Freemasonry In The Province Of Norfolk.

Bacon was a prominent member of the House of Commons , was Chairman of Committees , and was mentioned as a Iikelv candidate for the Speaker ' s Chair . Whilst he represented Callington , he was elected Steward of Norwich in 1750 , and later was advanced to the dignity of Recorder , which he maintained until i 783 . He retired from his Masonic and parliamentary offices in 1784 , and died , full of honours , two vears later .

HliO . IlEXltV . 1 . SPARKS , llKITTV I'liOV . CM .

There were sixteen lodges warranted in the province at its inauguration , and of them six still exist , although one of these , the Lodge of Unity , was removed to Lowestoft , in Suffolk , in 1814 , where it survives as No . 71 . The other live are Union Lodge , No . 32 , at Norwich ; Faithful Lodge , No . 8 3 , Harleston ; Social Lodge , No . 93 , Norwich ;

Friendship Lodge , No . ico . Great Yarmouth ; and Unanimity Lodge , No . 102 , North Walsham . The early Quarterl y Communications of Provincial Grand Ledge were held in rotation at ( lie several lodges in the City of" Norwich , according to their seniority , the stipulation being made that " if ve Masters and Wardens of any Lodge shall think ye room

in w ' ch there Lodge is comonlv held too small for so large a compa . iv then shuch Mastrs and Wardens appoint where it shall be held in ye stead of shuch Lodge . " The lirst Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Norfolk was a prominent Norwich Mason , Bro . Francis Frank , a

brotherin-law of the P . G . M ., and one of the original members of the earliest local lodge , to which reference has already been made . He was Chapter Clerk and Registrar to the Dean and Chapter , and it is recorded that at Provincial Grand Lodge , on the 6 th December , 1739 , "Bro . Frank attended as Deputy Provintial Grand and took ye Chair as shuch , and then Desir'd to be admitted a Member of this Lodge . "

Some of the early transactions of the Provincial Grand Lodge are somewhat curious . In 178 3 it was complained bv an anonymous letter-writer that— " Masons are made in Norwich for one guinea , contrary to the regulations . " Inquiry was made as to the practice , and the P . G . Secretary , reporting to the Grand Secretary , admitted that Masons had

been made for less than two guineas , but observed , that "this liberty was granted only to such Lodges as are here termed Beer Lodges , " and—in extenuation of the circumstancecontinues , "the reasonableness of their petition appeared to everyone in Provincial Lodge , as their Lodges , which had

formerly consisted of from twelve to twenty , were now , by the encreasing expanses , reduced to a very low ebb . " A promise was given to revoke the permission , and consequently Grand Secretary promised not to lav the anonymous

letter before Grand Lodge , at the same time hinting that" beer Lodges arc often got up by publicans for their own profit . " In . 1784 , on the retirement of Bro . Bacon from the office of P . G . M ., the Provincial Grand Lodge Avas in something of a dilemma as to the appointment of a successor . Several meetings were held , when the names of two brethren ,

the Hon . Henry Hobart and Sir Edward Astley , were advanced , and on each occasion the brethren separated without being able to choose between them . Grand Lodge was then asked to intervene and determine the difficulty , but

it was pointed out that the Grand Master would hnd it disagreeable to reject either of the gentlemen nominated . Another meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge also proved abortive , and the matter was submitted to the lodges of the province for their separate consideration , and in the end the Hon . Henry Hobart was nominated . Singularly enough

both Bros . Hobart and Astley ultimately became P . G . M ., although it is probable that Sir Edward Astley was never installed . Earh' in nS ' ct Bro . William Earle Bulwer , of Heydon Hall , was appointed Provincial Grand Master , and after an

interval of a year he was installed " with great propriety and elegance . " Freemasonry was at the moment , and remained during this Mastership , in a somewhat decadent condition , blame seeming to have attached to the Provincial Grand

Secretary . No new lodges were constituted ; there was no correspondence with Grand Lodge ; lodge contributions were not remitted ; and the Grand Secretary was ordered to acquaint the Provincial Grand Master that if this conduct was continued his patent would be revoked "for the good of the Craft , as so many lodges are put under his care . " This

had the desired effect ; but the Mastership of Bro . Bulwer terminated in 1807 by his death , and the lodge sank again into comparative abeyance until 1816 More to ensure the occupation of the chair than for the resuscitation of the lodge , an effort was made in 1808 to appoint a Provincial Grand Master , but it was not until 1810 that it Avas nominally

brought about by the election of a London rather than a Norfolk Mason , the Rev . S . S . Colman , of Broome Place , near Bungay . There is no record of his installation , and in 1813 another nominal appointment was made , but the

Ulto . It . !•' . I-:. I-T . UIUKU , I'liOV . S . d . W . brother ( William Palgrave , of Yarmouth ) was not installed . In 1816 a revival of the Craft came with the election of Bro . Sir Jacob Henry Astley . Provincial jewels and collars were obtained ; the Provincial Grand Master of Suffolk , although " extremely rusty" in the work , undertook the installation , and the Provincial Junior Grand Warden , writing at the