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.
The following is a is part of a Luddite oath sworn by all new members
of one of these societies around this period.
“ I, A.B., of my own voluntary will, do declare
and solemnly swear, that I never will reveal to any person or persons
under the canopy of heaven, the names of persons who compose this secret
committee, their proceedings, meetings, places of abode, dress, features,
complexion or anything else that might lead to a discovery of the same,
either by word, deed or sign, under the penalty of being sent out of the
world by the first Brother who shall meet me, and my name and character
blotted out of existence, and never to be remembered but with contempt
and abhorrence"
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.
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.
It was an unfortunate episode, lasting eight months as the following minutes
show:
March 25th:
The chief part of the members was much dissatisfied respecting the behaviour
of Brother Craven.
April 3rd: A Committee was appointed by the Master and
Wardens concerning Brother Craven and Brother Pettinger.
April 13th: Brother Craven advanced many things with
regard to Brother Pettinger having hurt him in his character by calling
him a thief, etcetera .... which Brother Pettinger denied.
July 22nd:Brother Bentley moved that Brother Craven had
said something respecting the Master ruling the Lodge in an arbitrary
manner and he hoped that Brother Craven would stand forward and vindicate
the same. Brother Craven said he did not remember saying anything as such,
but if he did, he was blamable.
Lodge closed at ten o'clock.
August 19th: It was unanimously agreed that Brother Craven
should be suspended for six months.
Lodge closed at ten o' clock....In Perfect
Peace!
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.
An atmosphere, you may think, sorely in need of Brotherly Love, Relief
& Truth.
What kind of men, then, were our founders? They were just ordinary men.
Our first Worshipful Master, James Bentley, was 32 years old, with just
seven months in the Craft. Our Senior Warden, Henry Higgins, was 26, and
had completed 22 months in Masonry, which was longer than any of our founders.
They were all Fellow Crafts, a situation which was resolved in March,
1795, when our minutes record that Brothers Bentley and Higgins should
go to York for instructions in the third step of Masonry, “and that
at the Lodge expense.”
They were just ordinary men, with ordinary men's virtues. and vices.
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.
This was, of course, a very serious offence usually involving the clipping
of coins.
It was in connection with this incident that we found perhaps the saddest
sentence in our minutes:
“The Lodge was closed in great sorrow on account of the wicked Brothers'
conduct, but in peace and goodwill to the whole Craft in Masonry and mankind
in general.”
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.
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.
The others were Benjamin Gott (1762-1840) and Ralph Thoresby.
(Note: The famous Ralph Thoresby died in 1725,
and could not have been the brother referred to in our archives, but the
Thoresby family were well established in Leeds,
and ours may well have been a descendant)
For the next few years Philanthropic Lodge charted a steady course, attracting
candidates and joining Brothers who helped the Lodge to face the challenge
of the 19th century with renewed optimism.
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.
He was responsible for the
worlds first railway, which was a private railway, unlike George Stevenson's
later Stockton & Darlington railway which took passengers from the
paying public.
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/armleymills/gallery/gallery1.html
Hirst's
Yard
Located on the east side of Briggate, just below the junction with Duncan
Street, Hirst's Yard was named after William Hirst. He was born near Huddersfield
and came to Leeds in 1795, where he set up in business as a cloth dresser.
Gott's Mill, Leeds
( http://www.leodis.net/_)
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