Cross Keys February 2013

The Cross Keys February 2013

Number 164

The Monthly Newsletter of Lodge Houstoun St. Johnstone

In this issue: Sir Robert Moray Freemasons & the Nazis What Kind of Product do we have?

Kaiser Wilhelm 1 A Strange Tale Cross Keys February.

2013Alamo Special Meeting at the Masonic Bookplates

Sir Robert Moray Sir Robert Moray No.1641 is a ‘research lodge’ which meets in Edinburgh. But who was Sir Robert Moray?

Moray was also a Scot born in 1609 and educated at St Andrews University before serving with the Scots Guards of Louis XIII in 1633. Towards the end of Cardinal Richelieu's life Moray became his favourite and then acted as a spy for him. In 1638 the General Assembly of the Covenanters in Scotland were rebelling against Charles I. Richelieu gave Moray a commission, promoting him to Lieutenant-Colonel in Louis's elite Scots Guards, and dispatched him to Scotland.

Ostensibly he was supposed to recruit more Scots soldiers but he also admitted that he had the objective of assisting his fellow countrymen in their dispute with Charles, by causing trouble for England.

Moray was appointed quartermaster-general of the Covenanter's Army, in 1640. He was responsible for laying out camps and fortifications, where his knowledge of mathematics and surveying would have been extremely important. He marched south with the Scottish Army towards the Tyne and played his part in defeating the Earl Stafford's English conscript Army at Newcastle.

On 20 May 1641 Moray was initiated in to Freemasonry whilst garrisoned at Newcastle along with General Alexander Hamilton. Hence the reason for the lodge number which was chosen and was not coincidental.

After the death of Cromwell it looked likely that Charles II would be restored to the throne of England. Charles was close to his sister, who was married to the Duke of Orange and from her he knew that the naval war with the Dutch, that Cromwell had started, was likely to flare up again.

Moray was either asked, or volunteered, to use his Masonic contacts to gain as much military information about intentions of the Dutch states as he could. He went to Maastricht, where he collected political and military information about the intentions of the Nederlanders. He used his Freemasonic links to join the local Masons and on the basis of this acceptance became a citizen of Maastricht. The purpose of Moray's spying missions was to size up the Dutch threat and then return to Paris to assess the likely French response before finally joining the King in London.

Once Charles was settled back in Whitehall, Moray joined him. When he arrived in London he was greeted as an old friend, 'the King gripping and shaking his hand', like a brother and was given private apartments in the Palace of Whitehall with regular access to the King. Moray, brought back the worrying news that the Dutch navy outclassed Charles's fleet and that a resumption of the naval war was extremely likely. Charles had no money and little expertise to call on to improve his navy. He had a great enthusiasm for naval matters but no resources. What could be done, without any naval experts, or the money hire them?

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Sir Robert Moray (ctd) Moray came up with an inspired solution. He renewed his Masonic contacts in and around London, probably with the idea of finding out just who was involved in studying 'the hidden mysteries of nature and science', the subject of the Masonic Second Degree to this day. Within weeks Moray had made contact with Masonic groups which were now supporting the 'poor and distressed' brethren who had been thrown out of academic office by the return of a Royalist Government.

He quickly discovered that the main centre for Freemasonry, in Restoration London, was Gresham College. Gresham was a public college which Sir Thomas Gresham had set up to support his Masonic ideals of study. Here Moray found the answer to Charles's dilemma. When the King had returned to England he had thrown many of the Parliamentarian scientists out of their University posts in an almost knee-jerk response, they were struggling to survive. An important group was based at Gresham College, surviving on the small stipends the College paid to either them or their friends. They represented a pool of expertise in naval technology that could be tapped into.

But these 'scientists' were all politically out of favour as well as extremely short of money. And Charles could not afford to pay them.

Moray, however, was resourceful. He had many contacts with the Masonic Scottish nobles and knew many wealthy gentlemen Masons. These Freemasons were not only amateurs in the study of science but they had money and influence. Moray saw a way of harnessing these two groups and persuading them to work together for the good of their King and country. He saw that he could use his Masonic contacts to solve the problems of Charles's navy.

Moray brought together Royalists with money and Parliamentarians with scientific skills, to set up a self-funding group to solve the pressing problems of sorting out the Navy. Moray, the soldier, was afraid of another war with the Dutch and he realised that their ship-building skills were far in advance of the English ones at the time. His solution touched the imagination of the newly restored Kingdom. He used the interest in science, which was shared by all Freemasons, as a basis for a new Society to focus the application of science on the problems of defence.

To make his idea work Moray took from Freemasonry the injunction not to speak about religion or politics within the meetings. And he drew funds by appealing to the charity of those who could afford it, so enabling able, but poor, men to be able to carry out experiments. When the First Charter was delivered Moray stood back, putting forward the Naval enthusiast, Lord Bouncker as the First President, hoping that the Society would now continue under its own momentum. Perhaps he hoped to spend more time working on the History of Freemasonry which he had started to write and encouraging the free exchange of information through his proposed 'Transactions'. He was successful in establishing The Transactions, but his History of Freemasonry was lost when the Hanoverian Duke of Sussex 're-organised' the Royal Society's library at the Cross Keys February. 2013

Sir Robert Moray (ctd) beginning of the nineteenth century and purged it of any Stuart history.

Despite the evidence of his actions I find it hard to believe that Sir Robert set out to create the world's premier Scientific Society on 28 Nov 1660. He probably only expected the group to solve the military problems Charles could not afford to tackle. However, he used the Masonic principles of equality and the study of science to create a tremendous living force. His group was free from the shackles of religious dogma and had a unique democratic structure for its time. Whether by accident, or design, he used three of the most powerful ideas of Scottish Freemasonry and applied them to the development of technology.

These were the ideas he took from Freemasonry.

1.

That the study of the works of nature can lead to an understanding of the underlying plan of God. i.e. that there is an underlying order of the laws of nature that can be determined by observation and experiment. This idea led directly to the work of Newton.

2.

That all men are equal. If they come together to discuss learning, and forbid discussion of religion and politics they will be able to co-operate. This concentration on experimental science to the exclusion of all distractions helped the Royal Society become a major force in creating our modern scientific age.

3.

That for Officers and Presidents to have true power, they must be elected by and have the support of the members they rule. William Schaw, the first Grand Warden of Freemasonry, had decreed that sixty years earlier, and Moray built the idea into the Charters of the Society, ensuring that the Fellows would elect their own leaders so that they would be loyal to them.

We owe our modern society, and its many wonderful scientific gadgets, to the accidental success of Brother Sir Robert Moray. He saw the wisdom of the Masonic teachings, which had inspired him; he used the Scottish Schaw Lodge system and its methods of promoting Masonic harmony to bring together the opposing sides after the great civil war; and he provided a structure that enabled science to break free of the superstitious cage of religion.

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Freemasons and the Nazis After an interval of five decades it may be the exception rather than the rule for English-speaking Brethren to have any particular knowledge of what happened in a masonic context in Germany in 1933. Until fairly recently my own supposition was that the National Socialist regime would have outlawed Freemasonry forthwith. Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933 and during the next few weeks the Nazis literally seized Germany by the throat. They had been ranting against the Freemasons and all their works for years on end and an immediate interdiction would have been probable.

The problem which bedevilled and split the masonic order in Germany for years on end was the so-called 'Jewish question'.2 In its original form it referred to religious rather than racial prejudice. The three 'Old Prussian' Grand Lodges had always refused to accept Jews for initiation, because their Craft degrees were followed by higher ones of a Christian character.3 Thus as far as the 'Old Prussians' were concerned one brief but important passage in the Antient Charges was ignored. It reads: 'Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the order provided he believe in the glorious architect of heaven and earth and practise the sacred duties of morality.' The six 'Humanitarian' Grand Lodges, on the other hand, nominally made no distinction between Christian and Jew. This did not mean that every Jewish candidate could be sure of joining a lodge because exclusion by blackball was not unknown. However, once a Jew became a Freemason he could attend 'Old Prussian' Craft lodges as a visitor.

Superficially at least, the overall situation was that the 'Old Prussian' Grand Lodges represented ultraconservative attitudes while the 'Humanitarian' obediences were more liberally inclined. The 'Jewish question' in the sense that it was perenially a source of controversy between the two groups was probably always basically insoluble. Nevertheless, as long as it was solely based on religious prejudice some kind of modus vivendi, although never a completely satisfactory one, was contrived.

In a non-masonic context religious discrimination against Jews gave way after 1870 to political and economic anti-semitism. Then, during the 1900s, we encounter the early stages of the virulent racial antisemitism which was to afflict Germany like a disease and which culminated thirty years later in Hitler's 'Final Solution', meaning genocide. The wave of anti-semitic propaganda which flooded the country during the years 1910-14 was one of the various manifestations of German nationalism's overheated condition at that time. The Jew was now presented as the antithesis of all that was 'truly German', hence as the embodiment of a whole range of negative or unattractive qualities. It never occurred to the pre-1914 anti-semitic propagandists to attack Freemasonry on the grounds that its Craft rituals incorporate material and symbolism derived from the Old Testament and therefore superficially of 'Jewish' origin. When anti-Masonic propaganda of this kind was first disseminated by the anti-semitic caucus immediately after the First World War, the Grand Lodges found the proposition that the Craft could conceivably be 'tainted' for these reasons so ludicrous that they hardly reacted.

The anti-semites had already created the 'perfidious Jew' archetype before 1914. Yet another archetype, the 'perfidious Freemason', was invented during the war but did not become well known to most Germans until immediately after their country's military defeat in 1918. The astonishing proposition that Germany had been the victim of an international Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy began to be current in 1918 and was repeated ad nauseum in a succession of books and pamphlets which were published during the era of the Weimar republic.

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Freemasons and the Nazis (ctd) The 'Judaeo-Masonic Conspiracy' theory was so manifestly silly that the Grand Lodges cannot be blamed for failing to realize that its incessant repetition would ultimately damage the Craft. The 'Old Prussian' sector protested that they were Christian institutions and did not admit Jews but the market for myths was invariably larger than any for reasoned statements. Initially at least the conspiracy legend represented more of a nuisance than a positive threat to the Order's well-being. Freemasonry continued to attract much the same kind of candidates, in terms of social background, as in the past. The newcomers were mainly members of the professional middle-class with a large proportion of schoolmasters, lawyers and local government officials. However, the repetitive anti-semitic propaganda with its anti-masonic undertones which never abated during the era of the Weimar Republic was to have its erosive effect and by c. 1930, about two years before the Nazis came to power, had already greatly weakened the Order from within. Many Freemasons who disliked or were afraid of being identified with an organization which was unceasingly attacked by the political Right resigned from the Craft.

The German Grand Lodges have been criticized for their apparent inability to keep utterly aloof from politics during the Weimar period. Their involvement, however, was on the whole an involuntary one. The extremist Right's favourite hobby-horse was that 'International Jewish Freemasonry', led by Germany's former enemies, was responsible for every conceivable evil that afflicted the country. The German Freemasons' frequent protests that they were just as 'patriotic' as their critics inevitably led them in the direction of political controversy.

When the Nazis at last achieved power in January 1933 the masonic Order in Germany had already begun to disintegrate. Its multiplicity of Grand Lodges and the 'rigid conservatism of the Old Prussian sector had always militated against unity and in 1933 the two groups of Grand Lodges were not even on speaking terms. The 'Humanitarian' Grand Lodges surrendered immediately; they signed their own death warrants.

The 'Old Prussians' ineffectually tried to find a compromise but eventually they, too, had to capitulate.

Fitting end to the KTs? Wheelock Commandery No. 5 (what we call a preceptory) in Texas had all 55 of its members killed serving in the Confederate Army. The Commandery ceased to exist.

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What Kind of Product do we have?

Once again the cries of a ‚membership crisis‛ resound across the Masonic landscape. The question is will Freemasonry double down on what has failed its ability to add new members? Will it continue to try to market the Craft in order to bring in new members?

Will it continue to corrupt Masonic charity by making it a tool of Masonic awareness and publicity?

Freemasonry is a personal journey. Yes there is brotherhood bonding and yes there are family gatherings under the square and compass. But the Lodge is not a men’s social club dedicated to curing the ills and failings of society. Freemasonry is a personal journey to better a man’s life.

When Freemasonry either uses the community for cheap publicity or parades itself about in the public eye for the purpose of hyping membership, it not only cheapens itself but it takes away from the practice of Freemasonry itself. Spending an inordinate time and money on marketing the Craft makes for a diminished and cheapened product, the product you are trying to sell being Freemasonry.

When Freemasonry is practiced poorly you end up with a retention problem. You can bring candidates in by the ton but unrealized expectations won’t convince them to stay.

The answer is not to try to market Freemasonry but instead improve the product, the practice of Freemasonry, to the point where it sells itself. Don’t put the cart before the horse. You can’t talk about how great Freemasonry is until you do a good job of practicing it. Don’t spend all your time and money trying to market a poor product, spend your time and money on making the product better. With a superior product, something they cannot find elsewhere, people will beat down your doors to get in.

So put on great degrees, ensure good mentoring, provide extensive Masonic education, see to it that there is great fellowship and perform some meaningful community service or individual aid without expecting anything in return.

Even then Freemasonry may not sell itself. The path to success in building membership is to be pro active as an individual, one on one with those whom you come in contact with that are worthy. Don’t try to mass sell Freemasonry! Sell it one on one and by example.

From Freemasonry Information website (Editor's highlights)

Has the tide turned in Scotland? Grand Lodge has stated that there were more candidates last year, 242 has more candidates than just one year and many lodges are reporting a slight increase or interest. We are unlikely to return to the 1980s social club era or post war eras, but we may return to a steady pace with appropriate candidates seeking the light.

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Kaiser Wilhelm 1 Under the leadership of Kaiser Wilhelm and his Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire. Wilhelm was crowned Emperor in 1871 after defeating Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco Prussian War. He and his descendents retained the crown of Prussia.

Crown Prince Wilhelm was initiated in 1840 in a special meeting of the Grand Master's Union in Prussia, after permission was granted by his father, Fredrick Wilhelm III. Unfortunately, his intentions about joining the Craft were less than scrupulous. German officials feared secret societies as potential sources of subversion, so the Prussian government became involved in Masonry as a means to watch and control it. Kaiser Wilhelm I was the patron of the three Berlin Grand Lodges for many years, and he decided that Jews would only be permitted if there was unanimous agreement.

However, he remained in the Craft until his death in 1888. From 1867 to 1918 more than 1,000 memorials to William I were constructed.

Old Postcard from US

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From the Columns On 10th January, Lodge Craigends No.1042 visited the lodge to confer the FC degree on Darren Alistair Coyle, son of Stuart our DM. On Tuesday 15th January 2013, Bro. George Barclay headed a deputation of over 20 brethren to Lodge St Barchan No.156. The purpose of the visitation was to confer the 2nd Degree on their candidate and continued with the tradition of Lodge Houstoun St Johnstone being Lodge St Barchan’s first foot of the year.

Thursday 24th January saw Bro. Scott William Graham being passed to the 2nd Degree. The Degree was carried out by the lodge office bearers and PM’s.

Once again the degree team were up to the usual 242 standard and it was good to see Bro. Sam Reid PM back on the floor. The master acknowledged Bro. Alan Campbell’s return to provide his musical accompaniment and passed on his best wishes to his wife from all at 242.

Bro. William B. Johnstone, the oldest PM, can be seen receiving his Jubilee certificate from the master.

Some brethren form the lodge visited Lodge Oak No.877 in Kelty in Fife and witnessed the ‚3 lodge FC degree‛ conferred by three lodges .

From left to right. Bros. John Flanagan PM 242, Jim Taylor DM 242, Douglas Pratt MM 242 PM 877, Graham Scott PM 242, Andrew Paterson PM 877 PGM F & K and Danny Birrell PM Sec 242.

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A Strange Tale George Frederick Samuel Robinson, the Marquess of Ripon joined the Craft in 1853 when he had been elected MP for Hudderfield. Ripon went on to have a distinguished career in politics, becoming Lord President of Council and Viceroy for India, whilst masonically he went on to be the Grand Master.

Ripon was very influential and attracted the future king as a member—HRH Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (KE VII) was not initiated in England but in Sweden. On a visit to Stockholm in December 1868 he was put through all eleven degrees of the Swedish system by the King of Sweden. On the news reaching England, he was, in 1869, elected an honorary Past Grand Master of our Grand Lodge. The other Royal Princes, the Duke of Connaught and his younger brother, the Duke of Albany, also joined the Craft during Ripon’s Grand Mastership. This is a well known photo of Albert Edward which was also displayed in A. E. Pickard’s Panopticon at the Tron in Glasgow on the winding stair!

However, Ripon was accepted into the Catholic Church on the 8th September, 1874.

Although he was well acquainted with the relations between the Craft and the Papacy, apparently he was slow to believe that the Papal Bulls which had been levelled at the Craft were still valid. However, when at the last moment the attitude of the Vatican in regard to Freemasonry was made clear to him, it was relatively much too small a matter to modify the grave decision at which he had arrived. Ripon resigned having withdrawn from the Craft on 2nd September, 1874 sacrificing his political and Masonic career for the greater universal spiritual company of the Roman Catholic Church. At this time Ripon has been in Masonry for twenty-one years, of which he had been the Provincial Grand Master for thirteen years, and the Grand Master for four years. Coincidentally, the lodge rooms on Skellgate in Ripon, still have his regalia as Provincial Grand Master on display.

According to the apocryphal story, Ripon gave his regalia for the gardener to burn when he resigned from the Craft. The gardener never carried out his instructions and eventually the regalia found its way to the local lodges.

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GL News Brethren in Cyprus are keen to start a lodge, but the DGM (under UGLE) is not so keen to have a lodge from Scotland. However, it might be possible to operate a new lodge under the GL of Cyprus using Scottish workings and regalia.

Lodge St. Kildalton, No. 552 Provincial Grand Lodge of Argyll and The Isles be declared dormant

Lodge Royal Thistle No.1338 be re-named Lodge Royal Thistle (Royal Scots) No. 1338 (see page 13)

PGL News Sunday 21st April, 2013—PGL Divine service in Stowe Brae Kirk, 82 Causeyside Street, Paisley. PA1 1YP. Saturday 23rd February, 2013—Seminar for Admin & Progressive OBs in Lodge Nitshill No.1478 between 10am and 12noon.

Monday 29th April, 2013—Tri-Annual Communication in Lodge Union & Crown No.307 at 7.30pm. ALL brethren welcome.

The PGLRE is holding a fund raising night on Saturday 30th March 2013, 6.30 for 7 pm start at Lodge Union and Crown No. 307 Barrhead.

The evening is a PGLRE fund raiser, and all tickets for this are £15, non-masons and partners welcome. The evening called ‘wee jock’s big braw Scottish night’, is an extremely fun and entertaining evening. A mixture of Burns, Scottish music hall, in a ‘Chewing the fat’ vein of comedy, singing, piping, humour and audience participation and sing along. All at masonic bar prices. Tickets are £15, available from Bro. Grant Macleod.

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Special Meeting at the Alamo Everyone knows about the heroic efforts of the defenders of the Alamo in the persons of Bros.

Davy Crocket, Jim Bowie, William Travis with eventually Bro. Sam Houston defeating General Santa Anna (also a brother).

However, Lodge Alamo No. 44 under the Grand Lodge of Texas occasionally hold special meetings when the brethren open in the lodge room then proceed to the Alamo itself for the lodge to reopen in the MMD to allow an ‚Educational and Entertainment Social Event‛ in the Alamo Hall.

This is followed by a Tex-Mex dinner (mixture of Texan and Mexican food I assume).

This continues the very close relationship between Freemasonry and the Craft.

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Lodge Re-Named The history of the Lodge does not start in 1925, it started back in 1808. Originally the 4th Battalion of The Royal Scots raised in 1804 to fight Napoleon formed the first Lodge Royal Thistle in 1808, No. 289 on the Roll of Grand Lodge of Scotland, meeting in Edinburgh Castle. It was passed to the 1st Battalion after the 4th battalion was disbanded in 1816. From it`s first days, Royal Thistle worked in very close harmony with Holy St. John Lodge No. 11 of the Irish Constitution, which was the first military lodge to hold an ambulatory (or travelling) warrant. It is interesting to note that this warrant was issued to the 1st Battalion in 1732, four years before the formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

In 1838 the Lodge was renumbered 222. Lieutenant G. Galbraith and Lieutenant Deucher, both exceptionally keen masons were instrumental in forming this Lodge. Lieutenant G. Galbraith was the Lodges first R.W.M. In 1845-47 a regulation was issued, forbidding secret societies and Masonic Lodges in the army. Thus it would seem the Royal Thistle Lodge died. There are no records of any new members being admitted after 1845 and the warrant was struck off the Grand Lodge of Scotland roll and its name added to the list of extinct Scottish Lodges in 1852 as a result of being five years in arrears.

The Lodge was perpetuated (revived) in 1925 in Glencorse Barracks (then home of The Royal Scots 4th Battalion) by the formation of the present Royal Thistle Lodge 1338. The first R.W.M. was Major N.H.S. Fargus D.S.O. O.B.E. It was suggested early in 1925 that a lodge should be formed for the benefit of serving and ex-soldiers of The Royal Scots and eventually local civilians of the surrounding area. So a petition for warrant was submitted to the Grand Lodge of Scotland on 7th May 1925. Charter 1338 was granted and thus Lodge Royal Thistle proudly raised its head.

February Events in 242

Thursday 10th May—MMD by OBs Thursday 24th May—MMM by OBs Visit: Thursday 17th—MMD at Thistle & Crown 1167 (Neilston) at 7.30pm Sir William Wallace RAC 19th April—RA at 7.30pm

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Masonic Bookplates The front cover depicts an example of a masonic bookplate. These usually include symbols, the owner’s name and perhaps a motto, often in Latin. The earliest known marks of ownership of books or documents date from the reign of Amenophis III in Egypt (1391-1353). However, in their modern form, they evolved from simple inscriptions in books which were common in Europe in the Middle Ages, when various other forms of "librarianship" became widespread (such as the use of class-marks, callnumbers, or shelfmarks). The earliest known examples of printed bookplates are German, and date from the 15th century. Today, the practice has all but disappeared.

However, the PGLRE is starting a masonic library to be made available in The Royal Stewart No. 1414, 366 Shieldhall Road, Glasgow, G51 4JH and an online version at . . . .

If any brother would like to donate to the library then perhaps a bookplate showing who donated the book might be a way to recognise the gift. Another couple examples are shown below and these could also be adapted to include the donator’s name.

If any brother would like to donate, please email me at sec@pglre.org and I will ensure some kind of recognition is available.

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The Ashlar was first published in September, 1855 in Detroit, USA produced many fine articles, one of which is given below.

The Point within the Circle

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The Second World War The Commander of Allied forces in the Mediterranean in World War II, Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, Viscount of Tunis, was also a Mason. Alexander served as a junior officer in a Guards Regiment in France from 1914 to 1918, being severely wounded and winning several decorations for gallantry. Alexander commanded the rear guard at the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, and then served as the commander of British forces in south eastern England before being assigned to the Middle East. He was a member of Athlumney Lodge No.3245 in London, serving as its Master in 1938 and 1939. He was an active Royal Arch Mason and later served as a Grand Steward and Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of England.

No record of British Military Masons in World War II would be complete without mentioning the Commander in Chief, HRH George VI (1895- 1952). The King was a very active Mason from the time of his initiation in 1919 into Naval Lodge No.2612 (EC).

In 1922 he became Grand Senior Warden, and in 1924 Provincial Grand Master of Middlesex. He accepted the rank of Past Grand Master on his ascent to the throne in 1936. In 1936 he affiliated with Glamis Lodge in Scotland, and was installed Grand Master Mason of Scotland. He installed three Grand Masters, and was active in the Mark Lodges, and Royal Arch Masonry, serving as First Principal. He was a Past Grand Master of the Temple, and a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. Said he of Masonry,

‚The world today does require spiritual and moral regeneration. I have no doubt, after many years as a member of our Order, that Freemasonry can play a most important part in this vital need."

Thought of the Month Freemasonry information.

Cross Keys February. 2013

Old Adverts from 1864 In an older edition of the Cross Keys, an article described Bro. George Kenning. Here is another advert for his store in Howard Street, which was just around the corner from where TKS used to have its Glasgow branch before closing in the 1990s. Similar to TKS of today, he also sold various military badges and not just masonic.

The advert below which was common place for lodges to advertise in the evening papers is surprising in that the premises are Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Can anyone enlighten me with information about this meeting place? Was it another lost masonic hall?

In Memoriam The dead are like the stars by day … withdrawn from mortal eye… yet not extinct that hold their way In glory through the sky… .Spirits of bondage thus set free… .Vanish amidst immensity… While human thought… .Like human sight… .Fail to pursue…. Their trackless flight.

It is with deep sadness and much regret that we have to inform you of a loss sustained to the craft in Renfrewshire in the passing to the Grand Lodge above of the following Brother:

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To submit an article, contact the Editor: Grant Macleod E-Mail:

sec242pm@yahoo.co.uk

Lodge Website

www.lodge242.co.uk

Thanks to Bro. Allan Stobo WSW for proof reading.

Don’t forget to support The Ashlar magazine— Scotland’s only Masonic magazine.

Just click on the magazine to find out more.

Cross Keys February. 2013