Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notices Of Eminent Members Of The Canongate Kilwinning Lodge Of Scotland.
NOTICES OF EMINENT MEMBERS OF THE CANONGATE KILWINNING LODGE OF SCOTLAND .
" For although no praise of ours can add lustre to the memory of the illustrious dead , i t is our duty to see that the remembrance of them do not utterly pass away ; that their memory do not lie sepulchred with their remains ; hut that il should be pointed out as an encouragement and incitement to those of after times , and set up , as it were , for a beaconlight to ourselves aud others . "—Speech of Lord Ramsay , 1036 .
IN recording the proceedings of the great centenary celebration of 1 S 36 , we took a rapid glance at the general history of Masonry in Scotland up to 1736 , when the hereditary Grand Master St . Clair , of Roslin , resigned his rights and honours into the hands of the Craft . Of this illustrious Mason and member of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge , some short account was then given ; and the publication in this Review of the Grand Master ' s speech at the centenary festival , has left nothing more
to be said of the celebrated St . Clair . _ Other remarkable men ancl Masons , however , are to be found chronicled in the books of the Lodge , whose Masonic memory , we would fain think , ought not to " be sepulchred with their remains , " but be " set up as a beacon-light to ourselves and others . " And if , in the endeavour to rescue some names from oblivion , little should sometimes appear beyond dates and designationsthe meagreness of the minutes
, must form the best explanation ; but even tlie name of a Masonic worthy , whose sole memorial may be that he has served in oflice , awakens an interest when contemplating the past . Commencing our catalogue with the contemporaries of St . Clair of Roslin , we begin with the Right Worshipful Brother , GEORGE FRASER , who was first elected as Master of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge , June 24 , 1736 . This gentleman was Deputy Auditor
of Excise in Scotland , and had , previously to his acceptance of the chair officiated as Secretary to the Lodge . He devoted much of his time and attention to Masonry , and seems to have been particularly anxious to effect a reform and remodelling of the by-laws and regulations , without which , he justly judged , the internal administration could not be efficiently carried on . He thus formed the basis of a judicious system of government , to which much of the future prosperity of the body is to
be attributed . Brother Fraser also planned , ancl personally superintended the erection of the rebuilding of the hall ; on the completion of which it was formally consecrated by the Grand Master St . Clair , and received tbe name of St . John ' s Chapel , a designation it still bears . Brother Fraser took a prominent part in the constitution of the new Grancl Lodge , after the resignation of his hereditary chiefship by AVilliam St . Clair . Plis name appears a principal witness to the deed of
magisterial demission . He vacated the chair of the Lodge in June , 1738 , and was a second time elected , after a long interval , June 24 , 1752 , remaining in office two years . About the same time he became Grand Master Substitute in Grand Lodge , ancl in 175 . 5 rose to the rank of Grand Master Depute , which he held till I 7 G 0 . After his second retirement from the Canongate Kilwinning chair , he remained out of oflice for an interval of eight years , when he was a third
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notices Of Eminent Members Of The Canongate Kilwinning Lodge Of Scotland.
NOTICES OF EMINENT MEMBERS OF THE CANONGATE KILWINNING LODGE OF SCOTLAND .
" For although no praise of ours can add lustre to the memory of the illustrious dead , i t is our duty to see that the remembrance of them do not utterly pass away ; that their memory do not lie sepulchred with their remains ; hut that il should be pointed out as an encouragement and incitement to those of after times , and set up , as it were , for a beaconlight to ourselves aud others . "—Speech of Lord Ramsay , 1036 .
IN recording the proceedings of the great centenary celebration of 1 S 36 , we took a rapid glance at the general history of Masonry in Scotland up to 1736 , when the hereditary Grand Master St . Clair , of Roslin , resigned his rights and honours into the hands of the Craft . Of this illustrious Mason and member of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge , some short account was then given ; and the publication in this Review of the Grand Master ' s speech at the centenary festival , has left nothing more
to be said of the celebrated St . Clair . _ Other remarkable men ancl Masons , however , are to be found chronicled in the books of the Lodge , whose Masonic memory , we would fain think , ought not to " be sepulchred with their remains , " but be " set up as a beacon-light to ourselves and others . " And if , in the endeavour to rescue some names from oblivion , little should sometimes appear beyond dates and designationsthe meagreness of the minutes
, must form the best explanation ; but even tlie name of a Masonic worthy , whose sole memorial may be that he has served in oflice , awakens an interest when contemplating the past . Commencing our catalogue with the contemporaries of St . Clair of Roslin , we begin with the Right Worshipful Brother , GEORGE FRASER , who was first elected as Master of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge , June 24 , 1736 . This gentleman was Deputy Auditor
of Excise in Scotland , and had , previously to his acceptance of the chair officiated as Secretary to the Lodge . He devoted much of his time and attention to Masonry , and seems to have been particularly anxious to effect a reform and remodelling of the by-laws and regulations , without which , he justly judged , the internal administration could not be efficiently carried on . He thus formed the basis of a judicious system of government , to which much of the future prosperity of the body is to
be attributed . Brother Fraser also planned , ancl personally superintended the erection of the rebuilding of the hall ; on the completion of which it was formally consecrated by the Grand Master St . Clair , and received tbe name of St . John ' s Chapel , a designation it still bears . Brother Fraser took a prominent part in the constitution of the new Grancl Lodge , after the resignation of his hereditary chiefship by AVilliam St . Clair . Plis name appears a principal witness to the deed of
magisterial demission . He vacated the chair of the Lodge in June , 1738 , and was a second time elected , after a long interval , June 24 , 1752 , remaining in office two years . About the same time he became Grand Master Substitute in Grand Lodge , ancl in 175 . 5 rose to the rank of Grand Master Depute , which he held till I 7 G 0 . After his second retirement from the Canongate Kilwinning chair , he remained out of oflice for an interval of eight years , when he was a third