.
Meeting
at the Masonic Hall, Bush Street, Pembroke Dock.
The First 150 years
The founding
of Loyal Welsh Lodge in 1824 followed as a natural link with the Government's
decision to establish a Royal Dockyard at Pater Church Point in 1814.
The town of
Pater, later Pembroke Dock, was in its infancy, and it is only through a perusal
of the earliest Masonic records one can appreciate the zeal and enthusiasm
displayed in establishing a Lodge under the then prevailing conditions.
The first
moves to form a Lodge in Pembroke Dock were made in November 1823. The moving
figure was Bro. William Thomas, a local surgeon, who was a member of the
Hwlffordd Lodge, No. 81, at Haverfordwest, a former Antients lodge which was
erased from the Roll in 1828.
(Records tend
to show he tried to secure the transfer to Pembroke Dock of the Warrant of a
Lodge then at Plymouth Dock by giving incorrect information to the Grand
Secretary.)
Bro. Thomas
was told to submit a Petition to the Grand Master for a new Lodge, signed by
seven Registered Masons, and recommended by the Prov. Grand Master. He did so on
14th May 1824, there being eight not seven, original Petitioners.
The Warrant was
granted by the Grand Master, H.R.H. The Duke of Sussex, on 1st October, 1824,
under number 793, and a spelling error occurred during its preparation when
'Welch' was written for 'Welsh', this was repeated on the Centenary Warrant.
Installation
Day was fixed for 20th November, and advertised in the ‘Carmarthen Journal’.
The Masters and Wardens of Hwlffordd and St. David's Lodges were invited to walk
in pro-cession from the Lion Inn, Pembroke, to Divine Service at Monkton Church,
before returning to the Lodge Room at the Navy Tavern, near H.M. Dockyard, for
the Installation Ceremony. The Master of St. David's Lodge, W. Bro. Flyers,
presided, and invested Bro. William Thomas as the first Master, and nine
Officers.
A total of
eighteen attended, the Initiation Fee fixed at three guineas, payable in
instalments of one guinea at the time of proposal, one guinea at initiation, and
half a guinea each step afterwards.
Fourteen
articles of By-Laws were approved, and there was no consecration, as such
ceremonies were then uncommon. The day's proceedings concluded with a Dinner to
which the Masters and Wardens of Hwlffordd and St. David's Lodges had been
invited.
It was
provided by Bro. Walter Ware, Senior Deacon, and landlord of the Navy Tavern, at
a cost of half a crown to Lodge members, visiting Brethren paying five shillings
for dinner and ale.
At the first
regular meeting on 7th December 1824, Mr. William Milne was initiated, by
Dispensation, at the age of twenty.
W. Bro.
William Thomas, referred to as 'the moving figure' in the Lodge's founding was
again chosen as Master on 29th November, 1825, and on 10th February, 1826,
presented with a silver medal for the 'kind and Masonic conduct since the
establishment of this Lodge'.
The first
occasion of a recorded procession of Brethren in Masonic Regalia appears to have
been on 2nd May, 1826, when they marched to the site of the new Market, and the
W. Master laid the Foundation Stone in the N. E. Corner.
During this
year the practice seems to have been introduced at 'St. David's' and 'Loyal
Welsh' Brethren were exchanging visits in June and December, to mark the
celebration of the two Festivals of St. John. After Lodge business, they dined
together.
The Lodge moved in
October 1831, to the Market House Inn, Pembroke Street, then conducted by Bro.
W. Brown, and in March 1833, the number changed to 525.
In September
1835 the Lodge moved yet again, this time to the Victoria Hotel, Pembroke
Street, which remained its meeting-place for the next thirty years.
On 25th April
1837, the first Masonic Lecture given in the Lodge, it was delivered by the
Worshipful Master and entitled, 'Signs, Symbols, Tools, etc.'.
In June 1839,
it was agreed that the Lodge regalia should be laid open for Inspection by the
public with the Brethren, on their return from Divine Service, sitting in
open Lodge to receive them.
The first
Past Master's Jewel was presented on Installation Day, 1859, to a Past Master,
and not the Immediate Past Master - no reason is given for this unusual
decision.
On 25th
December 1862, the death occurred of W. Bro. William Thomas, the first Master,
and who occupied tine Chair on four subsequent occasions-a unique achievement to
this day.
In 1863 the
Lodge number changed to 378, and five years later it moved to a private house in
Meyrick Street, leased for fourteen years and named as 'The Masonic Hall'.
The Lodge
Jubilee was reached in 1874, and on 24th November this memorable occasion was
appropriately celebrated, culminating with a Banquet at the Victoria Hotel.
On 9th May
1876, W. Bro. Thomas Phillips presented a Dirk of historical value to the Lodge.
It was taken from a French Officer by one of the Yeomanry in 1760, on their
attempting to land on our shore.
The 1st
Provincial Grand Lodge under the banner of 'Loyal Welsh' was held in the
Temperance Hall, Pembroke Dock, in July 1877, and was a great success.
In 1882 the
Lodge again moved, this time to Queen Street East, but three years later the
Brethren were forced to find a new home, and on 26th January, 1886, the new
Masonic Hall, Meyrick Street, was consecrated.
A Building
Fund was set up in 1896; and some years later a plot of land at Bush Street West
was purchased, the Foundation and Corner Stones of the new Masonic Temple being
laid on 20th May 1903.
(Picture by
courtesy of Mrs. A. Seymonds)
Members
of "Loyal Welsh Lodge" march along Bush Street, Pembroke Dock in 1902,
when
the foundation stones were laid. (Note the formal dress)
On it’s
completion, the first Installation Ceremony was held there on the 24th January
1905 but it was nine years before the liabilities incurred in building it were
cleared.
The
Provincial Grand Master R.W. Bro. Lord Kensington dedicated the Temple to
Freemasonry on 1st October, 1924, and afterwards presented the Centenary Warrant
to the Master, W. Bro. Br. Gen. Sir F. C. Meyrick, Bart, on behalf of Loyal
Welsh Lodge.
It thus
claimed the distinction of being the fourth lodge in Wales to receive this
honour and its Members the privilege of wearing the Centenary Jewel.
With the
closure of H.M. Dockyard in 1927, a link with Loyal Welsh Lodge, which had
remained firm over a century, was broken and never reformed.
Three years
later the purchase of the Lodge freehold site was completed, and on 12th April,
1938, a new Lodge banner, re-placing the one used since 1887, was dedicated by
the Deputy Prov. Grand Master, W. Bro. H. Watkins Thomas.
A set of
gavels and D.C’s baton, made from Australian woods, were received from Prince
of Wales Lodge, No.144, Western Australia, in October-a tribute to the memory of
Bro. W. James who had given years of service to that Lodge before returning home
to Pembroke Dock.
In 1940 and
1941, the town was badly blitzed, and in one raid great damage done in Bush
Street West, the Lodge being slightly damaged.
On 14th
December 1948, the Kneeling Stool, suitably inscribed, and bought from voluntary
contributions, to commemorate the death on active service of two members, was
dedicated by the Deputy Pr. Grand Master, W. Bro. Rev. P. G. Wallis.
In May 1959,
almost one hundred years after his death, the apron of the first Master W. Bro.
William Thomas, was presented to the Lodge.
The
Installation Meeting in 1961 was attended by the R.W. Provincial Grand Master,
Colonel G. T. Kelway, C.B.E., T.D., D.L., who, in the course of the meeting,
presented to the Lodge the Gavel which had been presented to Rt.W. Bro. Lord
Kensington when he laid the Corner Stone of the new Masonic Temple on the 20th
May, 1903. He explained that he had been asked to do this by W. Bro. The Hon.
Michael Edwards, MBE, P.Dep.G.D.C., on behalf of the family of the late Lord
Kensington.
Two more
links with the earliest days, and in the form of a 1825 Grand Lodge Certificate,
and the original Senior Warden's gavel, were presented to the Lodge in 1963, and
1969, respectively.
Bro.
P.I.C. Meyrick, Master-Elect, grandson of the Master in the Centenary Year, was
installed on 9th January, 1974.
The 150th
Anniversary of the Founding of the Lodge was celebrated at the Meeting held on
8th October 1974, when the Rt.W. Provincial. Grand Master dedicated a new
Banner. It provided a fitting climax to the work of Freemasonry in our town
during the previous one and a half centuries.
J.C.P.
We would wish to thank
W.Bro. J.C. Powis (Worshipful Master 1953) who originally documented the first
150 years of the Lodge History, from which this page is made up.
