Craft Freemasonry
St.Aubin's Lodge No 958
Warrant issued 31st March 1863
Consecrated 6th May 1863.
Centenary warrant issued 6th May 1963
St. Aubin's Lodge No. 958
Sesquicentenary 1863 - 2013A Brief History of the Lodge
W.Bro. G.L. Spence PAGDC
For the United Grand Lodge of England the mid-19th century was a golden era for the founding of Masonic Lodges. Of the Lodges consecrated in 1863 alone, thirty-two are still in existence, with similar numbers extant from the years either side. Yet while English Freemasonry was apparently flourishing in the 1860's, the same cannot be said of the Province of Jersey, which was experiencing a period of turbulence. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that a new Lodge should be formed under such circumstances, but the driving force behind this endeavour, W.Bro. Dr. Henry Hopkins was a man of clear intention, great energy and an enthusiastic Mason.
The then Provincial Grand Master of Jersey, R.W.Bro. James John Hammond, reportedly a somewhat intractable and imperious character, was frequently at variance with senior members of the Province. The Province itself was weak, both numerically and financially, and was often divided by internal dissentions. Individual Lodges were at times similarly beset and not always disposed to acknowledge attempts by London to impose authority and control. In Jersey at that time communication, by either road or post, was not easy, Lodges met at several locations, and to further complicate matters an irregular French Lodge was meeting in the island.
These complications accepted, the 1860's witnessed not only the consecration of three new Lodges in Jersey; (Royal Alfred No. 1179 (now 877), St. Aubin's No. 1260 (now 958) and Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1003, but also the construction of the magnificent Masonic Temple in St. Helier; an act of great foresight that has served to ensure the Province's success and, The Great Architect willing, shall continue to so do for generations to come.
W.Bro. Dr. Henry Hopkins was a Doctor of Divinity, a Quaker, a Past Master of St. Paul's Lodge (Birmingham), a Past Provincial Grand Warden of the Province of Warwickshire and a joining member of Loge La Césarée in Jersey. Dr. Hopkins lived at Richmond Place, Millbrook, and on the 24th March 1863 there convened a meeting comprising eight eminent Jersey Brethren, including Colonel Edward Charles Malet de Carteret, Signeur of St. Ouen; later to become Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent. Those gathered that day resolved to found St. Aubin's Lodge, which would meet at Cowdray's Hotel in St. Aubin, the old capital of the island, on the last Tuesday of every month of the year.
The primary reason for forming a new Lodge was almost certainly one of geography. Lodges at that time held their meetings in St. Helier or the east of the island. Given the arduousness of travel, especially in the winter months or at night, an apparent need existed for a Lodge meeting regularly in the relatively populous west of the island.
Loge La Césarée consented to recommend the application to form the new Lodge and members readily signed the petition. Each of the founding committee volunteered to contribute items of Lodge furniture or regalia and with remarkable speed the Warrant was duly issued by the Provincial Grand Master. The Warrant, dated 31st March 1863, was handed to W.Bro. Hopkins on 16th April, on which day he called a further meeting of the founders where it was agreed to admit in total twenty Founder Members, without fees.
On 22nd April 1863, apparently without dispensation from either the Provincial Grand Master or London, and before the Lodge had been consecrated, the Lodge met formally at Dr. Hopkins's house. Six days later Dr. Hopkins attended a Preparatory Committee meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge in the capacity of Master of St. Aubin's Lodge, despite not yet having been installed as such. It appears, however, that such practices were to be short lived as in the following year Grand Lodge issued new rules governing work in a Lodge yet to be consecrated.
St. Aubin's Lodge was consecrated on 6th May 1863 at Cowdray's Hotel before a prodigious assembly of Brethren which included the Lieutenant Governor, Bro. Sir Percy Douglas. The consecration was preceded by a meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge which, after the dispatch of routine business, was called-off to proceed with the consecration ceremony, recorded as commencing at 11.30 a.m.
W.Bro. Hopkins was duly installed by the Provincial Grand Master and invested his officers. The Lodge then initiated three candidates (these having been proposed and accepted at the pre-consecration meetings) and was closed at 3.00 p.m.
The assembled Brethren then processed, accompanied by a band, to the Chapel of Ease in St. Aubin, and there a sermon was preached by the Founding Chaplain, W.Bro. de la Mare. Alms were collected and the procession re-formed and returned to Cowdray's Hotel where Provincial Grand Lodge was called-on and duly closed.
Dr. Hopkins was of strong opinion that Lodges should meet only in premises specifically devoted to Masonic use and, with customary energy and urgency, within a month of the Consecration secured a four year lease on a suitable building at an annual rental of £8.00. Much has been written on the life and work of Dr. Henry Hopkins and his diverse talents, unremitting zeal and manifold accomplishments. That St. Aubin's Lodge is this year celebrating its sesquicentenary is testimony to the momentum imparted at its establishment by this remarkable Mason.
The intention of establishing a Masonic Lodge in the west of Jersey was, however, short lived. The Lodge held only one other meeting at Cowdray's Hotel before moving to the new Masonic Rooms in St. Aubin in July 1863. Exactly four years later St. Aubin's Lodge relocated to the newly constructed Masonic Temple in St. Helier; since when the Brethren have been summoned to attend the Lodge an estimated 1,275 times.
St. Aubin's Lodge experienced a somewhat chequered early history, both in the support received from members and monetarily, that continued into the early 20th century. The Lodge history, as described in W.Bro. Colin Goss's book 'The Story of Jersey Freemasonry' includes a number of colourful episodes that were not readily resolved without intervention from higher authority.
The last meeting before the German Occupation of Jersey took place on 23rd May 1940. This was the installation meeting and the minutes, although written up, were not signed until 15th April 1947. The minute book was one of those taken by the Nazis when the Temple was sacked in 1941, but remarkably this book was recovered in Germany, along with other documents, at the end of the war and subsequently returned to the Lodge.
St. Aubin's Lodge has prospered during the latter half of the 20th and early years of the 21st centuries, with stable membership numbers which, more latterly, have increased notwithstanding the inevitable attrition through senescence, infirmity or migration. The Lodge celebrated its centenary in May 1963 when centenary jewels were acquired for the members.
The Worshipful Master at the time of the Lodge's Centenary was W.Bro. J.S. (Jack) Lindsey, who, later in the same month, installed his blood brother, W.Bro. E.P. (Ted) Lindsey as his successor. Remarkably, fifty years on, both Lindsey brothers remain subscribing members of St. Aubin's Lodge. Bro. Ted Lindsey attended the 150th anniversary meeting, but unfortunately Bro. Jack Lindsey was unable to make the journey from the UK.
In 1988 the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary was marked by a splendid meeting at which a comprehensive history of the formation and development of the Lodge was presented by W.Bro. Dennis Perrin; a most distinguished and accomplished mason, a Lewis and stalwart of St. Aubin's Lodge, in whose memory this brief history is dedicated.
The twenty-five years since 1988 have proved somewhat of a purple patch for members of St. Aubin's Lodge. In addition to W.Bro. Perrin holding office as Provincial Grand Secretary and being honoured with the Grand Master's Order of Service to Masonry, numbered among Lodge members are, or have been, a Provincial Grand Master, a Deputy Provincial Grand Master, a Provincial Grand Treasurer, two Provincial Grand Secretaries and a Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies. It is also of interest to note that one of the Lodge's Founding members, Rev. J. L. Hanau, was Minister of the original Jersey Jewish Community; a link that has continued through intervening years, and that the current Head of Jersey's Jewish Congregation is also a Lewis and a Past Master of the Lodge.
In closing this short account of temps passé, the members of St. Aubin's Lodge give thanks to our predecessors for their insight and endeavours in making St. Aubin's Lodge the association we value and enjoy today. May we, in turn, carry forward this noble tradition and hope that in another fifty, hundred, or perhaps even a hundred and fifty years, our successors shall celebrate with jubilation the continued success of this, our, Lodge.
The then Provincial Grand Master of Jersey, R.W.Bro. James John Hammond, reportedly a somewhat intractable and imperious character, was frequently at variance with senior members of the Province. The Province itself was weak, both numerically and financially, and was often divided by internal dissentions. Individual Lodges were at times similarly beset and not always disposed to acknowledge attempts by London to impose authority and control. In Jersey at that time communication, by either road or post, was not easy, Lodges met at several locations, and to further complicate matters an irregular French Lodge was meeting in the island.
These complications accepted, the 1860's witnessed not only the consecration of three new Lodges in Jersey; (Royal Alfred No. 1179 (now 877), St. Aubin's No. 1260 (now 958) and Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1003, but also the construction of the magnificent Masonic Temple in St. Helier; an act of great foresight that has served to ensure the Province's success and, The Great Architect willing, shall continue to so do for generations to come.
W.Bro. Dr. Henry Hopkins was a Doctor of Divinity, a Quaker, a Past Master of St. Paul's Lodge (Birmingham), a Past Provincial Grand Warden of the Province of Warwickshire and a joining member of Loge La Césarée in Jersey. Dr. Hopkins lived at Richmond Place, Millbrook, and on the 24th March 1863 there convened a meeting comprising eight eminent Jersey Brethren, including Colonel Edward Charles Malet de Carteret, Signeur of St. Ouen; later to become Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent. Those gathered that day resolved to found St. Aubin's Lodge, which would meet at Cowdray's Hotel in St. Aubin, the old capital of the island, on the last Tuesday of every month of the year.
The primary reason for forming a new Lodge was almost certainly one of geography. Lodges at that time held their meetings in St. Helier or the east of the island. Given the arduousness of travel, especially in the winter months or at night, an apparent need existed for a Lodge meeting regularly in the relatively populous west of the island.
Loge La Césarée consented to recommend the application to form the new Lodge and members readily signed the petition. Each of the founding committee volunteered to contribute items of Lodge furniture or regalia and with remarkable speed the Warrant was duly issued by the Provincial Grand Master. The Warrant, dated 31st March 1863, was handed to W.Bro. Hopkins on 16th April, on which day he called a further meeting of the founders where it was agreed to admit in total twenty Founder Members, without fees.
On 22nd April 1863, apparently without dispensation from either the Provincial Grand Master or London, and before the Lodge had been consecrated, the Lodge met formally at Dr. Hopkins's house. Six days later Dr. Hopkins attended a Preparatory Committee meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge in the capacity of Master of St. Aubin's Lodge, despite not yet having been installed as such. It appears, however, that such practices were to be short lived as in the following year Grand Lodge issued new rules governing work in a Lodge yet to be consecrated.
St. Aubin's Lodge was consecrated on 6th May 1863 at Cowdray's Hotel before a prodigious assembly of Brethren which included the Lieutenant Governor, Bro. Sir Percy Douglas. The consecration was preceded by a meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge which, after the dispatch of routine business, was called-off to proceed with the consecration ceremony, recorded as commencing at 11.30 a.m.
W.Bro. Hopkins was duly installed by the Provincial Grand Master and invested his officers. The Lodge then initiated three candidates (these having been proposed and accepted at the pre-consecration meetings) and was closed at 3.00 p.m.
The assembled Brethren then processed, accompanied by a band, to the Chapel of Ease in St. Aubin, and there a sermon was preached by the Founding Chaplain, W.Bro. de la Mare. Alms were collected and the procession re-formed and returned to Cowdray's Hotel where Provincial Grand Lodge was called-on and duly closed.
Dr. Hopkins was of strong opinion that Lodges should meet only in premises specifically devoted to Masonic use and, with customary energy and urgency, within a month of the Consecration secured a four year lease on a suitable building at an annual rental of £8.00. Much has been written on the life and work of Dr. Henry Hopkins and his diverse talents, unremitting zeal and manifold accomplishments. That St. Aubin's Lodge is this year celebrating its sesquicentenary is testimony to the momentum imparted at its establishment by this remarkable Mason.
The intention of establishing a Masonic Lodge in the west of Jersey was, however, short lived. The Lodge held only one other meeting at Cowdray's Hotel before moving to the new Masonic Rooms in St. Aubin in July 1863. Exactly four years later St. Aubin's Lodge relocated to the newly constructed Masonic Temple in St. Helier; since when the Brethren have been summoned to attend the Lodge an estimated 1,275 times.
St. Aubin's Lodge experienced a somewhat chequered early history, both in the support received from members and monetarily, that continued into the early 20th century. The Lodge history, as described in W.Bro. Colin Goss's book 'The Story of Jersey Freemasonry' includes a number of colourful episodes that were not readily resolved without intervention from higher authority.
The last meeting before the German Occupation of Jersey took place on 23rd May 1940. This was the installation meeting and the minutes, although written up, were not signed until 15th April 1947. The minute book was one of those taken by the Nazis when the Temple was sacked in 1941, but remarkably this book was recovered in Germany, along with other documents, at the end of the war and subsequently returned to the Lodge.
St. Aubin's Lodge has prospered during the latter half of the 20th and early years of the 21st centuries, with stable membership numbers which, more latterly, have increased notwithstanding the inevitable attrition through senescence, infirmity or migration. The Lodge celebrated its centenary in May 1963 when centenary jewels were acquired for the members.
The Worshipful Master at the time of the Lodge's Centenary was W.Bro. J.S. (Jack) Lindsey, who, later in the same month, installed his blood brother, W.Bro. E.P. (Ted) Lindsey as his successor. Remarkably, fifty years on, both Lindsey brothers remain subscribing members of St. Aubin's Lodge. Bro. Ted Lindsey attended the 150th anniversary meeting, but unfortunately Bro. Jack Lindsey was unable to make the journey from the UK.
In 1988 the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary was marked by a splendid meeting at which a comprehensive history of the formation and development of the Lodge was presented by W.Bro. Dennis Perrin; a most distinguished and accomplished mason, a Lewis and stalwart of St. Aubin's Lodge, in whose memory this brief history is dedicated.
The twenty-five years since 1988 have proved somewhat of a purple patch for members of St. Aubin's Lodge. In addition to W.Bro. Perrin holding office as Provincial Grand Secretary and being honoured with the Grand Master's Order of Service to Masonry, numbered among Lodge members are, or have been, a Provincial Grand Master, a Deputy Provincial Grand Master, a Provincial Grand Treasurer, two Provincial Grand Secretaries and a Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies. It is also of interest to note that one of the Lodge's Founding members, Rev. J. L. Hanau, was Minister of the original Jersey Jewish Community; a link that has continued through intervening years, and that the current Head of Jersey's Jewish Congregation is also a Lewis and a Past Master of the Lodge.
In closing this short account of temps passé, the members of St. Aubin's Lodge give thanks to our predecessors for their insight and endeavours in making St. Aubin's Lodge the association we value and enjoy today. May we, in turn, carry forward this noble tradition and hope that in another fifty, hundred, or perhaps even a hundred and fifty years, our successors shall celebrate with jubilation the continued success of this, our, Lodge.