Freemasonry In York In The Eighteenth Century.

meeting at the Tavern on the same day , the notice being signed by T . Beckwith and R . Bewlay Graud Wardens , and J . Browne Grand Secretary . I find no notice given of a winter meeting , but in June 1781 , Smyth summoned his brethren to the York Tavern .

Francis Smyth jun . was made in January 1778 . He does not seem to have come of a York family , though he was born in York in 1737 . His father was Francis Smyth , of Crosby Temple , in Essex , and Sutton Hall , near Thiisk . Francis Smyth jun . became the owner of New Buildings ,

in tho parish of Kirby Knowle , in Yorkshire , and he married a Mary Plnmmer in 1762 . Now Buildings is a curious old place , and its history is connected with the ancient families of Constable , Scrope , and Neville , who successively were owners before tho purchase by Colonel

Elsley , in 1827 . Its present owner is Bro . Charles Elsley . In December of that year the Provincial Grand Lodge met in the Merchants' Hall in Fossgate , and tho advertisement announced a " Sermon to be preached in tho Chapel by the Rev . Bro . W . Johnson Prov . Grand

Chaplain . " Tickets for dinner to be had of Bro . Frobisher , in the Pavement . ( Frobisher was a bookseller ) . The Mer . chants' Hall is a very curious old relic of the past , and was , and is still , the property of the ancient Guild of York Merchant adventurers . The chapel referred to is a most

qnamfc place , under the floor of the " Hall proper , and approached by a flight of stairs aud a huge trap-door . In the Courant of 18 th June 1782 , Sinclair , Grand Master , summoned a meeting of the Grand Lodge of All

England for the 24 th June , at the York Tavern , his Wardens being R . Dodsworth and E . Wolley , and this is the last public notice of any meeting of this ancient body that I find in the Courant .

Robert Sinclair was proposed as a joining member in December 1776 . He was a barrister , and was Recorder of York . He lived in Coney Street , in a house now occupied

as a linen shop . His portrait , life-size , in oils , by Jackson , R . A ., is in the possession of Bro . J . Wilkinson , Town Clerk of York . His arms are emblazoned on one of the windows of the Council Chamber in the Guildhall of

York . The Dodsworths had been for many years connected with commerce in York , and this Ralph Dodsworth served as Sheriff in 1777 , and Lord Mayor in 1792 . Wolley , a solicitor , came into possession of considerable

estates in the North Riding . He changed his name to Copley , and lived at Potts Hall , near Stokesley . The York Lodge has his engraved portrait , and I presented a copy to Grand Lodge a short time since . Meetings , however , were held , and , although we find no

entries in the minute book now at York , yet minutes of some kind must have been kept , for they were seen by William Hargrove , who , in his " History of York , " published in 1818 , Vol . 3 , speaking of this Grand Lodge , says : " We find it recorded that ' On the 24 th of June ,

1783 , the Grand Master , with all the officers , attended in the great room of the Mansion House , where a Lodge in the Third Degree was opened , and Brother Wm . Siddall , Esquire , at that time the Right Hon . the Lord Mayor and Grand Master Elect , was installed according to an ancient

usage and custom The Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason of All England , and was thus saluted , homaged , and acknowledged . '" And then he goes on to say that Mr . Blanchard , the last Grand Secretary , told him that about 1 / 87 the meetings of this Lodge were discontinued . "We

have , however , evidence that in 1792 there was a meeting , on which occasion Brother E . Wolley , the York solicitor , was elected Grand Master , the memorandum of the election being in Blanchard ' s handwriting . Probably Wolley was never installed ; but it appears to me quite plain that we

may add to the list of Grand Masters at York the name of Siddall as Grand Master in 1783-4 , at any rate . Blanchard was a printer and proprietor of the York Chronicle . I have looked through the files of the York Chronicle from 1782 to 1793 , and have found the advertisement

calling the meeting at the Mansion House in June 1783 , on which occasion there was a procession to St . Martin ' s , Coney-street , and a sermon by Parson Parker . By the w » y , the Rev . Mr . Parker lived in the Beddern , York , and kept a private school there at his residence . The Chronicl e

of the 27 th June gives a brief account of the affair at the Mansion House , and adds that the brethren were entertaine d by the Lord Mayor after the ceremony . 1 " ^ ^ ran < * Secretary ' s paper , of the 26 th of Decembei * 783 , has the following advertisement :

Freemasonry In York In The Eighteenth Century.

j " GRAND LODGE OF ALL E . VOLAND . "The W

John falling on Saturday . " WOLLEY , ) n Jm . " CLIJBLKY i "' and Wardens . "W . BiANcnARn , Grand Secretary . "

On the same day tho Masons under the Grand Lodge of England were advertised to meet at Merchants' Hall , and hear a sermon by the Rev . Mr . Johnson . Siddall was Grand Master next year , for tho Chronicle

advertises the Grand Lodge of all England to meet under his rule at tho York Tavern , on the 24 th Jnne 1784 . The Miuerva Lodge , Hull , called its meeting for tho same day .

There is no later advertisement of any meeting of the York Grand Lodge , but about this time our brethren seem to have begun to cease advertising thoir gatherings . Nevertheless , thero aro a fow announcements of other bodies . In Jane 1785 , tho Minerva Lodge invited all Masons to

meet at Mason ' s Arms , Chapel-lane , Hull . In December 1785 , Milnes again called a gathering at Merchants' Hall , and Rodney Lodge invited all visitors to the Bull and Sun , Hull , and to hear a sermon at Holy Trinity by Chaplain Clarke . After this comes a dearth of Masonic announcements of all kinds ? .

There are , however , in the Courant several advertisements of tho Provincial Grand Lodge and other Lodges still to be mentioned . In the last-mentioned number of

the Courant is the announcement of a meeting of " Rodney's Lodge , " at Hull . I quoto it as it stands , because it is peculiar from the fact of the Master styling himself " Grand Master . "

" Hull , Jnne 14 tb , 1782 . "KODNEY'S LODGE . " EDWARD COULSOJJ , Esq ., Grand Master . " The Free and Accepted Masons are desired to meet the Grand Master at tho Boll and Snn , in Myton Gate , on Monday , 24 th June instant , being tho Feast of St . John the Baptist , at nine o ' olock in the morning , to proceed from thence to the Church of the Holy Trinity , and after Divine service to dine at the Bull and Snn . "

Summer meetings seem to have been abandoned in York for a time . On 27 th December 1782 , Sir Walter Vavasour summoned the brethren to the Merchants' Hall , to hear a sermon by Bro . the Rev . Johnson , and again for a similar purpose on the 27 th December 1783 .

The Minerva Lodge , Hull , advertised its meeting at the Masons' Arms , Chapel-lane , Hull , on the 24 th June 1784 , and the Rodney ' s Lodge called public attention to its meeting on the 27 th December 1784 , with sermon at Holy

Trinity , Hull , and dinner at two p . m . On the same day Richard Slater Milnes , Esq ., Provincial Grand Master , ordered the brethren to meet the Apollo Lodge at Merchants' Hall , York , to hear one of Parson Johnson ' s

sermons . On 28 th December 1785 , the Rodney Lodge again invited attendances , and announced a sermon by the Rev . Mr . Clarke , M . A ., the notice being signed by J . P . Hendrey Secretary .

In the Courant of 20 th December 1784 , Milnes Provincial Grand Master summoned the Apollo Lodge to the Merchant ' s Hall to a sermon by Johnson , and in the number for 19 th December 1786 , is an announcement by Rodney Lodge of a sermon at Holy Trinity Hall , on tho 27 th , by

Rev . P . Rogers , Chaplain , signed by Anth . Atkinson jun ., Sc cretary . The Rev . W . Johnson , who must have been a very prominent brother , was advertised to preach at

Merchants' Hall at the summer meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge , under Milnes in June 1787 , C . Wilson signing himself Grand Secretary ; and in June 1788 there was notice of the usual meeticsr at the same rendezvous .

The latest Masonic advertisement I have come across of the last century is the following , in the Courant of 21 st June 1791 :

MILNES—Provincial Grand Master . " The brethren of the Union Lodge , No . 410 , held at Mr . John Seller ' s Golden Lion , Thursday Market , are desired to meet on the

21 th inst . at 10 a . m ., and go to St . Sampson ' s Church , where an occasioiml sermon will be preached by the Rgv . Bro . Johnson , Prov . G . Chaplain . Visiting Tickets 5 s each , to be had of Bra . Seller . Dinner at 2 . L . Lund Secretary . "

This Union Lodge was warranted in 1777 from London , and is now the York Lodge 236 . York has always been a musical and theatrical centre , and the Masons of last century were not backward in patronising the talent . The Eboracum . Lodge has an old