Lodge , No . 8 51 , on the Grand Register ( now the Watford Lodge , ^ o . 404 ) . But as the brethren were eager to get to work , and apparently the ways of officials in those days were dilatory , a dispensation or temporary warrant was granted by R . W . Bro .

Harvey , empowering the members to proceed at once to the consecration , which was performed on the 13 th November by Bro . Thomas Cant , the senior Past Master present , as he is described in the minutes . Bro . G . Beattie was duly installed as first Worshipful Master . The Grand Lodge Warrant is dated October 1829 , but it must have been issued later , as

, the place of meeting mentioned in it is tiie Assembly Rooms , whither the lodge moved in the following January . The da } - of consecration was one of hard work , for eleven candidates were balloted for , and initiated . Though this was not so severe a ordeal as that of the sister lodge the record

was longer , the lodge being adjourned to the following Tuesday , when five more candidates were admitted , and a further adjourned lodge was held on the Friday following , at which four more candidates became Free and Accepted Masons ; the lodge was then duly and formally closed

afterhaving been in operation for eight clays . Several lodges of emergency seem to have been necessary to get through the work . A regular meeting of the lodge was held on Good Friday , and the following probably unique entry was made in the minutes : — "To give the brethren an

opportunity of going to church , the lodge was adjourned until one p . m . " When they met again the Lectures in the three Degrees were delivered by some visiting brethren , evidently to the satisfaction of the members of the lodge , for the visitors were then and there made honorary members .

Before the close of Bro . Beattie ' s year a distinguished Mason had joined the lodge , Bro . Stewart Marjoribanks , M . P ., G . S . W . of England , a persona grata to the Most Worshipful Grand Master . In an interview with His Royal Highnessagain we quote the minutes— " he had represented to him how much pleased he had felt in joining so numerous and

respectable a lodge as ours , on which occasion His Royal Highness was most graciously pleased to say that he would become an honorary member , it not being customary to ballot for a member of the Royal Family . " That intention was carried into effect , for an intimation

from the Grand Secretary was received stating that the Duke of Sussex had allowed his name to be enrolled as a member of the Bamborough Lodge . On the occasion of the installation of Bro . Peter Clutterbuck , the second Master , the R . W .

THE SECOXll MAI !( , 1 UIS ( IV KALI 'SUCH V , H . SV . PROV . GRAND -MASTER , ]« : i : ) -ll . Bro . Harvey held his first and only Provincial Grand Lodge at Watford , when the newly-installed Master was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master , and the two lodges furnished an equal quota of Provincial Officers .