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The Royal Navy Lodge No.621 (now No. 429) was founded on 12th October 1835 by recommendation of the Provincial Grand Master of Kent The Hon. William Thomas Eardley Twistleton Fiennes.
There is a local tradition that the original Royal Navy Lodge was formed by personnel of the Royal Navy and that meetings were held aboard a warship stationed in the Downs.
A Lodge No. 282 was constituted at Deal on 8th June 1762 which four years later took the name Royal Navy Lodge. The last initiate was registered at Grand Lodge on 13th October 1810, after which date no more returns were made and erasure took place on the 4th December 1822. The warrant was surrendered and is preserved among the archives of Grand Lodge. No more information regarding the activities of that Lodge can be obtained. No reference is made in our Lodge minutes to suggest a relationship with any previous Lodge and therefore the only connection between the two is the name “Royal Navy”. In spite of its name at no time did we have a predominant service membership. There is no reference to a naval rank in the list of the petitioners for the warrant and in the decade that ‘Bro Robert Gould’ and his friends were initiated, the trades of the brethren who were admitted to the craft included Victuallers, Master Mariners, Stationers, Book Makers and Shoe Makers.
In a book entitled ‘Prestonian Lecture 1980’ Robert Freke Gould Masonic Historian 1836-1915 writes:
“Gould’s dairy for the year 1856, preserved in the Library at Freemasons’ Hall, is typical of that kept by a young, newly joined soldier of Gould’s time – and probably of every other age. There are references to ‘subs’ from the ‘governor’ of £20 and £5 from mother and details of the comings and goings of draft records of Lodge meetings attended.”
Whilst stationed at the Depot of the 31st Foot at Walmer, Gould was initiated into the Royal Navy Lodge at Ramsgate on 8th December 1855. Fifty years later it was said of him “His enthusiasm for Masonry at this early stage of his career was evidently of no mean order for he introduced four subalterns to accompany him through the ordeal of initiation the same evening.”
The Royal Navy Lodge has held its meeting in a number of Inns and Taverns including the Cinque Port Arms, Castle Tavern, Woodman Inn, Trafalgar Inn, Rose Inn, Freemasons Tavern and the Royal Hotel.
As time progresses new ideas develop and Freemasonry in Ramsgate flourished. Other lodges had been founded and it was thought that a real masonic home worthy of the order was necessary. The initiative was taken by a body of Masons who formed the “Lewises Corporation” and a building, now known as the Masonic Temple St Lukes Avenue, was purchased. The Royal Navy Lodge was invited to participate in the use of this building and WBro W J Dudlet Worshipful Master and three other PM were successful in completing the necessary arrangements. This was accomplished in January 1912 and since then the Lodge has been holding their meeting here at St Lukes Avenue Ramsgate.
On Monday 28th June 1841 the Provincial Grand Lodge was held in the Royal Hotel Ramsgate, the programme was:
Provincial Grand Lodge was closed in due form and solemn prayer at 3pm, after which the brethren sat down to a sumptuous dinner provided by Bro Hiscock (Treasurer). After dinner several toasts were drunk and several songs were song. The Brethren kept it up till 11 o’clock and the greatest harmony prevailed.
The Royal Navy Lodge No 429 celebrated its centenary on 4th November 1935 with a Church Service at the Holy Trinity Church followed by a luncheon at the Granville Hotel Ramsgate. This was then followed by a Lodge meeting where The Deputy Prov Grand Master WBro W F Blay, The Deputy Provincial Grand Master, The Assistant Provincial Grand Master and Provincial Chaplin were in attendance.
The 150th anniversary was celebrated on 6th November 1985, when we were honoured with the presence of The Deputy Provincial Grand Master V Worshipful Bro. Lt. Col Alexander.
On the foundation laid in 1835 the present superstructure has been erected. Time brings changes in all things, but as always, we are taught that Freemasonry toils to make a man better, to refine his thoughts, purify his sympathy and broaden his outlook, for “Even mean self-love becomes by force divine, the scale to measure others wants by thine”
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