Masons Of The Year.

was one of the founders , and an active member of the Drury Lane Lodge , of which he is a P . M ., having preceded Sir Henry Isaacs in the chair . His lordship has always been an ardent patron of the drama , and by his extreme courtesy and consideration for followers of all the artistic professions , possesses the esteem and respect of the whole artistic world .

COL . SIR FRANCIS BURDETT , BART . COLONEL SIR FRANCIS BURDETT , BART ., was initiated into the Craft whilst serving in India as a cornet in the 13 th Light Dragoons , on January iSth , 18 37 , and his

certificate , which is engraved on vellum , is signed "J . Fitzgerald , Master . " Having duly qualified for and obtained the rank of a Master Mason , a period of inaction set in , owing to the travelling duties of the regiment , and the difficulty in those da )^ of a soldier Mason obtaining the benefit of visiting civic Lodges . But in 1841 we find him joining the Fidelity

Lodge ( 6 th Dragoon Guards ) , and on May 28 th in the same year being instructed in the mysteries of the Holy Royal Arch under the R . A . Chapter of Scotland . Also in this year , on December 27 th , he was admitted a member of the Celtic Lodge of Edinburgh and Leith . In 1848 he was back in Ireland , and seems to have devoted the whole of his leisure time to continuing

his Masonic work , and qualifying himself for all the attainable positions he could find . On May 3 rd he was raised to the Mark degree . On the same day , "Brother F . Burdett , Major , 17 th Lancers , Kilwilling Encampment , has been duly and regularly admitted , instructed , and registered in the books of the Supreme

Grand Encampment of Ireland as a Knight of the Sword , Knight of the East and King of the East and West , of the Royal and Mysterious Order of the High Knights Templars and Masonic Knights of Malta . " On November 10 th he joined the Eureka Lodge ( 47 ) , Dundalk , and just one month later he was voted the Honorary Membership of the Clanwilliam ( 55 ) , Tipperary ,

and the Triune ( 333 ) , Limerick , " in testimony of the high esteem in which the members of these Lodges hold your Masonic zeal and worth . " In the following year , in which he attended various Masonic meetings no fewer than 148 times , he founded two Lodges , accepted the honorary membership of three others , and added several posts to his long list of

Stewardships . Plodding onward , as men do when the doctrines of Freemasonry have eaten into their souls , we find Lieut .-Coloncl Burdett , 17 th Lancers , in 1858 , admitted a Sovereign of Grand Rose Croix . In 1 S 62 Lord Zetland , the Grand Master , invested him as Senior Grand Warden of England , since which time he has represented the Grand Lodge of Ireland at

Grand Lodge , with the rank of S . G . W . ( Ireland ) . Five years later he joined the Harmony Lodge ( 255 ) . In 1869 he was elected and installed as first Prov . Grand Master of Middlesex—a position he still retains . The following year he was admitted to the 33 , and installed as the first Prov . Grand Master of Mark Masonry for Middlesex and Surrey , the honours of which he also retains . In 1876 he was presented with

the honorary membership of the Burdett Royal Arch Chapter ( 1293 ) ; and in the succeeding year he was appointed the representative of the United States at the Grand Council of the Red Cross of Constantine in Scotland . In 1879 ne w « is appointed Sov . Grand Inspector-General of the 33 ° , Inspector-General of the Southern District of England , and First Grand

Sovereign of the Red Cross Order in Scotland . In 1888 , on April 6 th , Sir Francis was admitted to the Order of the Secret Monitor , which for the present completes one of the brightest records in Masonry it is possible to chronicle ; and among the numerous proofs he has received of the esteem with which his life-long effort to serve Masonry and his own particular Province

have been met , he values none so highly as the iron-bound oak chest containing that beautiful service of plate which the Brethren of the Province of Middlesex presented him in 1 S 76 . Sir Francis Burdett is frequently to be seen in Grand Lodge , occupying one of the Warden ' s chairs , and he presided at the

festival of the Royal Masonic Institute for Girls during the present year . Sir Francis has no town house , properly so called , but resides at his Richmond place , Ancaster House ,

which adjoins the main gates of the Old Deer Park , immediately opposite the Star and Garter , during the season . His country seats are Ramsbury Manor , Wiltshire , noted for its fine trees and trout fishing in the River Kennett , ancl Forcmark Hall , near Repton , where the Colonel always spends his Christmas . Sir

Francis has been twice married , and his eldest son was a few months ago initiated into Masonry by bis father . MR . WILLIAM CHAPMAN .

MR . WILLIAM CHAPMAN , a sound and a good Mason , as we once had an opportunity of styling him , has had the great honour of being re-elected to the chair of the Savage Club Lodge , into which he was installed in February of the present year . Will Chapman , as his friends call him , has made the

nam de plume of Ithuriel well known and appreciated in the theatrical world , and left the staff of the Topical Times about a year ago to start his new paper London , which has just celebrated its first birthday . Perhaps there is no sounder Mason in the whole ranks of Bohemia than Will Chapman . He is unmarried , has a pretty little den in Clement ' s Inn ,

smokes from morning to night big and full-flavoured cigars , and never said an unkind word of anyone in his life . The chair of the Sax-age Club Lodge is honoured by its W . M .

MR . CHARLES BARRY , F . R . I . B . A MR . CHARLES BARRY , the eldest son of the late Sir Charles Barry , R . A ., the eminent architect—whose cr . iwning

achievement of a long and successful career was the Palace of Westminster—was born in 1823 , and showing an early desire to follow the jDrofession of his father , entered his office and was engaged for some years in assisting him in many of his important works . His health failing when he was three-and-twenty years of age , suggested the opportunity of travel , and after an absence of a

year and a half , during which he studied the architectural art of France , Germany , and Italy , he returned to England and commenced practice with the late Robert Banks , who had for many years been one of the chief assistants of Sir Charles . This step , taken under the strong advice of his father , led up to the very large practice Mr . Charles Barry now enjoys . His partner

dying in 1872 , left Mr . Barry as the sole survivor of the "firm , " neither of Mr . Barry ' s four sons having entered the profession . New Burlington House , Piccadilly , the new College at Dulwich , the County of Middlesex Industrial Schools at Feltham , the roof of the Royal Exchange , and the large additions and restorations of Clumber House , the seat of the Duke of Newcastle , are among Mr . Barry ' s chief works , and great regret is now openly expressed in artistic circles that he

has never been offered the opportunity of completing his father ' s designs for the Westminster Palace . Mr . Barry is also responsible for the remarkable railway viaducts , bridges , and stations at Dulwich , erected since 1858 , when he was appointed Surveyor to the Governors of Dulwich College . Mr . Charles Barry held the office of President of the Royal

Institute of British Architects for the year 1876-77 , and had the honour of re-election the following- year , when he was chosen by his colleagues of the Royal Institute as recipient of the Queen ' s gold medal , awarded by Her Majesty every three years to an English architect of eminence . Mr . Barry was an original council member of the City and Guilds' Institute

for the promotion of technical education , representing the Skinners' Company , of which he is a Past Master . He was elected a member of the Athen . mim in 1 S 72 , and for the last ten years has held the office of architect to the club . He is an honorary member of the Academies of Fine Arts at Vienna and Milan , and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London .

He was the Royal Commissioner for Great Britain , as architectural representative , at the French Universal Exposition of 1878 , and for this service , at the instance of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , the French Government conferred on him the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honour .