ROYAL CLARENCE LODGE 1823
- Consecrated July 23rd 1879 -
Royal Clarence Lodge was not the first Lodge of Freemasons to hold its meetings in Clare, for the South Suffolk Lodge No.910 was chartered on 7th December 1853 to meet at the Half Moon Inn at Clare. From there it moved to The Bear and Crown but by October 1857 had re-located to Sudbury where it was hoped that more members would join. Sadly, as this did not happen, by June 1865 the Lodge was erased from the register.
Since 1926 The Lodge has been very proud to be one of only three Hall Stone Lodges in the Province. This title was bestowed in recognition of subscriptions made to The Masonic Million Memorial Fund.The Hall Stone jewel itself will be worn by each Installed Master of this Lodge, in perpetuity.
About three years later some of the original Brethen living in Clare met and decided to form a new Lodge and on 28th April 1879 the Warrant for the new Lodge was issued. It is not clear why the name Royal Clarence was chosen but HRH The Earl of Clarence consented to accept the office of Master and was installed in January 1884 with W.Bro. Major General C.Ives as his deputy. The Earl, who was the youngest son of Queen Victoria, died suddenly in March 1884 at his residence in Cannes following a bad fall, and is buried in the Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor. There is a large brass plaque in the Clare Parish Church commemorating his association with Masonry in Clare.
The Consecration ceremony itself took place on July 23rd 1879 and with Bro.S.C.Cooke installed as its first Master. After the formal proceedings all adjourned to The Priory in Clare for a special banquet. In attendance were forty Brethren together with the Provincial Grand Master and his Deputy.
At a Lodge held on April 9th 1895 W.Bro. J.E.Barnes presented to the Brethren a unique set of gavels, which are still in use today in the Lodge. The donor described them as follows "The heads of the gavels are formed from the teeth of sperm whales taken on the coast of Japan in the year 1857 by the sperm whaler "Cowlitz", the last sailing out of England. The shafts are made from spears obtained in New Guinea on the same voyage". W.Bro. acted as Surgeon on the ship.
In 1930 the Lodge completed the purchase of the site which today houses the Lodge. By 1938 the present building was completed at which time the subscriptions were set at £2.2s.0d. By 1964 these had risen to £6.6s.0d. During the Second World War the premises were used occasionally by the Military and the sum of £80.5s.3d. was eventually received as compensation.
At some stage later a very ornate and unique ceiling was put in place in the Temple having been purchased from the Sir Issac Newton Lodge in Cambridge which was due to move. The ceiling is still in place today.
We hope the following information presented on these pages you find interesting. But should you have any further questions about our history, then our Lodge Archivist W. Bro David Crowley, will be more than happy to assist.
To e-mail David, just click his image on the left.
Thank you.
LODGE ARCHIVIST: W Bro. David Crowley