The Grand Festival.

The Grand Festival .

HHHP 2 Annual Meeting of Grand Lodge for the installation I of Grand Master and the appointment and investiture of Grand Officers was held on Wednesday , the 24 th April , at Freemasons' Hall , the MAY . Pro Grand Master , Earl Amherst , presiding . There has seldom been so large an attendance at any meeting of Grand Lodge , and not only

the body of the hall but the gallery were crowded . This was due in some measure to the belief on the part of many brethren that His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught would be present , but it must on reflection have been apparent to every one that the capacity of Freemasons ' Hall would have been quite inadequate to accommodate a

tithe of those qualified to attend such an important function . The announcement by the Fro Grand Master at the banquet sets at rest all doubts as to the time and place of meeting for the installation of His Royal Highness , which will take place at the Albert Hall on a day of the week ending the 20 th Inly next .

Grand Lodge having been formally opened , the Grand Secretary read the minutes of the March Quarterly Communication in so far as thev related to the election of the Grand Master and the Grand Treasurer . Bro . Frank Richardson , Acting Grand Directors of Ceremonies , then proclaimed His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught

Most Worshipful Grand Master for the year ensuing . This was followed by the announcement that the Grand Master had been pleased to re-appoint the Right Hon . Earl Amherst Pro Grand Master , and the Right Hon . the Earl of Warwick Deput y Grand Master , and these

distinguished brethren were respectively proclaimed and saluted accordingly . The following brethren were then appointed and invested Grand Officers for the year : — Bro . The Viscount Templetown -,.. ,, , TT , . , „ ' ' . S . G . Warden , ( reappointed ) ... ... 1

,, P . S . \ V . Connvallis ... ... J . G . Warden . ,, Rev . Sir Borradaile Savory , Bart ..,, , „ . , . „ IT r . u 1 / ¦ 'Grand Chaplains . ,, Rev . W . C . R . Bedford ... 1 ,, Horace Brooks Marshall , M . A . ... Grand Treasurer . ,, John Slrachan , K . C . ... ... Grand Registrar . „ John V . Yesey Fitzgerald , K . C . ... Dep . G . Registrar .

„ lid ward Letchworth ... ... Grand Secretary . ,, Edmund Pont if ex ... ... \ ,, F . Woodhouse Braine ... -Senior G . Deacons . ,, Charles Robert Lyne ... ... / ,, C . D . Cheetham ... ... >

,, T . Taylor ... ... ... -junior G . Deacons . „ P . Scratchley , M . A . ... .... )" ,, Henry L . Florence ... ... G . Supt . Works . ,, Sir Albert W . Woods ... ... G . Dir . of Cers . ,, Frank Richardson ... ... A . G . D . of Cers . ,, K . Roehrich ... ... ... Dep . G . D . of Cers . „ W . A . Hart ... ... ... | ,, J . Stocker ... ... ... Asst . G . Dir . of Cers

,, W . A . Dawson ... ... „ Col . C . M . Malony , C . B . ... Grand Swd . Br . ,, Lieut .-Col . G . W . Dixon ... Dep . Grand Swd . Br „ fames Whittaker Burgess ... i ~ , ,. , T , „ . , „ , -Grand Stcl . Brs . Charles Pulman ... ... ' ,, H . Walmsley Little , Mns . Doe . Grand Organist .

,, William Lake ... ... Asst . Grand Sec . ,, C . Kupferschmidt ... ... A . G . S . German Cor . ,, G . PY-lton Lancaster ... ... Grand Pursuivant . ,, William Kipps ... ... Asst . Grand Purst . ,, Henry Sadler ... ... Grand Tyler .

The Grand Secretary read the following list of brethren proposed by their respective lodges as Grand Stewards foi the ensuing year : — Bros . Benn Wolfe Levy , F . S . A ., 1 ; Herbert Francis Manisly , K . C , LL . B ., 2 ; Chatham lillis , 4 ; Lieut .-Col . Chas .

The Grand Festival.

D . Leyden , 5 ; Philip Hubert Martineau , 6 ; Edwin Easton , 8 ; Richard Donne Hancock , M . A ., 14 ; Major Richard L . S . Badham , 21 ; Jocelyn Brandon , 23 ; William Hastings Beaumont , 26 ; Arnold Muir W iIson , 29 ; Charles Cockburn , 4 6 ; William Horace Charles Crump , 5 8 ; Herbert William

Freshwater , 60 ; Alfred James Thomas , 91 ; Gerald Duckworth , 99 ; Frederick Neild , 197 ; Lionel Pklward Mannaduke Darell , 259 . Grand Lodge was then closed , and the brethren adjourned to Freemasons' Tavern , where , under the presidency of Earl

Amherst , they partook of a choice banquet liberally provided by the Grand Stewards . The usual toasts followed . The brethren afterwards adjourned to the Temple , where many of the lady guests had already assembled , and a more than usually excellent concert was given under the able direction of the Grand Organist of the year , Bro . W . H . Thomas , of the Roval Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music .

The New Grand Officers.

The New Grand Officers .

SENIOR GRAND WARDEN . The Right Hon . Viscount Templetown enjoys the distinction of having occupied the office concurrentl y in the Grand Lodge of England and Ireland last year , and the equally unique honour of filling the chair of Grand Warden of England for two successive years . He was initiated in Lodge Himalayan Brotherhood , X ' o . 459 , Simla , in 1878 , and

HHO . VISCOUNT TKMl'I . KTOWN . ( l'liiiin Cliuiii-eUiii ; Dublin ) .

has since joined Lodges Castleblany , No . 352 , and No . 10 Belfast , under the Irish Constitution , afterwards becoming a member of the Lodge of the Nine Muses , Xo . 235 , London , of which he was Worshipful Master in 18 92 . He has served as Steward for the Girls' and Boys' Schools . Viscount Templetown was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Armagh in 18 9 6 .