Recollections Of The Lodge Of Freemasons At Thornhill.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LODGE OF FREEMASONS AT THORNHILL .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 14 , 1866 .

By D . MURRAY LYOX , one of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland . No . II . As the founders of St . John's , No . 252 / have long since left time ' s level , little is known of hoAV

the movement came about which resulted in the planting of the acacia among the villages of Thomhill February 7 , 1814 : the lodge Avas placed on the roll of Daughter Lodges by the " name , stile , and title of St . John ' s Lodge ,

Thomhill ( No . 328 )"—a clause in the charter setting forth that the Grand Lodge of Scotland have in the erection of the Lodge of Thomhill '' assigned , transferred , and made over " to it the dormant Charter No . 256 . Seeing that the

" transference" to Thomhill of the dormant charter here alluded to conferred no special privilege as to precedence , the lodge to Avhich it was given being placed at the bottom of Grand Lodge Eoll , a reason may be asked for the appearance

of the clause in question on the face of what Avas to all intents and purposes a neAV charter . In 1799 an Act was passed for the Suppression of

Secret Societies , and as by the legal construction of certain of its sections Grand Lodges Avere prevented from granting new charters , the Grand Lodge of Scotland , after several ineffectual attempts to have the objectionable clauses

remodelled , agreed in 1806 to adopt the practice of the Grand Lodge of England , viz ., to assign to new lodges the charters of dormant lodges ; but , that no undue preference should be obtained in point of seniority , the dates of such transfers Avere

to be regulated according to the date of the application to Grand Lodge . This arrangement being in force at the period of the Thomhill Lodge ' s erection , accounts for the insertion in its charter of the clause to which Ave have directed attention .

In regard to the original number held by the lodge there is a discrepancy between that noted in its charter and that borne upon the published roll of lodges holding under the Grand Lodge of Scotland—the former showing 328 , and the latter

323 , to have been the original number assigned to Thomhill . No . 328 was subsequently given to St . AndreAV , Glenkindy ( West Province of Aberdeenshire ) , St . John ' s number was afterwards

altered to 256 ( originally assigned to St . John , Muthel ) , and again to 252 , that formerly held by St . Fergus , Wick , expunged from Eoll of Grand Lodge in 1848 . His Eoyal Highness the Prince Regent was

Grand Master and Patron of the Order in Scotland in the year in Avhich St . John ' s was constitutedthe Eight Hon . Robert , Viscount Duncan , whose signature the charter bears , being Acting Grand Master . And it may serve as another landmark to state that the union of the two then

existine-Grand Lodges of England—the " Free and Accepted Masons of England , under the old Institution . " presided over by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent , and the " Free and Accepted Masons under the Constitution of England '"

governed by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex—was consummated on the Festival of St . John the Evangelist immediately preceding the Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication at Avhich the charter to Thomhill Avas granted .

Though , as has been shown , authority for the establishment of the lodge was given in February , 1814 , it Avas not till St . John's Day of the same year that it was formally proclaimed as having been constituted a regular lodge of Free and

Accepted Masons , empowered to exercise all its rights and privileges , agreeably to the tenure of its charter , the laAvs of the Grand Lodge , and the ancient usages of the Fraternity . The lodge does not seem , however , to have been idle during the

period that elapsed between its birth and its confirmation ; for , what with initiations , and the accomplishment of other labour peculiar to its special circumstances , no fewer than fourteen communications were held within the time specified . The Avork of the Middle Chamber was that in

which the lodge was first called to engage—Thomas M'Lachlan and Thomas Dickson , brethren who had under another than the Thomhill charter been conducted to the foot of the Winding Stairs , being the candidates for further instruction in the

Mystic Art . The second and third degrees having , on the evening of the 21 st March , 1814 , been conferred upon the brethren named , the lodge on retiring from the Sanctum was requested to resume the gavel and assist in breaking off the

comers of four rough ashlars which had been presented as fitting material for the builders' use —Thomas M Lean , mason , Gilbert M'Lachlan , mason , Robert Home , carrier , and John Muir , innkeeper , being the first neophytes who Avere