Freemasonry's 270 years of lodges in Worcestershire

By the year 1717, London had such a sufficient number of Masonic lodges that it was decided to found the Grand Lodge of England - still today the governing authority for English Freemasonry. The birthplace was the quaintly named Goose and Grid Iron tavern.

From that day, Freemasonry really "took off" and spread rapidly across the nation with the setting up of Masonic Provinces, these usually adopting the geographical boundaries of historic counties.

For instance, the Worcestershire Province covered the shire of that time which not only encompassed Worcester, Malvern, Evesham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Redditch but also Dudley, Stourbridge, Halesowen and Oldbury - towns close to Birmingham and the Black Country.

Still today, the Worcestershire Masonic Province covers that same area, though its substantial northern section no longer forms part of the geographical and administrative County of Worcestershire.

The first lodge to be formed in the Province was at Stourbridge in 1733. The inaugural meeting was at the 17th Century Talbot Hotel in the town centre - still the meeting place of Stourbridge Freemasons today, 269 years on.

Several other lodges were also formed in Worcestershire during the 1700s, two of them still surviving. One was a lodge at Dudley (though it now meets at Halesowen) and the other, the Worcester Lodge No.574 which was founded in 1790.

It was re-numbered Lodge 280 in Victorian times and celebrated its bi-centenary in 1990, with a Lodge Meeting in the historic College Hall at The King's School, Worcester, followed by dinner at the Guildhall. We can gauge its position, historically, in the Masonic batting order, by the fact that new lodges being formed today are numbered in the high 9000s.

Though 280 is Worcester's oldest surviving lodge, masonic historians firmly believe there was an earlier lodge which met at Great Fish Street, Worcester, back in the 1750s. Alas, no record of its apparently short existence survives.

The Worcester Lodge 280 met originally at the Reindeer Inn, Mealcheapen Street, but moved, in 1842, to the former Bell Hotel in Broad Street, and then, in 1876, to 95 High Street (now Waterstones).

However, the expansion of Freemasonry down the centuries has obviously seen the formation of more lodges in Worcester, and these, together with No.280, had their long-term base from 1898 until the late 1950s in the imposing red brick building on the east side of St Nicholas Street at the corner with Trinity Street.

This too was out-grown, however, by the middle of the 20th Century when a large new Masonic Hall was opened at Rainbow Hill, in 1959, as the home for all the city's lodges.

There are now 10 - Worcester 280 (founded in 1790), Semper Fidelis (1846), Page (1909), Fort Royal (1923), Unity (1939), Sabrina (1948), St John-in-Bedwardine (1956), Teme (1973), Elgar (1988) and E F Hanson (1992).

The centrepiece of the Masonic Hall at Rainbow Hill is the large and impressive Lodge Room lined with honours boards, portrait paintings, banners and a memorial to the war dead. The building is also home to the Worcestershire Province Museum and Library, said to be the best outside the Masonic HQ in London.

Elsewhere, Malvern has two Masonic lodges - Royds and Malvern Hills - which meet at the Masonic Hall in Belle Vue Terrace, while Evesham has four lodges based at the Masonic Hall in Swan Lane.

The Kidderminster and Stourport area has nine lodges.

I am grateful to the Museum's curator John Hart for giving me a thumbnail history of Freemasonry in the county and for telling me about some of the remarkable and often colourful personalities who have been at the helm of the Worcestershire Province over the past two-and-a-half centuries.

One of the county's first Provincial Grand Masters was Sir Robert de Cornwall, the MP for Leominster, though it seems he never set foot in Worcestershire. In his defence, however, it must be pointed out that he was Provincial Grand Master for a total of five counties at the time.

Another absentee Provincial Grand Master at the end of the 18th Century was John Dent, MP first for Lancaster and then for Poole, Dorset. He was no relation of the Dent family, the Worcester glove manufacturers, but was a colourful Parliamentary character.

In 1796, he introduced a Bill for the taxing of dogs in relief of the poor and thus earned the nickname in the Commons of "Dog Dent". Prime Minister Pitt later introduced such a dog tax, though in aid of state revenue.

John Dent also introduced Bills to abolish bull baiting and to prohibit the use of hair powder, this on the basis that it contained flour and endangered the nation's food supply.

Though an absentee from his Worcestershire Province, John Dent was a dedicated Freemason and was Grand Treasurer of the United Grand Lodge of England.

The first Worcestershire Provincial Grand Master to take on the role seriously and with commitment was county man HC Vernon who held the post from 1851 until 1866, and he was followed by Malvern man, Albert Royds whose term of office witnessed a significant event in local Masonic history.

In 1874, Worcester's Mayor, Herbert Goldingham, a member of the Worcester Lodge 280, held a lavish breakfast at the Guildhall for the Worcestershire Province which then had 10 lodges and a total of about 400 members, virtually all of whom attended this grand civic function.

The Guildhall Breakfast was followed by a service in the Cathedral at which the Bishop of Worcester preached the sermon. The Worcestershire Province had already given £100 to the Cathedral's Victorian Restoration and, on the day, the county's Masons donated a further £900 - a sizeable sum in those times.

John Hart says the civic Breakfast and Cathedral service combined to produce "a very splendid occasion" which earned not column inches, but column feet of comprehensive detail and description in Berrow's Worcester Journal and other local newspapers.

"Even more significantly, however, the big parade of Freemasons from the Guildhall to the Cathedral, all in their regalia, clearly gave Freemasonry in the city a high profile and, perhaps for the first time, placed it on the public map in Worcester.

"The strict rule for Masons is that to wear their regalia and aprons in public first requires the express permission of the national Grand Master, usually a member of Royalty, and this was obviously given for the Worcester events of 1874," says Mr Hart.

The Worcestershire Province later marked the day by paying for a commemorative window to be installed in the North Transept of Worcester Cathedral.

The next Provincial Grand Master from 1878 was Sir Edmund Lechmere whose family seat was at Hanley Castle and who was MP, first for Tewkesbury and then West Worcestershire.

It was during his era that in 1884 another Mayor of Worcester, William Blizard Williamson, a member of the Semper Fidelis Lodge, made arrangements for the staging of a one-day Masonic Exhibition in the Guildhall.

Masonic memorabilia featured strongly in the displays, and the Worcestershire Province was lucky enough to have a leading collector of such artefacts among its members.

John Hart explains that George Taylor of Kidderminster's Hope and Charity Lodge (founded 1824) had long been building up an impressive collection of Masonic memorabilia such as medals, jewels, ceramics, cut glass, engravings, Masonic aprons, and manuscripts. His artefacts not only came from this country but also from other nations across Europe and Scandinavia, most notably Sweden which, too, has a long and proud tradition of Freemasonry.

Items from George Taylor's collection formed about 10 per cent of the 1,000 items displayed at the August 1884 Guildhall exhibition, which, like the 1874 civic Breakfast, earned "column feet" of coverage in Berrow's Worcester Journal.

And so impressed was Sir Edmund Lechmere with George Taylor's collection that afterwards he approached him and was able, on behalf of the Worcestershire Province, to buy it from him.

"George Taylor was a man of vision, generosity and wealth and sold his collection at just what each item had originally cost him," explains John Hart.

"The outcome was that the Province acquired the nucleus of its Masonic museum and library of today which is acknowledged to be second only to that at the headquarters in London."

Sir Edmund Lechmere was succeeded as Provincial Grand Master by Sir Augustus Frederick Godson, the MP for Kidderminster, who was honoured after his death with a beautiful three-pane memorial window in Malvern Priory.

Interestingly, the lives of several prominent county Freemasons have been commemorated down the years with memorial windows and plaques in local churches. For example, a large and impressive three-pane stained glass window was installed in Worcester Cathedral in 1867, by the Masonic friends of one Joseph Bennett of Worcester, while St John-in-Bedwardine Church has a similarly imposing window, also erected in the 19th Century, to another worthy local Freemason named John Hopkins.

The various stained glass windows carry much Masonic symbolism, including King Solomon.

And in Old St Martin's Church in the Cornmarket there is to be found a large wall plaque "erected to the memory of Brother Samuel Swan by the Worcester Lodge of Freemasons".

He died in 1828, and the plaque states that he was "justly esteemed by an extensive circle of friends and of whom it may be truly said he died as he lived, without an enemy".

A very notable Worcestershire Provincial Grand Master of the 20th Century was the much-decorated General Sir Francis Davies who lived at Elmley Castle and was at the helm of Freemasonry in the county from 1919 until the 1940s.

He was a member of Avon Lodge which then met at The Three Tuns, Pershore, but is now based at Evesham.

He became Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England during the time the Grand Master was the Duke of Connaught, the last surviving son of Queen Victoria. He was also for some years, Aide de Camp, to King George V.

"The General had an astonishing military career and had been copiously decorated with honours," says John Hart. "He was in virtually every significant military campaign between the 1880s and the end of the First World War.

"He fought in the Boer War and was at the Western Front, Gallipoli and Egypt during the Great War and had previously fought in the Sudan and Nigeria."

Another former military man was a later Provincial Grand Master - E F (Ted) Hanson who had been a regimental sergeant major in the Western Desert with the 8th Army in World War Two.

A chartered surveyor, he was elected Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 1977 and spearheaded the formal twinning of Birmingham with the French city of Lyon. For this, Lyon University bestowed on him an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

The current Provincial Grand Master is Barrie Cooper who lives in Warwickshire but whose entire Masonic career has been in the Worcestershire Province.

* Special week aimed at better PR

FREEMASONS in Worcestershire are joining their 330,000 fellow members nationwide in a special exercise aimed at greater openess and to dispel misconceptions about their association.

The Grand Master, the Duke of Kent has asked all Masonic lodges throughout the country to take part in a week of activities at the end of this month under the title of Freemasonry in the Community.

At Worcester, for instance, there is to be a large-scale exhibition in the Guildhall from Wednesday, June 26, to Saturday June 29.

It will be a narrative display giving the public an insight into the history, aims, personalities, and significant contributions made to community life by Freemasonry locally, nationally and internationally, from its earliest days in the 1600s, to the present time.

The Worcestershire Province of Freemasonry is fortunate in possessing the best Masonic museum and library outside the association's United Grand Lodge headquarters in London and will be providing some prize exhibits from its artefacts.

I recently paid my first visit to the Worcester Masonic Hall at Rainbow Hill to be shown round this museum and library with its treasure trove of Masonic jewels, medals, jugs, ceramics, glassware and historic hand-written manuscripts; the oldest and certainly most valuable dating from 1610.

My guides were the museum curator, John Hart M A, a retired master of Malvern College and a long-time Freemason at Worcester, and the deputy curator, Tony King, a leading Evesham Freemason.

They pointed out that the prime aim of the Freemasonry in the Community exercise was to dispel misconceptions about their association. It was not a secret society but a private body, and its membership and meeting places were not surrounded by any secrecy whatsoever.

The end of June events nationwide will emphasise the three main guiding principles on which Freemasonry has been founded down the centuries - Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

The spotlight will certainly be thrown on the Relief aspect of those principles - in other words, relieving the plight of people worldwide suffering or in need.

Masons have donated very considerable sums to charities over the years. It is part of their constitution that at every lodge meeting, a collection of alms is made.

A collecting box is passed round, the contents being distributed to local charities - in the case of Worcestershire Masons nowadays, to such worthy causes as the County Air Ambulance, hospices, the Poppy Day appeal, the Acorns Trust, friends of hospitals, the Scouts, the RNLI, the Stroke Association, etc.

Masons stress that they do not go round "rattling collection boxes" in the streets. All the money they give to charities comes from their own pockets.

The Faithful City's oldest Masonic lodge, the 212 years-old Worcester No.280 also sponsors a choirboy each year in the Worcester Cathedral Choir, while the Worcestershire Province sponsors a stone-mason in the Cathedral's maintenance and restoration work team.

The year 2000 also saw the spectacular end of a fund-raising appeal by Masons of the Worcestershire Province in aid of the central Grand Charity fund, held at the Masonic headquarters in London.

Money from this fund are dispersed to victims of disasters and to charities having nothing at all to do with Freemasonry.

For example, £50,000 was dispatched the day after the September 11 atrocities to the Grand Lodge of New York, for the relief of suffering, while the same sum was sent earlier to aid victims of earthquakes in Turkey.

The Worcestershire Province appeal raised the staggering sum of £2.3m for the Grand Charity fund, the cheque being handed to Lord Northampton, the national deputy grand master, by Barrie Cooper, the Provincial Grand Master, at a dinner-dance in 2000.

John Hart, who is organising the forthcoming Guildhall exhibition, says it will chronicle the history of Freemasonry from the 17th Century, particularly through eye-catching "news items" featuring prominent personalities who were leading Freemasons, such as author Rudyard Kipling, Channel swimmer Captain Webb, comedian Peter Sellers and legendary cricketer Don Bradman.

Mr Hart explains that visitors to the exhibition will be given "hand-outs" on Freemasonry and will also be able to ask "any questions" of those manning the exhibition about their association.

There are also to be Open Days at Masonic lodges in the area.

For instance, the Worcester Masonic Hall at Rainbow Hill will be open and manned continuously from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2 and Thursday, July 4, with formal presentations from 10.30 to noon and from 1.30 to 3 pm on each of those days.

At Evesham there will be an exhibition in the Public Library from Tuesday, June 18 to Monday, July 1, and the Masonic Hall in Swan Lane will be open to visitors from 11am to 5.30pm on Saturday and Sunday, June 29 and 30.