SPECIAL
MEETING OF KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL
The regular October meeting of Knights Templar
in Lincoln Cathedral saw a special visit, that of the
Very High and Right Eminent Great Seneschal, Malcolm Ernest
Slater Grand Cross of the Temple.
After a splendid service in the Cathedral
Choir, the Knights paraded into the Chapter House for
their meeting. This was followed by luncheon at the County
Assembly Rooms.
The Provincial Prior, Right Eminent Knight
Gordon Walkerly Smith welcomed the Grand Seneschal to
Lincoln and this very special meeting.
R.E.Kt. Gordon Walkerly Smith K.C.T. addressing
the Knights and their Guests
The Grand Seneschal addresses the Knights
at the Festive Board attended by the Provincial Marshal,
E.Kt. R.H. Wynne
The Provincial Prior makes a presentation
to a St Johns student to enable her to vist and work in
the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.
THE
FIRST KNIGHT TEMPLAR IN LINCOLNSHIRE
Copyright ©2009
This article is the exclusive property of the author who
gives permission for it or extracts from it to be read
in Lodges Chapters and etc., as a means of communicating
light or instruction within freemasonry. No substantive
part thereof may be reproduced or republished or incorporated
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the express written permission of the author. Such permission
shall be obtained in writing from the author following
written request; the author at his sole discretion reserves
the right to refuse the grant of any such permission.
Peter G Knatt
Billericay
February 2009
The First Knight Templar in Lincolnshire
Whilst Wm. Dixon's history of freemasonry in Lincolnshire
states that early returns to the Provincial Grand Registrar
contained the names of several Knights Templar no dates
are given, so that the date of the making of that first
Knight Templar in the Province is not known. In Essex
the first Knight Templar was made in an Antient Lodge
on 28 September 1784 and Suffolk followed suit just a
few months later. On that basis one might expect the first
Lincolnshire Knight Templar to have been made around the
same time, but there does not seem to be any evidence
and so the mystery remains. However, some recent research
might shed some light on the subject although as there
are no Minute books extant it is not possible to prove
the exact date beyond reasonable doubt. In any case much
of the early Masonic Templar records were destroyed in
a fire at the house of Robert Gill, the then Grand Secretary,
in 1820.
First,
though where did the degree originate, and how it arrived
in this country? There are several possible answers, but
the most obvious must be that it was introduced into England
by a military lodge serving on the Continent since R.
Freke Gould explains that:
"Lodges in the British regiments must have constantly
worked side by side with lodges under Strict Observance.
During military operations many prisoners were made on
both sides, and that the masons among them fraternised
in each case with their captors must be taken as a certainty.
The degree of Knights Templar became a favourite one in
lodges of the British Army, and by those military and
Masonic bodies - who must have derived their knowledge
of it from associating with the lodges and brethren under
Strict Observance - the degree was doubtless introduced
into England and America"
The Rite of Strict Observance was predicated upon a
legendary story of certain medieval Knights Templar who
found asylum in Scotland when their Order was so brutally
suppressed. These knights, it was said, became members
of the masons' guilds and so were direct ancestors of
the speculative fraternity now under the Grand Lodge of
Scotland. A fuller account of the Rite can be found in
R Freke Gould's History of Masonry and also a
paper by Bro Litvine .
The
creator of the degree was a German baron, Karl Gotthelf,
Baron Von Hund (1722-76) who was so successful with his
rite that it almost superseded the English style freemasonry
which had been active in Germany. It was taken into other
European countries and until its demise in 1790 exerted
considerable influence on the Continent. Strong elements
from it can be found today in the Scandinavian and Rectified
Scottish Rites . Of course the Rite of Strict Observance
is not the only contender for the title of originator
of the Knights Templar degree, although it must be considered
the most likely one. There is also, for example, the Rite
of the Seven Degrees which emerged from the fertile brain
of Lambert de Lintot who was born about 1736. Jackson
supposes that de Lintot adopted his system by bringing
together a mixture of degrees operating in France in his
day that is, around 1766. Again, Chevalier Andrew Ramsay,
tutor to Charles Edward Stuart, connected freemasonry
with the Crusades in his oration of 1737 .
Wherever the degree originated, in Gould's view there
can be no doubt that the military lodges who were in many
cases custodians of the chivalric degrees did much to
spread the degree throughout this country and abroad.
Since the majority of these lodges had been chartered
by Ireland it might be of interest to note a letter from
the Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland
to Lodge 441 in 38th Foot, which reads:
There is not any warrant issued by the Grand Lodge
of Ireland other than that you hold; it has therefore
always been the practice of Irish Lodges to confer the
Higher Degrees under that authority.
As Henry Sadler, a well respected masonic historian,
writing nearly one hundred and fifty years ago says that
many Antients lodges were of Irish origin, it is not surprising
to find that the Grand Lodge of the Antients, formed in
1751, were of the same opinion. Thus it was generally
held that the Craft warrant conveyed powers to confer
other degrees, such as those of Holy Royal Arch, Knights
Templar and Rose Croix, in that order. A Knight Templar
holding 30 ° was the highest ranking member of the
lodge and his word was law.The Moderns took a diametrically
opposing view recognising just the three Craft degrees.
In fact they accepted the Third degree only with great
reservations at the outset - and the Holy Royal Arch not
at all. This was to be the greatest obstacle at the Union
of 1813.
If
Gould's view is accepted then a lodge in an army regiment
is most likely to have brought the degree to Lincolnshire.
In that case, the 1st Kings Dragoon Guards Regiment must
be considered since it had a lodge formed in 1780 as well
as a Royal Arch Chapter and significantly, a Field Encampment
of Knights Templar, named Fortitude. Indeed, the lodge
was responsible for making the first Knight Templar in
Suffolk in 1785 and influenced the first in Essex in September
of the year before. From Essex the regiment assembled
at Bury St Edmunds for review on 14 April 1785 and on
13 May 1785 marched to Lincoln, Boston and Stamford on
its way to York, probably along the Fosse Way.
Whilst it is not known where the lodge in the regiment
obtained knowledge to perform the degree it is significant
that it was in Bath in 1781, since the degree was being
worked there by the Antiquity of Time Immemorial Encampment
which was one of six Encampments said to have been warranted
by the Camp of Baldwyn at Bristol during its period of
independence. Indeed, Baldwyn had been working a rite
of seven degrees since at least January 1772 probably
obtaining the knowledge through the sea port from Ireland
. In 1780 the 'time immemorial' Baldwyn Encampment of
Knights Templar at Bristol formed itself, by compact with
the old but soon to become dormant Camp of Antiquity at
Bath, into a 'Supreme and Royal Encampment' on the lines
of a similar but previous Irish body. This Charter of
Compact gives a distinct impression that they had visions
of attracting Knights Templar in other parts of England
and forming, in due time, a sovereign authority for the
whole country.
In
January 1791 Thomas Dunckerley being Grand Superintendent
of Royal Arch Masons at Bristol, was invited by the Knights
Templar in that city to be their Grand Master, which he
accepted . However following his death the situation became
quite uncertain so that, being unhappy with matters as
they stood, Baldwyn resumed its former independent status
until 1862 when after much negotiation it came under the
Grand Conclave. Antiquity is included in Dunckerley's
list of Encampments under his control in 1791 and is shown
at the head of the 'List of Encampments discontinued from
not being able to assemble', in the 1809 Statutes of the
Grand Conclave. Whilst Antiquity Encampment's records
begin in the 1790's it is understood that there are records
of the Scots Knights Degrees being conferred in both Bristol
and Bath as early as the 1740's. Interestingly, Scots
Knights Grand Architect is the fourth of the seven degrees
peculiar to Baldwyn. All of this suggests that Antiquity
would have been quite happy to pass on the degree of Knights
Templar to Lodge 426 in the regiment.
Whilst in Lincolnshire in 1785 two of the initiates
in Lodge 426 were 'Gentlemen'; the only two non military
men to be initiated in the lodge. John Webster was made
a freemason on 11 August 1785, and James Hill was made
at or around the same time. They were men of substance,
landowners, certainly members of the local gentry able,
for instance, to sit as jurymen on trials at the Assizes.
It must be assumed that they joined the army lodge because
there were no 'civilian' lodges working in the county
at the time. Perhaps they were related to one of the officers
in the regiment. However, the important question is did
they also take the Royal Arch and Knights Templar degrees
in Lodge 426 perhaps with the intention of conferring
the degrees on members of a civilian lodge they proposed
to form? Unfortunately the Minute Books of the Chapter
and Field Encampment no longer exist and so it will probably
never be known for certain but it might be worth looking
at the lodges working in the area in the latter part of
the eighteenth century to see if their records shed any
light on the matter. As there were just two lodges working
in Lincolnshire around that time, namely, Prince of Wales
Lodge No 496 and St Matthew Lodge No 497 they will be
considered in turn.
The Prince of Wales Lodge No 496 was formed on 28 November
1787 to meet at The White Lion, Lord Street, Gainsborough,
but lapsed it in 1814. Its warrant was then purchased
in around 1818 by freemasons in Sleaford. The Provincial
history relates that its members were an enthusiastic
group of freemasons who would have joyfully embraced the
higher degrees if demonstrated to them; which Webster
and Hill could do. But its list of members does not show
either of these gentlemen as a member. They do show, however,
that Quarter Master George Dickinson, 1st Kings Dragoon
Guards, joined the lodge on 18 August 1788. Quarter Master
Dickinson was aged thirty five at the time and had been
initiated in Lodge 426 on 22 June 1785 whilst the regiment
was in York. In 1786 he served as Junior Warden of the
lodge and is likely to have been a Knight Templar by the
time he joined Prince of Wales Lodge No 496. In fact,
it is suggested that Dickinson joined Prince of Wales
Lodge No 496 with the specific intention of installing
Knights Templar therein. Maybe other members of the regimental
lodge visited either on that day or at some later meeting.
In that case they might well be responsible for making
the first Knight Templar in Lincolnshire in or around
1788. Whilst without the Minute books it is not possible
to prove beyond reasonable doubt, this view is strengthened
by the fact that the 1788 returns for that lodge indicate
several brethren having passed the Chair, a prerequisite
for taking the degree of Holy Royal Arch and Knights Templar.
The second lodge, St Matthew Lodge No 497, was formed
on 20 March1787 to meet at the George Inn, George Street
in Barton on Humber; it was erased on 3 December 1851.
It is interesting to note that members of Minerva Lodge
No 451 meeting at Hull were involved in its formation,
since that lodge dates its origin from a warrant dated
15 September 1783, although there is some suggestion that
it was opened in 1782 . It had a Royal Arch Chapter and
its history shows in the year 1786 references to the working
of the Knights Templar degree, whilst the Minutes of Minerva
Chapter shows Knights Templar being made in the Chapter
as late as 1808. Indeed, some members of Minerva Lodge
No 451 were also members of the Apollo Lodge at York,
warranted in 1773, which quickly rose into favour as the
fashionable Lodge of the period, drawing to itself for
the remainder of the century most of the gentlemen who
aspired to be members of the craft, and becoming, for
a period, the ruling Masonic organisation of Yorkshire.
(Apollo Lodge did not take a number until the Union of
the two Grand Lodges in 1813.) Leading on from the Minerva
Lodge connection is the fact that there was a Conclave
of Knights Templar known as Redemption meeting in York
of which Thomas Dixon, a Trumpet Major in 1st King's Dragoon
Guards was the first Commander; he was also a founder
member of the lodge in the regiment. The Conclave of Redemption
moved from York to Hull after the death of its Commander
John Watson although that was not until 1790. Given that
Quarter Master Dickinson was made a member of Prince of
Wales Lodge No 497 in August 1788 and that the regiment
was obviously in the area it is equally likely that members
of the Lodge 426 would have visited St Matthew Lodge No
496. In fact after leaving Lincolnshire, having marched
from Suffolk, the regiment moved on to York so that they
would have passed through Barton on the way since the
Fosse Way would lead them to cross the river Humber at
that point but again in the absence of the Minute Books
there can be no satisfactory proof. It may be of interest
to note that members of the lodge in the East York Militia,
which had been formed as a Modern lodge in 1782, were
also involved in the formation of St Matthew Lodge No
497. Lodges in the Militia units were as enthusiastic
about the 'higher' degrees as were the army lodges and
just as eager to spread them to civilian lodges. No research
has been undertaken into the Militia lodge but an investigation
might prove useful. Of course, the Lodge 426 in the 1st
King's Dragoon Guards may not have been involved in the
making of the first Knights Templar at all, for there
was the Grand Lodge of All England at York which is known
to have issued ten warrants to lodges although there may
have been more. On that point an extract of a paper by
T B Whytehead reads:
Some allusion should be made to the Grand Royal Arch
Chapter of York which occupied a rather prominent position
for several years, and which was I believe originated
and organised about 1761 by the same active brethren who
constituted the short lived Punch Bowl Lodge. [A London
Lodge of Modern Constitution - Ed.] The earliest record
is dated early in 1762 and the meetings were continued
until about 1780, the minutes being kept with great regularity
and care. Four Royal Arch Chapters are recorded as constituted
under its authority. In 1780 the Grand Chapter recognised
the Order of Knights Templar as the fifth degree in masonry,
and two warrants were issued for the formation of encampments
of brethren working that rite.
Thus the degree might have come into Lincolnshire from
there without the aid of the regiment, but wherever it
came from it must be clear that either Lodge 496 or 497
was the recipient. Nevertheless, since Quarter Master
Dickinson was a member of Lodge 497 then it is suggested
that whether he introduced it or simply assisted, nevertheless
the first Knight Templar in Lincolnshire was made in Prince
of Wales Lodge No 497 at some time around August 1788.
_________________________________________
Bibliography
Gould. R Freke Military Lodges - The Apron and the
Sword or Freemasonry under Arms. London
Litvine The Rite of Strict Observance AQC 1997
Paper read in QCC Lodge 15 February 1996. See also Alan
Bernheim That Strict Observance Paper AQC 110
Smyth, Frederick. Brethren in Chivalry p15
Jackson, Brigadier A.C.F Rose Croix (1980)
Malczovich Ladislas de, AQC5 1892 p 187 Duckett, Thomas
The Baldwyn Saga 1980. Thomas Duckett was Grand
Superintendent of the Camp of Baldwyn from 1971 to 1976
Ward, Eric The Baldwyn Rite - an impartial survey
AQC 71,1958 p36
Ellerby, J R History of The Minerva Lodge of Freemasons
1783-1933 Minerva Lodge Hull 1987
WHAT ARE THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR?
Although referred to as Knights Templar, the correct
title of this wonderful Order is: The
United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple
and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta,
of England and Wales and Provinces Overseas
The Order was first worked in England in 1777, having
probably originated in France. There are two Degrees:
Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, these being joined
by a 'passing' Degree of Knight of St Paul.
A candidate for the first Degree is in the position of
a pilgrim travelling symbolically through hardship and
dangers until he is received as a Knight. It teaches humility
and urges the candidate to live his life as a Christian
Knight, learning that penance and meditation play their
vital part in preparation for Christian knighthood.. Whilst
no claim is made for any connection with the medieval
Military Orders, the degree of Knight of the Temple commemorates
the actions of a band of knights who were granted a place
of habitation within the sacred precincts of King Solomon's
Temple by Baldwin, the King of Jerusalem in 1118.
The second Degree recounts the history of Knights of
Malta and their long struggle against the infidel. It
traces the period when the Knights left Jerusalem and
travelled to their final home on the island of Malta,
emphasising their Christian virtues.
The regalia of the Order is most impressive, being based
on that of the medieval Templars, consisting of a mantle,
tunic, cap, sash, star, belt, sword and gloves. The Knights
of Malta regalia is different but not obligatory.
Candidates for installation must profess the Christian
faith and be both Master Masons and Royal Arch Companions
Seal of the Knights Templar showing
two knights sharing one horse.
