Constituted 1826

Although Calpe Lodge or as it was then known 'Gibraltar Lodge' was the first stationary Irish Lodge in Gibraltar, it has been said that Irish Freemasonry first came to Gibraltar in 1742 when the 39th Regiment of Foot who recently arrived in the Garrison applied for and obtained a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ireland.  Is this the case?  This viewpoint though has been questioned many a time, and to confirm it, one has to first study the movements of army regiments to verify if and when a particular regiment served in Gibraltar.

 

Indeed if R. F. Gould (P.M. Lodge 153 E.C.) is to be believed, there made its appearance at Gibraltar the first Lodge which was not under the English Constitution - Lodge No. 128 I.C., established, he implies, at Gibraltar on 21st November, 1742, in the 'Thirty - Ninth Regt. of Foot'.1  There had been prior to the first stationary Irish Lodge many other Irish Lodges in Gibraltar which were held by other regiments, classed as 'Travelling Lodges' and before 1756 the only Grand Lodge issuing Travelling Warrants was the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

 

One of the Travelling Lodges and assumably the first Irish Lodge in Gibraltar was the 39th Foot - this regiment was raised in February 1702 in Ireland by Colonel Richard Coote,2 this was of course some twenty years before the formation of the Grand Lodge of Ireland and therefore at this time they did not hold a Warrant.  They were first stationed in Gibraltar in 1704,3 the year we all know as being the year that Gibraltar was taken from the Spanish.  They returned in 17133 and again in 1726,3 where they remained until 1730.3

 

Though these periods are much earlier than when the 39th were issued with their Warrant, confirmation of their movements need to be further researched to confirm exactly where and when they were stationed and therefore other sources were sort.

 

After Spain's dismal invasion of Scotland, Admiral Byng decided to send home the Thirty-Ninth4 and before they reached Portsmouth on May 27th 1719 (some companies landing at Plymouth) all danger from the Spaniards was over and the Thirty - Ninth were sent to Ireland, marching to Chester where they were to embark for Dublin.4  In September, 1725, the regiment, which had been in Ireland for six years, was quartered partly at Waterford, partly at Dungannon.4

A year later - in 1726 Europe seemed heading straight for war.  Large Spanish forces were assembling in Andalusia and little attempt was made to conceal the intention to attack Gibraltar.  That fortress was but weakly held, the four regiments in garrison amounting to barely 1,800 men, and reinforcements were accordingly despatched, among them Newton's4 - the 39th - the journey was fairly rapid, and on February 2nd Gibraltar was reached.4  Some four years later they left Gibraltar - in October 1730 they were suddenly ordered to Jamaica4, they remained there until 1732 when they embarked for England in March 1732.

 

Before we continue, Bro. Rev. H. Poole also has his doubts about this regiment being in Gibraltar at the time when they were issued with their Warrant - for the regiment, now the (39th) Dorsetshire Regt., which was in Gibraltar in 1727 and 1728 and again from 1766 to 1783, does not appear to have been stationed there at the time when the Lodge was warranted.1

 

Returning to the regiments movements and to quench Poole's doubt, their exact locations can be derived from the regiments history - as it was before the end of May (1732) they were back in Ireland, in which country the Thirty-Ninth were destined to make a much longer stay than on their last visit, as they remained there until May 1744.4  In the same year the regiment left Ireland on March 9th 1744, landing at Parkgate near Chester and proceeding to quarters in Surrey and Hampshire.4

 

From this we can immediately see that it extinguishes the conception that the 39th were in Gibraltar when it is said they applied for their Warrant; actually serving in Ireland at that time.

 

Despite this, Bro. Rev. H. Poole also tells us that the 39th Regiment held another Irish Warrant Number 290, which was warranted in 1758; and goes on to say that there were at least five other Irish Lodges in Gibraltar during 1766 - 1783.1  This view is confirmed when in December 1773 The Junior Grand Lodge of England (Antients) received a letter from Gibraltar in which it mentions the presence of Lodges - 11, 244, 290, 359, 420, and 466 held in the 1st, 2nd, 39th, 76th, 56th, and 58th Foot respectively.  This other Warrant - 290 - that Poole mentions was issued in January 1758; though C. T. Atkinson, author of 'The Dorsetshire Regiment' (39th Foot) states that at this particular time the regiment was serving in India.  Some ten months later they again returned to Ireland where it was not until October 24th 1758 that Cork was reached.4                             

 

Due to the fact that there were numerous other Irish Travelling Lodges prior to Gibraltar's first Irish stationary Lodge (Calpe Lodge No. 325) an extensive list was built to clarify what regiments holding Irish Warrants served in Gibraltar, and can be seen at the end of this paper.  As one of the aims was to determine which Travelling Lodge might have been here 'first', we need to concentrate on the earliest arriving regiments, and we can ascertain from the list that before the 1760's the earliest possible Irish Lodges in Gibraltar were numbers 12, 33, 45, 61, 136, 156, 177, 211 and 231.

Several sources have been used and for additional confirmation it was decided that all the above-mentioned regimental headquarters should be contacted to see if they could indeed confirm these dates.  Another source for guaranteed verification of regiments that were stationed in Gibraltar after 1759 can be found in the file 'WO17 - Office of the Commander in Chief: Monthly Returns to the Adjutant General' held at The National Archives, Kew, these are actual returns of Army regiments stationed at Gibraltar.  However this avenue has not been followed up, as private research would be required.

 

Below are listed the Lodges that were in Gibraltar before 1760:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Kitzmiller's listing, the earliest possible Lodge in Gibraltar was Lodge 136, held by the 17th Foot.  This possibility though is erased, as Collette Blair, Head of Library Services, Prince Consort's Library, kindly informed me that it was only a detachment from the 17th Foot that had been sent to Gibraltar from Minorca during the period of the 13th Siege, which was during 1727-1730.  This was some fifteen to twenty years prior to the Warrant being issued to brethren on the 24 June 1743 whilst they were serving in Minorca 1723 to 174811, thus erasing them from being the 'first'.

 

From this, our focus is now placed upon two Lodges, numbers 156 and 177, held by the 19th and 10th Foot respectively.

Warrant number 156 was issued to Brethren in the 19th Foot - probably either 4th March or 7th May 174711.  Although no mention of them could be found in R. E. Parkinson’s ‘History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland’, in Richard Cannon's (1847) ‘Historical Record of The Nineteenth or The First Yorkshire North Riding Regiment of Foot’ we learn that ‘the regiment returned to England during the winter of 1748-9, and immediately proceeded to Gibraltar, where it was stationed four years’, being ‘relieved from garrison duty at Gibraltar, in 1753, the regiment returned to England’.  They ‘obtained a local warrant No.3 from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Andalusia at Gibraltar’11.  The regiment returned again in 1762 where it remained for eight years, in Ireland they served five years from 1775 to 1800, and during this time the ‘minutes of No.19 Youghal, show 156 in the 19th Foot quartered at Kinsale (Co. Cork), November 1780’11.  It was during this time that they ‘surrendered 156 to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Munster, who transferred it to Kinsale, Co. Cork, July 1779’11.

 

As for Warrant number 177, this was issued to the Brethren in the 10th Foot, Colonel Pool's Regiment of Foot on the 6th May 174811, the same year the War (1740-481) of the Austrian Succession ended and one year before their departure to Ireland.  It was from this very regiment that Major Charles Vallancey became Grand Secretary some twenty years later, in 1768.  This regiment, the 10th, had been raised at Plymouth in 1685 and was commanded by Colonel John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, and during their service in Gibraltar it was known by two different names, from 1737, Columbine’s Regiment of Foot and from December 1746, Lord Tyrawley’s Regiment of Foot.  Unfortunately though the Lodge did not survive long as during their service in Ireland the extant Grand Lodge Registers records ‘This Warrant was settled in Dublin in the year 1750 and for non-payment of dues was expelled 4 July 1755’11, a very short life of only six years.  The Tenth, however also had two other Warrants issued to them, number 378 in November 1761, cancelled in 1815 and number 299, issued in August 1758 and cancelled in July 1818.

 

During Gibraltar’s 13th Siege (1727-30) and 14th Siege (1779-1783) many Warrants, documents etc. were either lost, destroyed or mislaid and this makes it very difficult to relate to old Lodge documents of Lodges that might have worked here.  Thankfully though, other sources are available so we can now move onto the periods and names of other Irish Travelling Lodges that worked in Gibraltar.

 

Although The Grand Lodge of Ireland was the first Grand Lodge to issue Travelling Warrants, Scotland issuing its first in 1747 and England in 1755, not all matters though were flowing smoothly for Irish Lodges on the Rock or indeed regiments in possession of Irish Warrants.

 

In the Minutes of Lodge No. 202 (Antients) dated 6th August 1780 a small problem arose; that visiting other Lodges was not allowed - well at least in this case to a particular Irish Lodge - 290 (39th Foot) – ‘It is further agreed that no member of this Lodge Vizit another Lodge without Leave from the chair’.1  A Brother Tolley, an Entered Apprentice made complaints to his Lodge, No. 202 (Antients) and that he - had Frequently Requested further steps in Masonry, which if he Did not receive Insisted upon having his Money Return'd or Leave to Join another Lodge1.  Thankfully – Bro. Tolley was found worthy, and three days later he was passed.1

 

For those Brethren not familiar with this reoccurring term 'Antients', the United Grand Lodge describe it as having been 'a rival Grand Lodge in England made up of Freemasons of mainly Irish extraction who had been unable to join Lodges in London, the founders claimed that the original Grand Lodge had departed from the established customs of the craft and that they intended practising Freemasonry ’according to Old Institutions’.'

Another crisis that arose in the 1800’s that affected Irish Regimental Lodges was the effect of peace, many regiments were disbanded after Waterloo - with the consequent extinction of the Regimental Lodges; others were closed down by order of their commanding officers.12  Despite these difficult times, Brethren from Irish Lodges actually held the very high office of Provincial Grand Master; though this was under the Provincial Grand Lodge (Antients) in Gibraltar, which was established in 1786.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having now arrived at the later part of the 1700’s, Bro. Rev. H. Poole tells us that in 1772 - there were also no fewer than six Irish Lodges stationed1 in Gibraltar, however he shows Lodge 359 as being held by the 75th Foot, whereas it was actually held by the 76th Foot.

 

Irish Lodges in Gibraltar 1772

Lodge 11         1st Foot

Lodge 244       2nd Foot

Lodge 290       39th Foot

Lodge 359       75th Foot (actually issued to 76th Foot)

Lodge 420       56th Foot

Lodge 466       58th Foot

 

Due to a letter from the 'Antients' Lodge No. 148 to their Grand Secretary, the matter arose in Grand Lodge; it concerned the St. John's Procession to Church.  The Grand Lodge (Antients) heard from Lodge 148 (Antients) that - a set of people who had their authority from the Modern Grand Lodge thought it proper to dispute the legality of said Warrant 147 &c, and proceeded to other Unwarrantable Measures.  In these Minutes, dated 15th December 1773, it shows - that in said Garrison there was also held the Lodges No. 11, 244, 290, 359, 420 and 466 on the Registry of Ireland - and that these Lodges - on the Irish Registry supported the Lodge No. 148.  This really is not surprising, the 'Antients' Lodge working under the Antients Grand Lodge - that of Freemasons of mainly Irish influence and extraction.

 

By 1786 regimental Lodges were being issued with ‘local’ numbers: -

Lodge No. 6          28th Foot (NCO’s)

Lodge No. 7          70th Foot

Lodge No. 9          28th Foot

 

Problems again arose for the Irish Lodges in Gibraltar, this time by a certain Bro. Rev. William Martin Leake, Chaplain to the Governor of Gibraltar.  This Brother, Poole writes 'threw himself into a battle against the ‘Antients’' - a battle ending with Leake's return to England.  It is not my aim to go into detail about this Brother, but ‘Poole’ states that his correspondence was voluminous.

 

Leake, a ‘Modern’ - was pressing the case for a Provincial Grand Lodge1 – and in a letter he wrote, December 1787, he added 'a List of the Lodges in this Garrison, who oppose our Authority'1 – of these five were Irish.

 

                                   No.                  Regt.                            Registry

                                   243                  59th                             No authority

                                   244                  Queen’s Rt                  Ireland

                                   351                  18th Rt                        Do

                                   604                  11th                             Do

                                   617                  32d Rt Officers           Do

 

Some five years later, March 1792, the Prov. Grand Secretary (Antients), reported the departure of Lodges 92 (25th Foot), 243 (59th Foot), and 244 (2nd Foot).  Their relief's brought with them arrivals of further Irish Lodges and are listed in August of the same year: -

                                               No. 74             in the         1st Foot

                                               No. 227           in the         46th Foot

                                               No. 351           in the         18th Foot

                                               No. 604           in the         11th Foot

                                               No. 690           in the         51st Foot

                                               No. 714           in the         68th Foot

 

Unfortunately, the Prov. Grand Secretary (Antients), Samuel Salter, Quarter Master of the 11th Regiment, also reported that 'there is also a Warrant (No 617 Ireland) held by the Officers of the 32d Regiment but on account of neglecting to assemble, and other Irregularities they are erased'.  It is interesting to note that while this officer of the 11th Foot carried out this action he was not a member of the Lodge that was held with this regiment, Lodge 604 I.C., as ‘only a further 5 brethren registered’11 up to February 1794.  The Minutes of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, record, 4th July 1793, that Lodge 617, an Officers' Lodge, held in the 32nd Regt., wrote complaining of being suspended by the Grand Lodge of Andalusia ‘Ordered while at Gibraltar to conform to its Laws and Regulations’11.

 

This though was not the only casualty, as only a year later an Irish Brother, Abraham Wilcox of the 32nd Regiment, Lodge 617 and Provincial Grand Master (Antients) had to report 'with much real concern & Mortification' on fellow Irish Lodges - numbers 351 (18th Regt.) and his own Lodge 617 (32nd Regt.).  He states that they 'have been suspended these 18 Months thro' , No. 351 after 'investigation discover'd many unmasonic practices' and No. 617 had 'for a long time neglected their duty in the P: G: Lodge'.  Before we start to criticise the Irish Lodge's stationed in Gibraltar we must not forget the very difficult times the military personal had whilst in Gibraltar, having survived the 14th Siege only a few years earlier, by the Spanish.  In the 'History of the Tenth Foot' we read 'while at Gibraltar' during their period of service 1730-1749 'the men were driven to burn their huts for fuel' so desperate were their needs, and 'at the end of 19 years' they were 'half starved, deprived of all social life and comforts, and abominably clothed'.

 

One other problem that arose was the non-recognition by an Irish Lodge of the control of the Grand Lodge of Andalusia, in this case by Lodge No. 580 (66th Foot) stationed at Gibraltar - their refusal was reported both to the English ('Antients') and Irish Grand Lodges1.

 

Two years later in February 1794, the number of Irish Lodges dropped to only four: -

 

                                                No. 227           in the         46th Foot

                                                No. 338           in the         66th Foot

                                                No. 690           in the         51st Foot

                                                No. 714           in the         68th Foot

 

The authorities from the Provincial Grand Lodge writing to Grand Lodge, May 1803, showed their concern that Freemasonry in Gibraltar had passed through a difficult period after a general order that had given out by the Governor, General O'Hara, barring any society to assemble or even hold any correspondence 'but since the arrival of His Royal H. the Duke of Kent', the new Governor, allowed them 'of working as formerly'.  This bar understandably was placed due to a severe case of Yellow Fever that hit Gibraltar.

 

From ‘notes from files in G.L. England Library Gibraltar’ we are shown that on 4th December 1803, the only Irish Lodges present in Gibraltar were numbers 244 and 661, held by the 2nd Foot and 13th Foot respectively and by late 1804, the Provincial Grand Secretary informs us that the only Irish Lodge present in Gibraltar was No. 244 Queen's Regt 2nd Foot, and two years later we are told that No. 218 (48th Regiment) was also here.  Two Lodges seemed to have been completely left out of the picture from ‘Pooles’ paper, one was a Lodge that was attached to the 6th (or the 1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, Lodge number 646, their Warrant having been issued to them in 1785.  This regiment was stationed in Gibraltar in 1807.  From their Regimental journal ‘The Antelope’ we find that in 1807 the 6th was not only stationed in Gibraltar but ‘on 28th December it was established under The Provincial Grand Lodge of Andalusia’, as Warrant No. 7, something which Poole omits to mention.  The second Lodge that has not been mentioned in ‘Pooles’ paper was number 156, which was issued to Brethren in the 19th Foot, and - had obtained a local warrant No. 3 from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Andalusia at Gibraltar11.

 

Having laid down numerous facts and figures we must not forget other Irish Lodges that worked in Gibraltar after the Union in 1813 and I think it would be an injustice not to mention the Irish Brethren who sent their approval to Grand Lodge for Gibraltar's first stationary Irish Lodge.  The man responsible for getting things under way was Thomas Armstrong, Secretary of Lodge 68 I.C. (7th Battalion Royal Artillery) who wrote in May 1826 to the Grand Lodge of Ireland - 'W Sir as we expect the Company to be relieved from this Station soon, and a quantity of respectable Inhabitants at present Members of 68 who will of course be left behind us, they have applied to us, to recommend them to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for an Inhabitants Warrant', adding that 'they would make a good use of it'.

 

Edward Bowen, Worshipful Master of Lodge 130 I.C. (64th Regiment of Foot) wrote in June of the same year stating that 'there is no civilian Lodge here on the Irish Establishment', but by August the Master and Wardens of Lodge No. 68, Master's of Lodges No. 42 and No. 130 all gave their recommendation for an Inhabitants Warrant to be established in Gibraltar.

The recommendation finally being granted on 18th September 1826 by the Deputy Grand Secretary, W.Bro. W. F. Graham.

 

From the above we can see that Lodge No. 26, 42, 68 and 130 were present in Gibraltar during the early 1800's.

 

                                          Lodge 26 I.C. (26th Foot) June 1812 to September 1822

                                          Lodge No. 42 (42nd Foot) 1800 (2 months only), 1805 to 1832

                                          Lodge 68 I.C. (7th Battalion Royal Artillery) 1819 to 1826

                                          Lodge 130 I.C. (64th Foot) August 1818 to September 1827

 

An interesting point was discovered taken from correspondence of Lodge No. 5 E.C. held in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Artillery, when on their return to England in 1809 they wrote to Gibraltar, as ‘it was our wish to have the Warrant and Chest sent home’.  Brother Thomas Varner, a Gunner in the 8th Battalion Royal Artillery and past member of same Lodge was the man responsible for the return of said Chest, the correspondence continues by telling us that ‘they had sent it by Br Varner of said Lodge’.  Some Brethren may not be familiar with Brother Thomas, he is listed on a return of members of Lodge No. 5 dated November 1806, shown as having joined from Lodge 479 Ireland.  Lodge number 479 was issued in 1770 to Brethren in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, the county where Thomas was born.  Having settled in Gibraltar, he lived in an area known as District 5 and is shown as married in the 1834 census, he was also employed as Gatekeeper in the Grand Store.  On his discharge Thomas was paid a pension of 1/- and a halfpenny per day.

 

Calpe members know him better as being one of our founder members, and is recorded in a letter sent to Grand Lodge dated 30th April 1827, asking to transfer 'the undernamed Brothers from their different Lodges to 325' - Thomas Varner Past Master Lodge 715 E.C. to be transferred to 325.

 

Footnotes

 

1.        'A sketch of Freemasonry in Gibraltar before the Union' - Bro. Rev. H. Poole - Transactions of the Quatuor

Coronati Lodge.

2.        ‘A guide to the regiments and corps of the British Army on the regular establishment’ - J. M. Brereton 1985.

3.        'In search of Forlorn Hope' - John M. Kitzmiller II - 1988 (2 volumes).

4.        The Dorsetshire Regiment - C. T. Atkinson - 1947 (39th Foot).

5.        Richard Cannon Historical Records of the British Army - Collette Blair; Head of Library Services, Prince Consort's

            Library.

6.         Major (Retd) W. Shaw M.B.E., Regimental Secretary of The Royal Highland Fusiliers

7.         Captain D. J. Lee, Regimental Area Secretary, Royal Anglian Regiment (10th Foot) & 'The History of the Tenth

Foot'.

8.         Major W.H. White, Regimental Museum, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (32nd Foot).

9.         Lieutenant Colonel T.C.E. Vines, Ret'd. Regimental Headquarters, The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of

Yorkshire (14th Foot).

10.       Lt. Col. N. D. McIntosh MBE, Regimental Headquarters, The Green Howards (19th Foot) - he states that 'the

regiment first served in Gibraltar briefly in 1749 but virtually no details of their time there exists'.

11.      ‘Irish Masonic Records’ by the late Bro. Philip Crossle, Past Senior Grand Deacon & Computer Edition of ‘Irish

Masonic Records’ compiled by Rt. Wor. Bro. Keith Cochrane.

12.       History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland PTII, R. E. Parkinson.

13.       The Royal Fusiliers Museum & Archives, H.M. Tower of London (7th Foot).

14.       The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, David Baynham Museum Assistant (6th Foot).

 

A detailed research of Infantry Regiments

stationed in Gibraltar 1704 to 1945,

can be found in issues 14, 16 & 17

of the Gibraltar Heritage Journal