Maida Vale Lodge
2743
The Lodge was consecrated on Monday March l3th, 1899, at the Crown Hotel, Aberdeen Place, Maida Vale, London W9, fifteen years before the start of the Great War. The sponsoring lodge being the Ethical Lodge No. 753 which itself came into being at the commencement of the Boer War in 1880. Whilst many of our original founding brethren served in these wars, happily all returned safely to Maida Vale Lodge.
The Maida Vale Lodge Family Tree (click for full PDF)
The Hall Stone Jewel was conferred upon Maida Vale Lodge after a contribution of eight hundred guineas by the late Grand Master H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn indicating that our lodge faithfully discharged its obligation in contributing to the Masonic Peace Memorial Fund at the erection of the Grand Temple at Freemasons’ Hall on Great Queen Street which was constructed between 1927 and 1933 in memory of those thousands of Brethren who made the supreme sacrifice for liberty and freedom during the First (Great) World War.
It is worth noting that the site on which Freemasons’ Hall is built was originally acquired by English Freemasonry in 1774 some fifty-seven years after the formation of the UGLE.
Click here to learn more about the history of the Hall Stone Jewel
The following is a brief retrospective from 1949: our 50th anniversary (click here for full PDF)
At the Consecration Ceremony eighty-one brethren were present, including the Consecrating Officers. The consecration ceremony was performed with great dignity, and the Lodge business included the installation of the Worshipful Master, election of the Treasurer and Tyler after which the appointment and investiture of the other officers were made.
There were no fewer than thirty-seven founders of the Lodge. A committee was also formed to frame the By-Laws, and five candidates were proposed for initiation and two as joining members. The early Minutes of the Lodge record that it made good progress, and for many years there was no lack of candidates for initiation.
All Masonic business having been completed, the Lodge was closed in due form with solemn prayer and in perfect harmony. The Brethren subsequently retired to the Festive Board, and although the banquet was timed to commence at seven o’clock, there was no indication is given of the time of its termination!
At this stage, it might be interesting to give the following statistics of the Lodge during the first 50 years (1899 -1949):
Number of Founders 37
Number of Members 303
Number of joining members 30.
During that period Maida Vale Lodge was Vice-Patron to the three Masonic Institutions, a founding Lodge and patron to the Royal Masonic Hospital and honoured as a recipient of the Hall Stone Jewel (see above).
Maida Vale Lodge continues to flourish beyond the swinging sixties, to an era of greater openness, tolerance and equality mirroring the ideals and ethos of freemasonry which culminated with our centenary celebration in March 1999.
The Lodge looks forward to celebrating our 125th Anniversary in March 2024 which will undoubtedly be a joyous and much celebrated event in the continuing and proud history of Maida Vale Lodge.
United Grand Lodge of England and Metropolitan Grand Lodge (click here for full PDF)
On 24th June 1717, four London lodges met at the Goose and Gridiron Ale House in St. Paul’s Churchyard to form the United Grand Lodge of England. Speculative lodges were not only found in London at the time and there is evidence of them in Yorkshire and Cheshire. However, it was the London Lodges which took the initiative to form a Grand Lodge, to install a Grand Master and Wardens and to hold an annual feast, thereby establishing the first governing body for Freemasonry. The UGLE remains the oldest Grand Lodge in the World and is currently celebrating three hundred years of freemasonry in England, Wales and those many parts of the Globe that adhere to the English Constitution. Click here to read the full history or download the PDF.