The November meeting of Old Huttonian Lodge No 7614 is the final meeting of the year for this well-established lodge of the Chorley and Leyland Group. Following the usual lodge business, the master, Trevor Partington, announced that the lodge would be pleased to receive a lecture from Sir Peter Roscow of Mereside Lodge No 6360, which is in the Blackpool Group.
Peter is a frequent Fylde Coast visitor and kindly offered to deliver a paper entitled ‘The first Freemason to ascend to the throne of Great Britain’. Peter has over many years researched the history behind key members of our royal families spanning a number of centuries. In this case, Peter focused on George IV and gave an extremely detailed insight into royal life at the end of the 18th century and early 19th century.
In his talk, Peter gave the following facts: King George IV, known as George Augustus Frederick was born on 12 August 1762 as the eldest child of King George III and Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz (Queen Charlotte). He was initiated into Freemasonry by his uncle Henry Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master (1782-1790) on 6 February 1787. King George IV founded his own lodge, Prince of Wales’s Lodge No 259 in 1787 and remained as it’s WM for all his life.
He succeeded his uncle as Grand Master on the latter’s death in 1790. King George IV was made Prince Regent in 1811 owing to his father’s ill health. He relinquished his position as Grand Master to his brother Augustus, Duke of Sussex in 1812, who was confirmed as Grand Master of UGLE in 1813. King George IV succeeded to the throne on 29 January 1820 and was crowned on 19 July 1821 in Westminster Abbey. He died on 26 June 1830 at the Royal Lodge, Windsor Castle some 9 years later.
Following the presentation, Trevor thanked Peter for his fascinating and detailed lecture to which everyone in attendance gave a rapturous round of applause. The rest of the lodge business was then concluded, the lodge closed, and the brethren retired to the festive board.
The festive board was enjoyed by all and featured a prawn cocktail starter, followed by a delightful main of slow cooked duck confit, potatoes and seasonal vegetables, expertly provided by Lee Munro and his team from Masonic Event Catering of The Palace, St. Annes on Sea. The dessert of cheese and crackers was a fitting end to a superb meal. A raffle raised £135 which was added to the charity plate of £55.
IPM John Topping proposed a toast to Trevor and thanked him for his leadership of the lodge over two months since the September installation meeting. Trevor suitably responded and thanked John and all brethren for their continued support and friendship. He thanked Peter for his hard work and dedication to historical research.
Acting JW for the evening was David Jenkinson, who ably proposed a toast to the visitors and thanked them for their attendance and support of the lodge’s Masonic and non-Masonic charities. He referred to the lodge being a ‘learning lodge’ due to its location within a school and having foundations within the Federation of School Lodges.
David said: “As a teacher and educator myself I feel that we have learnt so much over our last two lodge meetings from our visitors, and that I wanted to give the visitors an opportunity to learn from us. An Old Huttonian Lodge merit point is up for grabs to anyone who can tell me who said this quote? “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. This was correctly answered by John Topping. The phrase was spoken by Nelson Mandela who was an honorary Freemason.
Immediately following the toast to the visitors, Peter Taylor, Provincial Grand Secretary responded on behalf of all visitors and congratulated Peter for his extremely interesting and stimulating presentation.
