A Mournful Close Of The Year.

A MOURNFUL CLOSE OF THE YEAR .

HPHE year that is just now ending has been a •* - _ mournful one for many brethren , and in its closing days we have to record the death of two of our Provincial Grand Masters—the Earl of Bective , Masonic ruler of Cumberland and Westmoreland ;

and Sir George Elliot , chief of the Province of South Wales ( Eastern Division ) . The former of these distinguished Masons was , at the time of his death , fourth on the roll of Provincial Grand Masters , reckoning by length of service , his appointment dating

back to the early part of 1867 ; while in the case of Sir George Elliot there is also a long record of work done , his presidency over the Eastern Division of South Wales extending back to December 1876 . The death of these two of our rulers lias caused great regret , not only in the districts primarily concerned ,

but generally throughout the Craft , as in each case there was a good record of services rendered , and a personal acquaintance between the ruler aud the ruled which brought the two sections into friendly intercourse with each other . As will be seen from

other parts of this issue these two deaths are not the only recent ones that have to be recorded among the Provincial Grand Masters or their near relatives , the Masonic chief of Suffolk , Lord Henniker , having lost his wife . We tender our resneetful svmnnthv tn tha

families of these distinguished Brethren , and trust they may have ' strength to support them in their hour of affliction . Turning , from this high sphere of Masonry to what

wemay term the rank and file of the Craft , we find many more instances of the ravages of death in our midst , while at the present time the number of brethren-incapacitated by ill-health is exceptionally large , so much so as to be a frequent topic of conversation at every important Masonic gathering ,

where it is not at all unusual to see vacant chairs and smaller attendances than customary , in consequence of illness preventing the presence of many who under more favourable conditions would have been among , the company . Altogether we think the

closing days of the present year compare most unfavourably with many of its predecessors in this respect , aud we can but express a hope that a change may ere long set in , and that in the early days of the coming year we may be in a position to report the

convalescence of the many who are now suffering from illness . With * this and our best wishes for a prosperous future for all our readers we close our issue of 1893 , and hope it may be our fortune to address the Craft through the medium of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE for many years yet to come .

In consequence of the lamented dp » th of I 3 rr > . R . Cut'on Carlinn * ( o ! Lincoln ) , Deputy Provincial Grai . d Maik Master of Lincolnshire , Lord Yarbo-ou ^ li , tho Prov ' neial Grand Master , has directed mourning for CO days .

Obituary.

Obituary .

SIR GEORGE ELLIOT , BART ., M . P .

FT is with great regrefc we have to record the death of the Provincial Grand Master of the Eastern Division of Sonth Wales ( Bro . Sir George Elliot , Bart ., M . P . ) , which occurred on Saturday , afc his London residence , afc the ago of seventy-eight . Sir George was the first baronet , and was appointed to fche charge of his Province in 1870 . The

Daily Chronicle gives the following sketch of his life : — Sir George Elliot , D . O . L ., of Houghton Hall , Fence House ? , Dorham ; Aberaman House , Aberdare , Glamorganshire ; The Friars , Friars "Road , Newport , Monmouthshire ; and Great George Street , Westminster , and Portland Place , London , was son of the lato Mr . Kalph Elliot , of Penshawe , county Durharr , a poor , bob

industrious coal-miner , who laboured in the neighbouring collieries , his mother being Elizabeth , daughter of Mr . Henry Brailhwaite , of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . He was born at Gateshead on Waterloo Day , 18 th Jane 1815 , and at the age of nine was on full duty ns a pic laddie ( it the Penshawe Colliery . Here he laboured until he was seventeen , improving himself meanwhile in the rudiments of educa .

tion—in reading , writing , and arithmetic—and also gaining a thorough practical knowledge of mining operations generally . Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the office of Mr . Thomas Sopwith , fund surveyor ar . d mining engineer , tit the time when the great ; development of railway enterprise was about to take plice . Tbe railway from Stockton to Darlington , constructed by Edward Peaso

and George Stephenson , had been opened in September 1825 , and a large number of lines were already projected for the North . Iu the surveying nooeeary for that from Darlington to York ho waa employed while engaged with Mr . Sopwitb . In 1836 he returned to Penshnwe , where be was appointed overman at the colliery , removing in the following year to Monkwearmonth Colliery as under .

viewer , ar ; d becoming head viewer a couple of years later . The career by which he became ao widely known iu latnr yearathat of colliery owner—he entered upon in 1840 , when Messrs . Ilack . honse and Mounsey purchased on his advice the Washington Colliery , unar Durham , fche deceased gentleman taking equal sharoa with those gent'omen . In 1851 he resigned his appointment as huad

viewer of Monkwearmouth Colliery , and then became chief mining engineer to tha late Marquis of Londonderry . The firm of Glass nud Elliot was amalgamated with tide Gutta Porcha Company , and formed into the Telegraph Construction aud Maintenance Company , and an entirely new Atlantic cable mneh thicker and more costly than the former one was manufactured . The cable

was eventually laid , and Mr . Glass received the honour of knighthood . The firm afterwards became , and is BOW known ns Elliot aud Co ., wire rope makers , of Great George Street , Weftminster , Cardiff , and Durham . In 1863-4 Mr . Elliot became propiietor of Penshawe Colliery , where thiity-five years befo > e he had served as a hewer with the pick . He also purchased the Powell

Duffryn Collieries in South Wales , as well as the Aberaoitm Cwm Noel and other properties . In tbe course of the I ait few weeks ha has formulated a scheme for the formation of a Co % l Trust for tbe whole kingdom . Sir George , who was crabbed a baronet in 1874 , was a magistrate for Glamorganshire , a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Monmouthshire and Durham , a hon . D . C . L . of Durham ,

and was formerly President of the Institute of Mining Engineer !" . He married in 1836 Margaret , daughter of the late Mr . George Green , of Eainton , Houghton-le-Spring , Durham , bat was left a widower in December 1880 . His Parliamentary career was a chequered one . He was first elected fcr North Durham in the Conservative interest ab the General Election of 1868 at the held of

the pol ' , and voted tbe following year against the Disestablishment of the Irish Church . At the next General Election in February 1874 , t . vo Literals were returned , bob their election was declare . ) void . The new election took place in June 1874 , aud the deceased , who had in the meantime been created a baronet , was returned . At the

General Election of 1880 he again suffered defeat . The following year , however , Mr . Joicey died , and Sir George Elliot was returned , continuing to represent the constituency nntil tho General Electionof 1885 , when , after the passing of the Bedistribotion Act , he unsuccessfully contested South-East Durham against Sir Henry