The members and visitors of Architect Chapter No 1375 were delighted to receive Second Provincial Grand Principal Andrew Whittle to their convocation held at the Urmston Masonic Hall, in order to celebrate the magnificent achievement for the chapter in reaching the age of 150 years.
Andrew was accompanied by, as you might expect on such an occasion, a plethora of fellow Grand Chapter officers together with other distinguished Provincial Grand Officers, group officers and visiting companions.
After opening the chapter, first principal Sylvester During convened the business of the chapter at which point Andrew, along with the other grand officers entered in to the mix to be welcomed very warmly by the chapter companions.
The first principal’s sceptre was graciously offered to Andrew by Sylvester and on this auspicious occasion it was accepted. Andrew started the history of the chapter by setting the scene with Britain, in the 1870’s being the world’s leading industrial nation. Queen Victoria had so far been on the throne for nearly 40 years and was also the Empress of India. The Football Association had just been founded, and compulsory education had just been introduced!
It was during this time, in 1875 that Architect Chapter was formed out of Architect Lodge No 1375, in the village of Didsbury just outside Manchester. Architect Lodge itself had only been active for 5 years at this time but agreed to sponsor the chapter issuing the petition to Supreme Grand Chapter in February 1874 signed by nine founding members.
This initial petition was, however, rejected as not conforming to current regulations. Thus, a second petition was formulated and approved, and the Warrant of Constitution was consequently issued on the 8 December 1875 by the Grand Master, The Prince of Wales and also signed by his deputy, Lord Skelmersdale and Grand Secretary, John Harvey.
The bye-laws of the chapter were then drafted by the initial group of principals; George Pochin (first principal), Carl Gotz (second principal), Joseph Mackie (third principal), and Joshua Elliott (scribe Ezra) and were approved by the Most Excellent Grand Principle of the day on 18 April 1876.
Architect Chapter originally met at the Didsbury Hotel in Didsbury which had been formerly known as the ‘Ring o’ Bells’ before being renamed as ‘The Didsbury Inn’ and then Hotel and had served the area since the 18th century as a hub for judicial activities and thus, was a natural home for the newly formed chapter. The chapter continued to meet there until 1882, but then moved to the Withington Town Hall on March 16 1882. The chapter then moved to the Conservative Club in Heaton Moor and then to South Manchester Masonic Hall, Edge Lane in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in November 1936 where it spent a happy 70 years until the developers moved in, finally moving to Urmston Masonic Hall in 2013.
For many years, the early history of the chapter was missing, as the original minute book had been mislaid thus, the details of the chapter had to be acquired via the sponsoring Architect Lodge. However, on 17 March 1921 a visiting companion recovered the book and presented it back to the chapter. Unfortunately, at a later date the impious minute book once more disappeared and remains missing to this very day!
In 1976 the chapter celebrated its centenary which was, for a chapter in those days, a rare event and for Architect Chapter, due to the missing minute book, a difficult anniversary to verify. On this occasion though, the Grand Lodge Librarian came to their rescue by confirming the chapter’s continued existence. Thus, on the 9 March that year the celebrations went ahead, with J G Frearson, who had, the previous year been installed as the 100th first principal.
After the centenary, the chapter suffered some challenges, including an admonishment from Provincial Grand Chapter due to there being no record of a representation at a meeting in Worsley in June 1979! Meeting attendances began to decline. This was on one occasion, witnessed by the Grand Superintendent of the day, D Walton but, far from being deterred by this, it spurred him on to support the chapter’s revival and immediately after the meeting he submitted an application form to join along with his father the then secretary of the South Eastern Group.
D Walton also went on to raise the chapter’s profile by inviting several of the rulers of Provincial Grand lodge to be principal guests. These efforts set up a period of stability for the chapter during the 1980’s and the membership began to grow once more, including a current member Brian Hayes the ‘Father of the Chapter’.
The historical content of the meeting having been brought to a close, the chapter was then closed and the celebrations were continued at a magnificent and cheerful festive board, with excellent food and wine in plentiful supply. Andrew, in response to his toast, congratulated the founders for their foresight in opening the chapter and to the current and future members for its continued existence and promising future.
The memorable occasion was then closed with a heartfelt speech from Sylvester in which he commented that 150 years on, the chapter’s founder’s he felt, would look upon their work with profound pride as, although the world has been transformed, the cord of Architect Chapter remains as a close knit, friendly fraternity and a living beacon for the future.