History
of the Philanthropic Lodge Page 2 |
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may wonder why our founders should be so afraid of cowans and intruders. They had good reason to be afraid because Philanthropic Lodge was born when the formation of secret societies was almost a growth industry. These various societies were often quasi Masonic in the oaths which they took, in their terminology and in their initiation ceremonies. They swore blood oaths on human skulls or bibles; they used hoodwinks, and they called each other Brother. Members often attended in disguise to guard against informers. Of course, some of these societies were the forerunners of modern trade unions, others were self help, social benefit groups, better known as Benevolent Societies or Friendly Societies, such as the Ancient and Noble Order of Oddfellows. But others were radical and republican, extremist groups which opposed England’s war with France. Understandably these militant bodies became the targets of a very hostile campaign waged against them by the authorities and they did not survive much beyond the turn of the century. |
A
secret society....? or a subversive society....? That was the question. Note: When mechanisation first appeared, many tradesmen mainly spinners and weavers saw their living being threatened and took to smashing the new machinery. They were known as Luddites. |
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One of our less virtuous members
was Brother Craven, whose appointment as treasurer at the beginning of
1795 brought discord.. distress.. and disunity to our Lodge. March 25th:
The chief part of the members was much dissatisfied respecting the behaviour
of Brother Craven. This affair was certainly a
most severe blow to our Lodge. It says much for the character of the remaining
members that Philanthropic Lodge weathered the storm. |
This
was the age in which our founders lived, an environment clearly hostile
to the Craft and suspicious with some justification of any new or secret
society. |
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Four
years later Philanthropic Lodge had the painful duty of expelling Worshipful
Brother Bentley, its first Worshipful Master and Brother Joseph Dorrans,
its first candidate, for being implicated in 'putting off' base
silver. Note: At that time, coins were made of precious metal, and the edges were clipped to remove some metal, leaving the coin still usable as legal tender. The practice was known as "coin clipping". A remedy to end this practice was to "knurl" the edges of the coin, is still used at the present day. |
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| One event,
which must have given our early Brethren cause for optimism, took place
in May, 1799, a historic month for Masonry in England. It was at this time
that most Masonic Lodges were declared to be exempt from a bill passed by
Parliament suppressing secret societies. Once again, we turn to the files
of the Leeds Intelligencer, dated May 27th, 1799, for confirmation of this
important watershed in our Masonic history. Our founders were just ordinary
men, with ordinary men's virtues and ordinary men's vices. So our first year contained more than its share of discord and dishonourable conduct. But it was also marked by the initiation of a candidate who was later to be acknowledged as one of the giants of his time. |
On
February 11th, 1795, the Lodge initiated William Hirst,(1777-1858) a clothier
who was one of the three men credited with the foundation of the Leeds
clothing industry. Men like the candidate initiated
on March the 2nd, 1803. He was 40 years old, he was an iron founder and
his name was.... MATTHEW MURRAY, the steam pioneer whose reputation as
a locomotive engineer ranks with that of George Stephenson. |
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Hirst's
Yard |
Gott's Mill, Leeds |
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By
this time Philanthropic Lodge had also become established as a “Moon
Lodge”, the term given to those Lodges whose antiquity pre dates
street lighting and who, accordingly, timed their meetings to coincide
with the full moon. This important decision was taken on July 18th, 1798, when Brother Grainger moved that we should "have the Lodge night altered to the convenientest time having the benefit of the moon." By 1820 technology, in the shape of the Leeds Gas Company, had come to lighten our lives with the installation of 250 gas lamps in the centre of Leeds. Most people welcomed the gas lamps … but there's always one dissenting voice. One writer of the period condemned gas lamps as “a damnable way to dissipate God's darkness.” As we said earlier, Philanthropic Lodge held its early meetings in pubs, although the choice was not always unanimous. On May 7th, 1801 our minutes note a resolution that the Lodge be removed to the house of Joseph Hindle, junior- this was the Talbot Inn. |
Carved oak press belonging to Philanthropic Lodge |
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