The Royal Connaught lodge No. 2676

Our History

A brief look

The following is a brief history of our lodge. If you would like to read the presentation given by Denys Lambert on the occasion of our centenary then please click on the ‘Our History In Full’ button link.

5th October 1897

The Lodge was consecrated at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, as a ‘relief’ to the then recently consecrated Anderida Lodge No 2434. Membership was enthusiastically sought after in the late Victorian era and many Lodges had very long waiting lists.
There were 25 founders and the first Worshipful Master was Captain Claude de Montmorency Franklyn, R.E.
During the next few years the membership rose to 38. At the meeting in May 1901 a particularly dramatic and poignant event occurred. After listing those present, with W.Bro Fred Schreiner, one of the Lodge’s Founders, as Worshipful Master, the Minutes simply continue…

Our History The Royal Connaught Lodge banner

During the ceremony of opening the lodge the Worshipful Master was suddenly summoned to the Grand Lodge Above. After a few words from the IPM (The Reverend Hampden Jameson) the brethren quietly dispersed

That’s all there is in the minutes, which were subsequently signed by the Treasurer. This particular meeting of the Lodge was never closed. As a mark of respect, an additional piece of ritual that W. Bro Schreiner had compiled is used in our third-degree ceremony and is unique to the lodge.

World War 1

During the war the Lodge continued to meet regularly although attendances were low as many members were on active service.

25th Anniversary

The Lodge’s 25th anniversary was celebrated at the Queens Hotel October 1922, having moved there from the Grand in 1909.

World War 2

During World War Two the Lodge only suspended its meetings for six months during October 1940 to March 1941, but had to move to The Drive Hotel as the seafront hotels were all in a proscribed ‘Defence Area’. Mercifully the Lodge suffered no wartime casualties or injuries to its members which at that time numbered approximately 60.

October 1945

The opening of the Masonic Centre in South Street Eastbourne, which is where to this present day we continue to meet.

50th Anniversary

Our 50th anniversary was celebrated on the 7th of October 1947, with dinner at the Cavendish Hotel. Present was our only surviving founding member W.Bro Alfred (‘Daddy’) Hart who by then had reached the age of 83. He passed to the Grand Lodge Above in February 1954, almost 57 years after the Lodge was consecrated.

60th Anniversary

The 60th anniversary on the 5th of November 1957, the W.Bro Mervyn Lambert was Master, he being the father of one of our former Grand Lodge Officers, Denys Lambert.

75th anniversary

The 75th anniversary was on the 7th of December 1973 with W.Bro Jack Man as the Master of the Lodge, the festive board being held at the Queens Hotel.

Centenary

Our centenary meeting and dinner was held at the Hydro Hotel in Eastbourne and was one of the last official functions attended by R.W.Bro David Llewellyn before his retirement as Provincial Grand Master. Since our Centenary the Lodge has gone from strength to strength and has maintained a membership in excess of fifty, making it now one of the larger Lodges in Sussex.

Interested In Joining Us?

If you would like more information on joining our Freemasonry Lodge please visit the Membership page which has all the details you need plus some frequently asked questions. You are also very welcome to contact us directly.

What’s in a name?

We are one of only three continually active Lodges under the United Grand Lodge of England jurisdiction to enjoy the honoured title ‘The Royal Connaught Lodge’. This name was given by HRH Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Earl of Sussex, the third son of Queen Victoria. At the time of our Lodge’s Consecration in 1987, HRH Prince Arthur was the Provincial Grand Master of Sussex. He became the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England upon his brother, Prince Edward’s succession to the throne of England as King Edward VII. Our sister Lodges that also enjoy the title of Royal Connaught include Lodge No. 3266, under the District of Trinidad and Tobago, consecrated 1909, and Lodge No. 2377, under the District Grand Lodge of Bombay, consecrated in 1890. 

We continue to uphold the traditions of the Lodge and are sure our Founders would recognise that the values they instilled are still upheld to this day.

Our History Lodge photo taken at lodge Centenary 1997
Taken at lodge Centenary 1997

Eastbourne Masonic Family Tree

EB Masonic Family Tree

Past Masters of The Lodge

First I.P.M. W.Bro J. H. EWART, Founder