Knights Templar.

fuller meeting , and should now only make a few appointments to office , as many Avhom he wished to appoint were absent . The folloAving were then duly installed : —Sir Knts . Swain , 1 st Capt . ; E . T . AA ' arry , ' 2 nd Capfc . ; AVeir , Treasurer ; Hood , Almoner ; Prior , Herald . The encampment , was then closed , ancl the knights separated , purposing to ineefc again afc an early clay which should he aonvenient to the majority .

Mark Masonry.

MARK MASONRY .

YORKSHIRE ( AVEST ) . SHEFFIELD . —Britannia Lodge ( No . 55 ) . —The monthly meeting of this lodge took place in the Music Hall on Friday , the 12 th inst ., fche AV . M ., Bro . AVm . AVhite , jun ., in the chair . The loclge having been o * -ened in form , and the minutes of the hist meeting read and confirmed , Bro . Thos . Turlon , J . D . of No . 162 , and Bro . Ambrose Moore , of No . 236 , ivere properly advanced , according to ancient form , to this honourable degree . Several candidates were then proposed , and the lodge ivas closed .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . GENERAL HENRY CHARLES EDAVARD VERNON , OF HILTON PARK , COUNTY STAFFORD , COMPANION OF THE BATH . General Vernon , who died on 22 nd March last , had attained the advanced age of 81 years , having been born 2 Sth September , 1779 . A notice of his distinguished career will not only appropriately appear hereas of one ivho had been a brother for the long

, space of sixty years , but as ol a man—perhaps the only one—ivho coulcl boast that , of his only three sons , two were Provincial Grand Masters , and one a Knight Templar . General A ' ernon was father of the present R . AV . Prov . G . Ms , for Staffordshire and Worcestershire , both of whom are also P . G . Commanders of Kni ghts Templar , and members of the Supreme Grand Council 33 ' - ' , nd his second son , Bro . AV . F . A ' ernon , of Ifarefield Park , is

P . M . and Knfc . Templar . Bro . General A ' ernon entered the army in 1798 , as Cornet in the 10 th Hussars ( then the lOfch Light Dragoons ) , when that celebrated regiment was commanded by King George IA ., then Prince of AA'ales . He served in this and . other regiments in England and Ireland till 1808 , when he ivas appointed D . A . A . General to the army of Sir John Moore , and proceeded to Lisbon , ivhere he continued some time in that capacity . He joined the main army in

Spain , 27 th July , 1809 , the clay before Tulavcra , taking the important intelligence that Soult was between Coria and Placentia , and the Lighfc Division two marches iu advance . He was present at Talavera , and afterwards at Badnjos and Almeida , after which he was ordered to England , invalided . On his return he obtained bis majority in the 66 th ( 13 th June , 1 S 11 ) , in General Hill ' s Division , taking part in all their operations , and at the Battle of Arroyo-Molines , ivhere the English lost 2000 prisoners . On the 5 th March ,

1812 , Bro . A ernon was gazetted Major in the 2 nd Queen's , and proceeded north , under General Clinton , ancl was present , 17 th June , at the attack on the Forts of Salamanca . On the 22 nd July following , he commanded the Light Companies ofthe Gth Division at the Buttle of Salamanca , and on Colonel Kingsbury's beingtaken disabled from the field , the command of the Queen ' s also devolved upon him . The importance of Bro . Vernon ' s services at Salamanca ( for ivhich he received the Gold Medal ) be best

, may judged from the fact of the Duke of AVellington attributing the ultimate success of that memorable victory to the conduct of this Light Division . Bro . A ' ernon was twice wounded during the clay , afc first but slightly , hut later he received a severe bullet-wound under the left breast , which carried away two of his ribs . He was subsequently at the Siege of Burgos , ' ^ ancl after rendering other valuable service , returned to England , and was sent with tlie rank of LieutenantColonel to

- Nova Scotia , as Inspecting Field Officer , where he remained till the conclusion of peace , two years afterwards . After his return to England , be was appointed to the command of his old regiment , the Queen ' s , and in May , 1810 , embarked ivith them for the AVest Indies . He found Barbadoes ' ivhere he landed 4 th June , under martini law , and there , in the short space of live weeks , lost nine officers ancl eighty men by feverand obli

yellow , was soon ged to return to England himself ; having had two attacks of thafc dreadful malady . ^ In 1818 , he effected an exchange , ancl sailed for the Ionian Islands , as Inspectino-Field Officer , when Sir Thomas Maifclaucl ivas Lord KM- Commit sioner , ancl remained there in that ancl other capacities till 1827 , when he finally returned to England , and exchanged to half-pay with Lord Charles Fitzroy , February , 1828 . Such is a brief anil imperfect sketch of the services rendered to his country , in nearly

every parfc of the globe , for thirty years , by Bro . Vernon , and which were ill requited by his non-appointment to the Colonelcy of a regiment , to which he was so eminently entitled . AVith regard to this it may he observed , that in the official communication from the Horse Guards , in which his nomination to a Good Service Pension ivas announced , ifc wassta ted thathis acceptance of such Pension woidd in no ivay interfere ivith his having a regiment in his turn . It is attributable , therefore , to the fact that General A ernon never

meddled in politics or interfered with the Horse Guards , that no loss than 147 oflicers , ( all junior to him ) , none of whom had seen more service , few of Ai'honi had seen as much , and some of whom had seen no active service at all , should all have been preferred to that honour before him , and to his disparagement , between the date of the intimation we have referred to , ancl his death . His good , service pension , the Gold Medal ( mentioned above ) , for Salamanca , the Silver Medal ancl Clasps for Talavera and the Peninsulahis

, Companionship of the Bath , and his gradual promotion to the rank of General ( 2 nd April , 1859 ) ivere his only ancl insufficient rewards General A ' ernon represented the second of the existing branches of his old ancl distinguished house . The family took their namefrom the town of A ernon , in Normandy , and deduce their pedigree from ancestors in that country who ivere of noble degree for 200 years before the Conquest . They became settled in England by

one of their members being a Companion-in-Arms of William the Conqueror , and from that time to the present have held a first position in the country . The highest offices in the State have been filled by them with credit and honour , and their services have been rewarded by the acquirement of enormous territorial possessions . Sir George A ernon . who for his magnificence ivas called "King ofthe Peak" ding seised of thirty manors . He was

, y of Haddon and of Tong ; the first was conveyed by his elder co-heiress to the noble family of Manners , and is now held by the Duke of Rutland , her descendant , while Tong was the portion of hor younger sister , who conveyed it in marriage to the Hon . Sir Thomas Stanley , son of the Earl of Derby . Hodnet , Harlaston , Hilton , Hanbury , ancl Sudbury are amongst the other

important possessions heretofore or now helcl by the A ernon family . The present Lord Vernon is the representative of the senior branch . The Earldom of Shipbrook and two baronetcies , conferred on members of the family , are extinct . There are'few of our noble houses with which the Vernons aro not connected by marriage , and the name ' appears on the roll of the illustrious of all the professions . The late Archbishop Yei-non-I-Iarcourfc reached tho summit of his , ivhile tho naval service has received additional lustre by tbe

exploits of the celebrated Admiral A ernon , the Hero of Fortobello , ancl Admiral Sir Edivard Vernon ( a near relative of the subject of our memoir ) , who took Pondichorry from the French . General A ' ernon succeeded , on the death of his father in 1814 , to fche patrimonial estate of Hilton Park , County Stafford ( inherited now , by his death , by Henry Charles Vernon , Esq ., Prov . G . M . for AVorccstershire ) . He hacl previouslinherited the estates of his

y mother ' s family ( the Grahams ) in Ireland , the Cobham property of ' his kinsman , the celebrated Lord Ligonier , and the Mount-Collier estate of the Hamilton family , ivifch ivhich he was also connected . By virtue of these inheritances , ho was once styled Henry Charles Edward Ligonier Hamilton A ernon Graham . The last " name he assumed by royal license , in 1800 , ancl was ( wifch his children ) so called till 1 S 3 S , when he obtained permission to resume his name

of A ' ernon only . In 1804 , he married Maria , daughter of George-. John Cooke , Esq ., of liureiield Park , County Middlesex ( which , lady died 1827 ) , by whom he leaves issue our three distinguished brethren referred to above , and one daughter . He ivas buried in the family vault at Sharcshill , 2 Sth March . General Vernon was admitted into the Order afc the Lodsre of Harmony , Hampton Court , No . 384 , 19 th January , 1802 . This loclge is now extinct ;

but in 1852—exactly 50 years after his father ' s initiation there—it is worthy of notice that Bro . Col . A ernon , R . AV . Prov . G . M . for Staffordshire , was installed its Master . At the time of General A ' ernon's admission , in 1802 , Thos . Haverfielcl was AV . M ., and AVilliam AValton Acting Master of 384 . At the installation , also , of Bro . Col . A ' ernon as AV . M . of Sfc . Peter ' s Lodge , Wolverhampton , No . 607 , his father and two brothers wore all present as P . M . s—an unusual occurrence .

BRO . RICHARD LEA AVILSON . At Streatham , on the 31 st of March , in his fifty-fourth year , Bro . Richard Lea AVilson . For some years Bro . AVilson was rather distinguished for his activity and devotion to Masonry , holding theivarraiits of four lodges and two chapters as Secretary and Treasurer . AVe believe that at one period Bro . Wilson wasmember of twelve lodges . He served the office of Grand Steward , in the Lodge of Peace and Harmony . He was First Master of the Frederick Lodge of Unity , No . 661 , and under Lord jtforison was Prov . S . G . A \ . of Surrey . He founded and entirel y managed the Frederick- Encampment of Knights Templar , and was also one of