Lodges And Chapters

Worsley Lodge No.1814

It could be said that the Lodge had its beginnings by an order issued from the Colonel-in-Chief of the 17th Lancers stationed in India in 1867. Sgt. Major Williams, a Crimean war veteran and survivor of the ‘Valley of Death’ charge at Balaclava, requested to be discharged in that country with his family, but the Colonel insisted that his friend, the Earl of Ellesmere, required an experienced soldier as an instructor to take charge of the Duke of Lancaster’s own yeomanry in Worsley.

Sgt. Major Williams, together with his family, duly took up residence at 61 Barton Road in Worsley Village, opposite the old limekiln, to drill the pupils of St. Mark’s school and also became the Post Master, a position he held for thirty years.

Already a Freemason, Williams joined Bridgewater Lodge No. 1213, subsequently becoming Worshipful Master and eventually, together with Bro. William Bowden decided to form a new Lodge nearer home. The idea of having Lord Ellesmere as the first Worshipful Master, so giving the new Lodge a high status, was put into action and Williams approached the Vicar of Worsley, the Earl of Musgrave, Lord Ellesmere’s brother-in-law, to make the request. His Lordship agreed, but there was a snag, he was not in the Craft but was subsequently Initiated into United Lodge No. 1629, a special Lodge in London for the gentry, where he served a brief spell as Warden and Master so qualifying him for the position as Worshipful Master of the new Lodge.

So, on 17th February 1880, a bitterly cold day of fog, frost and snow at the Court House in Worsley, the Lodge was consecrated. The ceremony was carried out by a relative of Lord Ellesmere, the Provincial Grand Master Bro. Colonel Le Gendre N. Starkie and the Earl was installed as Worshipful Master. Among the congratulations sent was a telegram from no less a person than the Prince of Wales.

W.Bro. Richard Hall Williams subsequently became the second Worshipful Master with William Bowden becoming the seventh. Two of Williams’ sons G.C. Williams and C.H. Williams followed in their father’s footsteps becoming the thirty-second and fortieth Worshipful Masters, an outstanding service given by one family to the Lodge.

A tradition formed by Clem Williams in 1953, on his Golden Jubilee in the Craft, was the presentation of a silver-drinking goblet (pictured above), which had been given to his father by his military comrades when he retired, to the Lodge. The goblet is used by the reigning Master during his year in the Chair and is handsomely engraved and includes the skull and crossbones ‘Death or Glory’ motto of the 17th Lancers.

Meetings continued to be held at the Court House for some sixty-six years, an envied venue with a sprung floor and a huge fireplace, essential for the winters in those days.
The hostelry across the road, nicknamed ‘The Grapes’, provided the Social Board up until 1903 when it was demolished to make way for a new gateway to the Earl’s residence.

In 1946, however, the Lodge voted to leave the Court House along with Walkden Lodge, who by then had also taken up residence there, and move to Eccles Masonic Hall where we have been very comfortable to this day.

The foregoing is just a brief account of the early days of Worsley Lodge. For a full and very interesting history, the book by Bro. Harry W. Charlton, ‘The First Hundred’ is recommended and can be obtained by contacting the Lodge Secretary.