lodge history
Lodge Details
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Named in 1907
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Warrant of Constitution: 31st December 1907
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Consecrated: 18th January 1908
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Centenary Warrant: 18th January 2008
Meeting Places
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From 1907 to 1914
The Masonic Hall, Bexleyheath, Kent
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From 1914 to the present:
The Masonic Hall, Gravesend, Kent
The lodge was named Macartney Lodge to mark the respect in which Samuel Robert Macartney, the then Provincial Grand Secretary, was held throughout the province of Kent.
Note: that at this time (1907) the Province had not yet been divided into East and West Kent, this was done in 1973
The idea of forming a new lodge was contemplated in 1907 by members of the four lodges which met at the Gravesend Masonic Hall at that time, namely lodge of Freedom No 77, Lodge of Sympathy No 483, Erasmus Wilson Lodge No 1464 and William Russell lodge No 3103.
To form a new lodge support is required from another lodge to raise a petition.
The seed was sown at the November Meeting in 1907 when worshipful brothers Walklin and Bowen, both members of the Lodge of Sympathy, asked for the support of the North Kent Lodge for a petition for a new lodge to be known as ‘Macartney Lodge’. The Provincial Secretary, WB Macartney, (who happened to be the Worship Master Designate) gave his support to the petition and requested that the new lodge be allowed to meet at the North Kent Lodge premises with an undertaking that no local candidates would be initiated; there was a suggestion that this should be included in the bye laws, but this was not allowed.
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The petition was obviously upheld, it was signed by the Master, Senior and Junior Wardens of the North Kent Lodge and dated Saturday,7th December 1907.
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The Warrant of Constitution for the new lodge was signed on Tuesday 31st December 1907
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At 1.00pm on Saturdy,18th January 1908 a luncheon for 150 brethren was held in the Bexlleyheath lecture Hall. Following this at 3.00pm Macartney Lodge was born (consecrated) in the Bexleyheath Public Hall which was used as the temple for the occasion.
The ceremony was conducted by the Provincial Grand Master, R.W. F.S.W. Cornwallis.
Following the consecration, in the presence of upward of 200 brethren, the D.P.G.M. W.B. William Russell installed S.R. Macartney as the first Master of the Lodge.
W.B. Macartney then went on to install his officers for the ensuing year.
In the evening the Founders dined together in the Masonic Hall. The new Master presided over a successful gathering.
CHANGES
1. The month of the installation meeting was changed from January to March due to bad weather being experienced at the previous two installation meetings.
2. The lodge moved its ‘home’ From Bexleyheath to the Gravesend Masonic Hall. A record of the absolute date has not been found, a book about the first fifty years of the North Kent Lodge give it as 1913, but the last installation meeting at Bexleyheath was in 1911 and the first at Gravesend was in 1912.
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