The Province Of Ken T.

30 th June , 18 73 . It has had two warrants of confirmation , the later being of the year 1820 , and the earlier of 1787 is kept in Grand Lodge . The Lodge of Unanimity , No . 729 , joined No . 20 in 1828 . It is a pity that the application for a centenary jewel warrant was delayed , for had the lodge petitioned prior to 1867 it might have been privileged to

secure for its members a medal of a distinctive and special design . There was a lodge that was started at the " Ship , " Fish Street Hill , London , in 1723 , which lapsed in 1803 , and was reissued to the Fraternal , No . 13 , Deal , in the same year ,

but it was erased in 1822 as No . 24 ; the present lodge in that town being the Wellington , No . 784 , dating from 1859 , another of 1762 having also collapsed . The next of the old lodges was formed at the " Red Lion , " Canterbury , 3 rd April , 1730 , as 66 , but was erased in 1754 as No . 58 . It never was No . 40 , though it is said once

LODGE ROOM OF THE ROYAL KEXT LODGE OF AXTIQUITY .

to have had that number in a " brief sketch " published at the Canterbury Press Office . The " King's Head " likewise boasted of a lodge in 1760 , but it was struck off thirteen years later . Ramsgate in 1754 , Dover in 1761 and 1763 , Rochester in

1763 , Gravesend and Sittingbourne in 1764 , Chatham and Folkestone in 1767 , had lodges started in the years named , but the members failed to keep them on the roll for long , though subsequently others have been warranted and happily have had a better fate .

The Lodge of Freedom , No . 77 , Gravesend , was granted in 1751 , but unfortunately has not its original authority preserved . It paid for its constitution on the 4 th September of that year , and probably had a similar document to authorize its establishment as the earlier lodges , though a change to the since adopted form was made in that decade .

Its warrant of confirmation dates from 18 47 , and it has had two centenary jewel warrants , one in 1870 , and another of confirmation in 1890 . Its original number was 211 , and seven more numbers distinguished the lodge at different periods , until No . 77 was given it in 186 3 . The name was selected in 1789 or possibly earlier . The Right Hon . the

, Earl Amherst is a P . M . in this lodge , and so of several others in the province . The Union , No . 127 , Margate , established in 1763 , is the only lodge in Kent distinguished with a special centenary jewel warrant , which bears date in 1863 . The Lodge of

Harmony was established in 176 4 at Faversham , and was so named in 1789 . The original members , however , were previously connected with an " Ancient" lodge of the year 176 3 as No . 14 , which , though it lapsed soon afterwards , strange to say is inserted in the official lists for 1804 and 1813 . An interesting history of this old lodge has been

written by one of its esteemed Past Masters , Bro . F . F . Giraud . The centenary warrant was granted in 1879 . These were all originated by the regular Grand Lodge known as the " Moderns , " prior to the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Kent in 1770 , when the Hon .

Robert Boyle Walsingham was appointed the first Provincial Grand Master by his Grace the Duke of Beaufort , followed in 1774 by Captain Charles Frederick , by appointment of the Right Hon . Lord Petre , Grand Master . The third Provincial Grand Master was Captain George Smith , who was installed

at Chatham on the 7 th July , 1777 , but only ruled the province for a few years . He is well known as the author of a work entitled , the " Use and Abuse of Freemasonry " of 178 3 , and was the author also of a " Charge to the Lodge of Friendship , Dover , Dec . 27 th , 177 8 . " He was Inspector of the Royal Academy at Woolwich , and a regular attendant at