Cirencester Jubilee.

CIRENCESTER JUBILEE .

AT Cirencester on Wednesday evening , 16 th ult , an interesting , celebration , took place : the Cotteswold Lodge , numbered 592 on the roll of Grand Lodge , celebrating on that evening the fiftieth year of its existence . As a fact , the

commemoration was intended to- have taken place in January last , but the sudden death then of one of the Lodge ' s oldest Past Masters the Rev . C . J . Martyn Past Grand Chaplain of England , and the subsequent national mourning , led to its postponement .

The Lodge was constituted in 1851 , chiefly through the exertions of the late Bro . Newmarch , who was afterwards Deputy Prov . G . Master of Gloucestershire . Up to the date stated , the Cotswold capital had been without a Lodge for many years , but it is interesting to note that it was the

birthplace of the Royal Union Lodge , No . 246 , now meeting in Cheltenham . The Warrant for that Lodge was issued in July 1813 , under the Grand Mastership of the fourth Duke of Athole , and the Lodge was known as an " Athole " or ' Ancients " Lodge until a few months later , when " Ancients "

and " Moderns " united under the rule of H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex , and Grand Lodge was constituted as it now continues . It is a singular fact that in the same year a second Warrant , originally given to a Lodge meeting at the White Lion Hotel , Bristol , was transferred to Cirencester , and both

the Royal Union and the Royal York Lodge ( the second Lodge referred to ) were warranted as meeting in Cirencester , at the King ' s Head Hotel , for some years after 1813 . Neither of them could have been , however , in a flourishing condition , for in 1820 the Royal York Lodge died of inanition , and was

erased from the roll of Grand Lodge , and in the following year the Royal Union Lodge was transferred to Cheltenham , on the purchase of its Warrant , regalia and jewels by Freemasons in that town who deemed the creation of a second Lodge necessary . Cirencester was thus without the " light

of Masonry" from the year 1821 until the date of the foundation of the Cotteswold Lodge in 1851 . Its old Warrant had , however , remained in active and prosperous working in Cheltenham , where the paraphernalia which it handed over with the Warrant in 1821 is still in regular use . At the

constitution of the Cotteswold Lodge two Brethren at least of those who were members of the Royal Union thirty years previously took part : Bros . R . Anderson and Bowly , both names well known to Cirencester , and a descendant of the former is now a Past Master of the Lodge .

The Lodge met at 6 . 15 under the presidency of the W . M . Br . o . C . Mackinrion , Bro . the Right Hon . the Earl of Bathurst being Senior Warden . The Lodge was honoured by the presence of the Right Flon . Sir Michael Hicks Beach , Bart , Prov . Grand Master of Gloucestershire , and Bro . Bevir

Prov . G . Secretary Wilts P . G . D . C . Eng . Chairman of the Masonic Boys School . The first-named distinguished Brother is the oldest surviving Past Master of the Lodge , and it was a notable incident of the evening ' s pioceedings that Bro . M .

H . Hicks Bteach , a son of the Prov . G . Master , was elected a joining member of the Lodge , he having been initiated into Masonry in St . Helena , in which island Freemasonry has a flourishing growth , during his recent service there with the 4 th Gloucestershire Regiment .

At a banquet after Lodge , over forty Brethren sat down , presided over by the W . M . during the earlier part of the proceedings and subsequently , when a professional emergency called him away , by Bro . Harmer I . P . M .

In proposing the health of the Prov . Grand Master and Prov . Grand Lodge , the W . M . recalled the fact that Sir Michael became a member of the Lodge in 1856 , only five years after its foundation , and that he occupied the Master ' s chair exactly forty years ago .

The Prov . Grand Master , who was received with the utmost enthusiasm , said it was true he was " father " of two bodies of great importance : one was the House of Commons and the other was the Cotteswold Lodge . He would not attempt to gauge the relative importance of those two

bodies on that occasion , but speaking at Cirencester he was inclined to think that the Cotteswold Lodge was the more important , and to assert , even in the presence of Bro . Norman , that the town in which it met was the " hub of the

universe . " In spite of the distant dates to which the W . M . had referred , he did not feel quite worn out yet , and he was endeavouring still to do his duty as their Provincial Grand Master ; but it was a matter of some pain to him to look round those tables and to think that he was addressing so

Cirencester Jubilee.

many present whose fathers were among his dearest friends . Still , he hoped he might make friends with the sons as he did with the fathers , and he felt sure that the younger generation was doing its best for Masonry in everything connected witn the Cotteswold Lodge , of which they were now

celebrating the fiftieth anniversary . Fie referred with satisfaction to the fund that he understood was being raised , and with considerable success , to suitably celebrate that event , and offered the suggestion that it might be applied to the provision of a Masonic Hall for the Lodge meetings .

Later in the toast list " Visiting Brethren " was proposed by Bro . the Hon . Ben . Bathurst , M . P ., P . M . and P . Prov . S . G . W ., and acknowledged by Bros . Norman and Pettit ( Mayors of Cheltenham and Wallingford respectively ) , and Bro . Wood S . W . of the Flicks Beach Lodge , Stroud . Bro .

Norman , in his reply , said that he readily acquiesced in any proposition Sir Michael laid down , and he did not therefore challenge his estimate of the relative importance of the two institutions of which he was " father , ' or the position of Cirencester in the universe . Indeed , he might claim for

Cirencester additional distinction in the fact that , though it was celebrating the jubilee of its . Lodge that night , the more ancient Lodge to which he belonged had its birth nearly a century ago among Cirencester Masons . He had in his possession probably the only copy extant of the Bye-laws

governing the Lodge in its old Cotswold' days . They were quaint and amusing : one made provision for the treatment of any member who attended " disguised in liquor . " Though the fact that that bye-law seemed to have been found

unnecessary when the Lodge moved to the vale need not be quoted to the detriment of Cirencester , he thought it might fairly be instanced as a token of the change that had taken place not only in Masonic Lodges but in the habits of the people during the past century .

Among other toasts , the Masonic Charities was proposed by the Prov . Grand Master , and Bro . C . Tudway P . P . G . Reg , in responding , showed that since 1 S 78 the Cotteswold Lode'e had contributed no less a sum than within

a few shillings cf ^ 2 , 500 to the three Masonic Charities , a record which Sir Michael said he Delieved could be equalled by few Lodges of like numbers . — " Cheltenham Examiner . "

New Hall At Colchester.

NEW HALL AT COLCHESTER .

VnRlOUS projects tor building a Flail for the Angel Lodge , No . 51 , have fallen through , but at last the members of the Lodge , having acquired a site in Abbeygate Street ,

Colchester , have commenced the erection of a Masonic Flail from plans prepared by Mr . Charles E . Butcher , architect . The builders are Messrs . Henry Everett and Son . The accommodation includes a Lodge Room , 26 ft . by 45 ft . on the first floor , and a room of like dimensions on the ground

floor . There are in addition various rooms and offices . The first contract is over £ 2 , 000 . It is proposed to heat the building with hot-water pipes , and to light it by electricity . The Lodge Room proper will be kept for Masonic purposes , but the other parts of the building will , it is expected , be largely used for meetings and entertainments .

At 11 . 30 on Thursday morning of last week Lodge was opened at the Cups Hotel . By special dispensation from the Prov . G . M . the Brethren wore Craft clothing during the procession to the site of the Hall immediately after the opening of . the Lodge . First came the Tyler with drawn

sword , followed by the members of the Lodge , the juniors being in front Next came the Architect with the plans , followed by the J . D . bearing the trowel , and the S . D . with the mallet , the Secretary with the Book of Constitutions , and the Treasurer , who bore the phial which later was deposited

in the stone . The visiting Brethren came next , and were followed by the J . W . with the plumb rule , and the S . W . with the level . The Chaplain , bearing the Volume of the Sacred Law , immediately preceded the W . M . bearing the square , and after him came the Mayor Bro . Claude E .

Egerton-Green P . M . 51 P . P . S . G . W . and P . P . G . Treasurer . Members of the Town Council brought up the rear of the procession . The head of the procession having arrived at the site ,

the Brethren opened out to the right and left to allow the Mayor and officiating Brethren to proceed to their places on a platform specially erected near the south-east corner of the intended building .

The D . C . having proclaimed silence , the Mayor gave a brief address . He said that Freemasons were true and faithful to the laws of their country , and engaged in solemn