philanthropic lodge history 3

Our worthy founders - at least those who had not been ... EXPELLED... SUSPENDED.... or had otherwise dishonoured the Craft were clearly determined to be far more selective when considering candidates.
Our minutes of May 23rd, 1804, note:
“From a further investigation of the character of Benjamin Townsley, and he at that time... being so much in liquid... that he caused a riot in the house, the Lodge thought proper to revoke their former ballot in favour of him and in consequence of which he was refused as an unworthy candidate for Masonry.”
Now, Benjamin Townsley can only have been unworthy or so much in liquid for one year because in 1805 he was initiated into Freemasonry in general... and Philanthropic Lodge in particular.

We have identified our illustrious founders, we have acknowledged that some of them had their failings, and we have paid tribute to some of the eminent men who were bretheren of Philanthropic Lodge in its formative years.
We now turn to one man, David Kirkman, a past master whose determination and devotion to the Craft kept Philanthropic Lodge in existence more than 150 years ago when the fortunes of Philanthropic were without doubt at their lowest.
Worshipful Brother David Kirkman was installed in December, 1821, then occupied the chair on no less than six occasions up to 1834, during which time membership dwindled to seven (in 1830) and three (in 1832).
He was our Worshipful Master at the time of his death in 1834, by which time he had also initiated improvements which enabled Philanthropic Lodge to resume its place in the Masonic life of Leeds. He was our first Provincial officer, being promoted to P.P.G.D. in 1822.
David Kirkman was, unquestionably, the outstanding and the most influential figure in Philanthropic Lodge during its first fifty years.

Those first 50 years were given no special acknowledgement during 1844, our Golden Jubilee.
Perhaps our Brethren did not feel in a celebratory mood.
For they lived in a city, which in 50 years had trebled its population to more than 150,000 people, most of whom still lived in appalling squalor. Epidemics of cholera and typhus occasionally swept through the city, one of which culminated in a Government report in 1844.

Much of that report referred to the central area of Leeds, the area where Philanthropic Lodge held its regular meetings.
Imagine, then, the Brethren of Philanthropic Lodge making their way through a district which, to quote the Government report, had....
“Broken panes in every window, filth and vermin in every nook, the walls unwhitewashed for years and black with the smoke of foul chimneys, no water supply, no lavatories, sacking for bed clothing, and the refuse thrown in the street. Outside there are streets raised a foot, sometimes two, above the level of the causeway, by the accumulation of years of excreta.
An area undrained … unpaved ... unventilated ... uncared for by any authority but the landlord who weekly collects his miserable rents from his miserable tenants.”