A LITTLE EXCURSION' AMONG THE DEVONSHIRE FREEMASONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1918, Page 3

A LITTLE EXCURSION' AMONG THE DEVONSHIRE FREEMASONS.

To the Editor. Sir,—A wet Sunday afternoon and a little book with a faded blue back have afforded opportunity and material for quite an interesting study of names familiar to all residents of' this district and especially to those who, or whose progenitors, are identified with the founding of (he infant settlement of New Plymouth. The Devon and Cornwall Masonic Register for the year 1873-74. printed in Old Plymouth, contains (he ii-ual Masonic information of the period with complete lists of ihe officers of each C'rafi, Lodge, Clinpter, and I'rcceptnry in Ihe two counties and one cannot but be struck with the large number of names which, since the 'Amelia Thompson" landed her passengers on Xgamotu beach in IS-I1 have become well known and honored in this community. Tradition has it that most of the worthies who came here under the auspices of the Plymouth Company of Xew Zealand were yeomen of a type more at home in the smock frock than the regulation evening dress which constitutes the garb of a Mason, but many of their descendants here have discarded the one for the other and it would appear that a generation or so after our pioneers left the Old Land numbers of their kinsfolk had similarly developed and attained some prominence in the social life of the Home towns. By way of frontispiece there is a photograph of Provincial Givnd Master the Earl of Edgcumbe, whose father's title is perpetuated in one of our streets, while, the. Secretary of the Committee of iPetitions, and also Secretary of St. John's Lodge 70 (Plymouth) is the V.W. Bro. (lover, whose namesake street in this town is the main road to the racecourse and daily trod by so many of the Central School children. A Bro. Allen is the Worshipful Master of Lodge 100 (Plymouth) and John Searle its organist. William doll figures as the W.M. of Fidelity Lodse 2:10 (Devonport), and the name if Thomas Bayly seems quite appropriate in the Treasurership of Sincerity ISO (Slonehouse). Bro Brooking appears as I.P.M. of True Love and Unity Lodge. 24S (BrMiam), and Isaac Watt Is also a Past Master of Harmony 150 (Plymouthi. It is a remarkable coincidence that the Tyler of Perseverance Lodge, lfi-1 (Sidmoiith) is Bro. Prout, the mention of whose name may bring to the minds of old Masons in Taranaki the brother who onco upon a time held the same office in the Mount Egmont Lodge. Space does not permit of detailed reference to other familiar names, all holding offices in Devon lodges in the year 1573, among which are Bros. Way* King, Harrison, Avery, Lcthbridge, Andrews, Knuckey, Halse, Moon, Murch, Rowe, Putt, Harris, Moyle, Sampson, Kingdon, Wood, Davy, Hellier, Sutton, Gilbert, Corney, Watson, Snell. Lovcridge, Foote, and Ford, while the Lists are represented by the Treasurers of Loyal Lodge 251, and Loyalty unrt Virtue Chapter, both at Barnstaple. Well-known Taranaki names also figure in prominent positions in the Cornish lodges, and after w'ading through all the pages of the little hook one does not feel that the time lias been spent among strangers—l am, etc., P.M. Xew Plymouth, 14th July.