GFR:  MW Pro Grand Master and Brethren, as I reminded you last year, two hundred years ago in 1807, there were still two rival Grand Lodges: the Premier Grand Lodge and its newer rival, the Antients or Atholl Grand Lodge.

Those of you with good memories may recall that during 1807 the Antients Grand Lodge had shown its support to the Grand Lodge of Ireland in the matter of its former Deputy Grand Secretary who had attempted to set up a rival Grand Lodge.  At the Communication of the Antients Grand Lodge in June 1808, the Minutes record:

“It was resolved that the Grand Lodge of England relies with confidence upon the justice of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in the statement of the proceeding and expulsion of Bro. John Mitchell late Master of the Caledonian Lodge Edinburgh and in the exertion of their authority as founded on the two principles of Masonry universally acknowledged and that the Grand Lodge of England will at times strenuously exert itself in the union so long and happy subsisting between the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland.”

JMH:  MW Pro Grand Master and brethren, the charge for which Bro John Mitchell had been expelled from the Grand Lodge of Scotland was indeed a serious one, introducing the discussion of both politics and religion into the Grand Lodge. A bill introducing a modicum of emancipation for Roman Catholics had been defeated in Parliament and King George III had welcomed its defeat. Mitchell moved a resolution within the Grand Lodge of Scotland that a vote of thanks and loyalty be sent from the Grand Lodge to His Majesty for his support for the established religion! The motion was defeated and Mitchell was heavily censured for breaking the landmarks by introducing it. Mitchell and some of his brethren in Caledonian Lodge seceded from the Grand Lodge of Scotland and sent the offending address to the King in the name of their “independent” Lodge.      

GFR:  The Premier Grand Lodge, because of its different timetable for Communications, had actually been a little quicker off the mark on this occasion than its rival.  At its meeting in April, after the usual reading of the laws relating to the behaviour of Masons in Grand Lodge and a piece of business concerning the Freemasons’ Tavern to which I shall return in a minute or two:

“A Communication from the Grand Lodge of Scotland relative to Dr. John Mitchell and the Caledonian Lodge at Edinburgh was read and the proceedings of certain individuals who seceded with Dr. Mitchell from the Lodge were stated by the Grand Master in the Chair where upon it was Resolved, that the thanks of this Grand Lodge be transmitted with all cordiality to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for the above Communication. That it is absolutely necessary for the welfare of Masonry and for the preservation of the Ancient Land marks that there be a superintending power competent to control the proceedings of every acknowledged Lodge, and that the Grand Lodge representing by regular delegations the will of the whole Craft is the proper and unquestionable depository of such power. That it is contrary to the principles of Masonry for any Lodge to publish its sentiments upon political subjects insomuch as the agitation of any sort of political question or the discussion of any public affair is strictly forbidden amongst Masons. The Grand Lodge itself, though acting for the interests of the whole Craft, not being justifiable for departing from this rule unless in some case of obvious and extreme necessity.”

JMH:  The premier Grand Lodge had indeed been quicker off the mark in relation to Mitchell, but the fast reaction of their Acting, or as we would say Pro, Grand Master, the Earl of Moira, exacerbated the problem. The Prince of Wales had become Grand Master Mason of Scotland in 1806 and had appointed Lord Moira as his Acting Grand Master for Scotland. Bro Mitchell had initially been suspended by Scotland but when he seceded and the problem spread to the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No 1 and became an argument over the controls a Grand Lodge had over its Lodges, the matter was referred to Lord Moira. He discussed it with the Prince of Wales and wrote to the Depute Grand Master that it was his and the Prince’s opinion that Mitchell and the other seceders must be expelled. Moira believed that that would end the matter as in his belief they would, under the terms of the 1799 Unlawful Societies, be out with the law if they continued to meet as a Lodge, he believing that only Lodges working under a Grand Lodge were protected by the Act.

A right royal rumpus ensued! The matter ended up in the Courts in Edinburgh. The Grand Lodge of Scotland included in its evidence the letter from Moira to the Depute Grand Master and Moira himself wrote to the Sherriff Depute giving his legal opinion on the matter. The Court took a different view, Moira was heavily censured by the Court not only for his erroneous legal opinion but for involving the Prince of Wales, the Judge stating that it was “highly indecent and improper to bring the views of the Heir Apparent on a question of law” into the Court. He went on to rule that the offending letter from Lord Moira to the Depute Grand Master “be burnt by the Public Executioner”!           

GFR:  April 1808 seems to have been a busy meeting, because apart from it being “Resolved that in consideration of the long tried and approved services of the Grand Secretary his Salary be increased Sixty pounds per annum to commence from Christmas last  Such increase to be charged to the Hall Fund”, the Minutes also record:

“It appearing from the Minutes of the Hall Committee that a treaty had been entered into between the Committee and the Tenants of the Free Masons Tavern for a Lease of the premises to be granted to them, it was on a motion duly made and seconded Resolved unanimously that Messrs. Robert Christopher Sutton, William Thorn and John Jackson Cuff be approved as Tenants for Free Masons Tavern on the terms and conditions recommended by the Hall Committee and that a Lease be granted to them accordingly, namely “For the term of five years from Michaelmas next. To pay for the first four years thereof £230 per annum. And for the last year of the said term £300. The said Rent to be paid clear of all taxes.”

JMH:  The lucky Grand Secretary was William White, Snr, who had first been appointed as joint Grand Secretary in 1781 with James Heseltine who had been in office since 1769. When White became sole  Grand Secretary in 1784 he persuaded the premier Grand Lodge to introduce a salary for the first time. Previous to that the Grand Secretary had received a percentage of the fees received for registering new members and issuing warrants and Grand Lodge certificates.

The Freemasons’ Tavern, not named the Connaught Rooms until 1909, was to be a running problem for Grand Lodge from its first being opened as Masonic premises in 1775. The site purchased for the first Freemasons’ Hall included a tavern fronting Great Queen Street and it had been agreed to lease it as a working tavern to provide income for the  Grand Lodge. It had never seemed to run at a profit, even after being extended and renovated in 1788 -89. After 1801 group of brethren took it over but by 1805 it was closed. The new lease granted in 1808 proved a success, largely due to John Jackson Cuff who turned the Freemasons’ Tavern into a popular meeting and eating place, supporting him and his son in some style for the next forty years. Two of those to whom  the lease was issued in 1808 have links to today’s meeting. William Thorn had previously been the head waiter at Canonbury House, Islington, on the London estate of the Northampton family and the gate leg table at which John Cuff took his dinner each day in the Freemasons’ Tavern now rests in the office of my co-presenter!    

GFR:  The year ended on a high note with a Special Grand Lodge held on Saturday the 31st December, when:

“The Grand Lodge was … informed that it was convened by command of his Royal Highness the Grand Master to assist him in laying the Foundation Stone of the New Theatre at Covent Garden whereupon the Lodges being called over by the Grand Secretary (junior Lodges first) the Master and Wardens of each formed a procession followed by the Grand Officers before mentioned according to rank and at 12 o’clock the procession, preceded by the Grand Tyler and Assistants and a party of the Brethren of the Military Lodge of Truth No. 571 in His Majesties First Regiment of Life Guards in their regimentals (another party of whom closed the procession) proceeded from Free Masons Hall to the Scite of the New Theatre at Covent Garden where a large tent had been previously prepared for the reception of the Grand Master and his Officers and was received under a Discharge of Artillery by the proprietors of the Theatre and Brother Robert Smirke Esq. the Architect. His Royal Highness the Grand Master with his Grand Officers afterwards proceeded from the tent to the place where the stone was to be laid.

……………….

A Grand Band of Military Music played during the Ceremony to a vast crowd of spectators ladies and Gentlemen and the way through which the procession passed was lined with detachments of the Horse and Foot Guards.”

JMH:  The reason for the foundation stone laying was the demise of the previous building in a great fire. The stone laying was reported in the London press, according to which “more than one thousand of the populace had been privy to the scene, ‘though many were unable to see the intricacies of the ceremonial due to the press of those present”.  After the stone was laid the military let off a “feu de joie” and the Grand Chaplain asked for a blessing on the intended structure and those who would work in it. His blessing must have gone unheard for a little over twelve months later the theatre was again destroyed by fire! The stone, however, survived the fire and was rediscovered during recent renovations at the Royal Opera House and is now on public display in  the foyer.

GFR:  Moving on one hundred years to 1908, not a great deal seems to have changed.  An especial Communication of the Grand Lodge was held on the 20th January at the Horticultural Hall, Vincent Square, Westminster.  Its purpose was to discuss the report of a Special Committee relating to the Freemasons’ Tavern, which had lain vacant for the previous two and a half years.  It had been recommended that a limited liability company composed entirely of members of the Craft be set up, as it was inappropriate “for Grand Lodge to mix itself up with Tavern business”.  There was a long and inconclusive debate and the matter was referred back to the Special Committee.

At the March Quarterly Communication, the Committee submitted its further report, with the conclusion  “Having thus exhausted the reference, nothing remains but for the Committee to express its sincere regret and great disappointment at not being successful in solving the very difficult task which Grand Lodge did it the honour of confiding to it.”  The then RW Bro. Lord Barnard, Provincial Grand Master for Durham, moved “That it be an instruction to the Board of General Purposes to take immediate steps to put the Tavern premises in proper order at as small a cost as possible, and to act.”

Consequently at the June Communication the Board reported that the work had been put in hand “with the utmost dispatch” and continued:

“The Board confidently believes that, looking to the anxiety of a very large number of Lodges to hold their meetings at the Head Quarters of the Craft, and the exceptional accessibility of the Tavern by means of the Tube Railways, to brethren residing in all parts of the Metropolis, and to the extensive accommodation which will be afforded, there is every reasonable prospect of the Tavern again taking its place as the leading resort not only for private Lodges, but also for the great Masonic Festivals.”

JMH:  After the success of the Cuff family in running the Freemasons’ Tavern a blight seems to have descended on the premises when they retired in 1851. Not even the great Spiers and Ponds could make a go of it. They had also taken on Bacon’s Hotel, to the east of the tavern which Grand Lodge had purchased as part of the 1860s re-building of Freemasons’ Hall. That problem was solved in 1889 when the hotel was closed and the property leased to the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and converted into Mark Masons’ Hall.

Matters came to a head in 1905 when the Spiers and Pond lease came up for renewal.  The central problem was that little had been done to the fabric or kitchens of the Freemasons’ Tavern for over forty years and standards had declined. The kitchens were in the wrong place and there were no lifts so no matter how good the chef food was always cold by the time it reached the table. At a conservative estimate it would require the expenditure of £30,000 to put matters right. Not even the mighty Joe Lyons was willing to take on that task! The premises closed in June 1905 and despite diligent search no one could be found to take it on. As we have heard even a special Committee of Grand Lodge was unable to find a solution and the matter was handed back to the Board of General Purposes, they being constitutionally charged with the safe-guarding of Grand Lodge’s real property.

In 1909 the Board took the proverbial bull by the horns, agreed to find the £30,000 to rebuild the Freemasons’ Tavern, renamed it the Connaught Rooms and signed a new lease with Connaught Rooms Ltd to operate separately from Freemasons’  Hall. The managing director was one George Harvey who was a veritable dynamo. In addition to running his businesses he was a councillor for Holborn, Mayor of Holborn, a member of the London County Council and MP for Kennington, receiving a knighthood for public services in 1936. Like the Cuff family one hundred years before them, the Harveys ran a successful business but on their departure problems returned. In the last fifty years it almost seems that like the poor, problems with the Connaught Rooms are always with us!