Freemasonry In Dorsetshire.——History Of The Province.

Grand Master tor Dorset , Essex , Gloucester , and Somerset . This prayer was granted , but the evidence as to the exact date is conflicting . So far as we can ascertain , there is nothing in the possession of the authorities to afford the slightest information as to the original establishment of a Provincial Grand Lodge in Dorset .

Through the courtesy of Bro . Case , we have been afforded access to all the minutes that have come down to him , and which are now preserved with scrupulous care . The earliest record among the documents of the province is a minute of Provincial Grand Lodge held at Sherborne in 1793 , Bro .

Thomas Dunckerley being then Provincial Grand Master , though he was absent through illness . But , as before remarked , Provincial Grand Lodge was constituted much earlier . Lodge Amity ( Poole ) claims to have been honoured with the lirst appearance of the Provincial Grand Lodge , it being held in that town on St . John the Baptist Day of 1780 .

Bro . Dunckerley took the chair as Provincial Grand Master , and appointed Alexander Campbell , a Poole physician , as Deputy Prov . Grand Master . The Poole Lodge has minutes of the great day , from which we learn that there were " att dinner fifty at i \\ e shillings each tickett . " Bro . Dunckerley was a man of parts , and his good songs contributed to the

mirth , good humour , and jollity that prevailed . A Prov . Grand Lodge was also held at Blandford in 1789 . The Acting Prov . Grand Master , Bro . Campbell , presided , and the minutes record that the officers and brethren proceeded '' with music in due form " from the town hall to the church .

The proceedings at church were not remarkable . Service \ v ; ts followed by " an elegant dinner , " the whole concluding with " the order and harmony peculiar to Masonry . " But despite these admirable sentiments , Provincial Grand Lodge does not appear to have met again till 1802 , or , if it did , the Prov . Grand Secretary of those dim and distant days , has not chronicled the fact .

Hie Provincial Grand Master died in 1795 , and it was probably his illness and decease which accounted for the slackness then existing . It was in 178 9 that he began to feel the approach of his impending dissolution . He complained of rheumatism , and told the Deputy Prov . Grand Master that he was getting old and infirm , and he transferred much of his work to the Prov . Grand Secretary . He held a Provincial

Grand Lodge at Blandford , however , in that year . Had Dunckerley lived , the condition of suspended animation that followed would never have been tolerated . He had ruled his provinces with a Draconian severity , and in the Grand Lodge minutes there are entries of his having got one Dorset and one Wilts lodge struck off the list for

" contemptuous conduct " in not answering his letters . But whatever the cause , Provincial Grand Lodge did not meet till 1802 ; and then , at Poole , Sir John Lester was duly appointed to succeed Dunckerley .

Then followed another gap , and we find Provincial Grand Lodge meeting next at Dorchester . A curious and rather pathetic little fact is noted on that occasion . " The case of Bro . Thomas Belcher , who was confined in the gaol at Dorchester as a debtor ( so runs the old minute ) , was laid before the lodge with the strongest recommendations . "

Bro . Belcher was no criminal , but a debtor , and Prov . Grand Lodge made a subscription and procured his immediate release . The unhappy man came straight from gaol to Provincial Grand Lodge , and was duly introduced , and the minute states " he was completely overwhelmed with joy

and gratitude , and was the more affected because he was , by his release , able to return home to his wife , who was confined by a dangerous illness . " A dramatic example of the greatest of all Masonic virtues truly ! It may not be generally known that it was in Dorchester gaol that Carlile

Avrote his notorious manual on Freemasonry , he at the time being incarcerated there for sedition . Sir John Lester did not live long after his installation . On January 12 th , 1805 , he died , universally respected by the brethren of the province . They desired to attend his remains to the grave in due form which ( quoting again from the quaint phraseology of the old minute book ) , was " only

prevented being carried into effect by the disapprobation of Lady Lester . " Sir John was succeeded by another good Poole Mason in the person of Bro . ( olut leffery . A fact of some interest to London Masons occurred at the Prov . Grand Lodge held at Bridport in 1807 in honour of the birthday of the Grand Master . It was the presentation of

a petition from Lodge 113 , held at the White Swan , Shoe Lane , London , for removal of the lodge to Weymouth . The London petitioners , in their prayer , meekly promised to " exert their best endeavours to promote the general principles of Masonry" in their new habitat , if their

application was acceded to , but the Prov . Grand Master refused to countenance the -admission of No . 113 into his province . It was , he said , his earnest wish to cultivate harmony in his province and not to do anything which , either immediately or remotely , might create jealousy or

dissension . The Prov . Grand Master deemed it necessary to say that " Lodge 113 must get a recommendation from Weymouth lodge before their proposal could be entertained . " Nothing more was heard of the London invasion .

HItO . It . CASK , I'ltOV . ( I . SI'cal'TAItY .

Provincial Grand Master Jeffery died in 1809 , but three years elapsed before his successor , Bro . William Williams , was installed . The hitter ' s was a brilliant rule , his Mastership extending over a period of twenty-seven years . He owed his appointment largely to his friendship with the Duke of

Sussex , and be contributed in no small degree to the " blessed union " of December , 1813 . It may be said that prior to that happy event a good deal of confusion existed in Dorset , as elsewhere , and the union of the "Ancients" and the " Moderns" marked the commencement of the most

prosperous era of Dorset Masonry . Bro . Williams's first Provincial Grand Lodge was held at Dorchester , when the brethren went in Masonic state to St . Peter ' s Church , and Bro . Kichman read the prayers . This said Bro . Richman had always had a presentiment that he would meet a violent

death of the very type that awaited him . He and his wife were killed in their bed by the fall of a chimney during the great gale in November , 1824 . At this Provincial Grand Lodge a letter was read from the Duke of Sussex , in which he alluded to the '' harmony

now fast approaching between the two fraternities . " All Master Masons were re-obligated according to the form settled at the date of union . In 1816 Provincial Grand Lodge was held at Weymouth for the purpose of dedicating the new Masonic Hall . This was a brilliant ceremony , and the remarkable penchant of the Masons of that day for public parade and music was evidenced by the fact that the