The Province Of Shropshire.

The Province of Shropshire .

SHROPSHIRE is , so fur as existing records show , the premier province of England , although its early history , Avhich furnishes comparatively few traces of Masonic activity , hardly justilies its holding that proud position . Moreover , it must be remembered that it has to yield pride of place by several years to both the Province of Cheshire and that of North Wales . Its constitution as a province appears to have taken place in the year 1731 , and is recorded

HKO . ROWLAND G . VENAHLES , I ' . A . G . D . C . ( ENGLAND ) , DEPUTY l'ROA \ GRAND MASTER . by Anderson , in the Book of Constitutions for the year 173 8 , in the following words : — " Lovel , Grand Master , granted a deputation to Sir Edward Matthews to be Provincial Grand

Master of Shropshire . " Sir Edward's administrative poAvers , if he ever exercised them in Shropshire Masonic business , Avhich may Avell be doubted , cannot have been highly taxed , as only two nameless lodges , the one founded in Shrewsbury in the 1736 , and the other founded in Oswestry in 1 744 ,

existed during his period of office . In the year 1735 he was also appointed Provincial Grand Master of North Wales . In the year 1753 Lord Carysfort , then Grand Master , appointed Sir Robert cle Cornwall Provincial Grand Master for several

of the Western counties , including Shropshire , and also for North Wales , but neither Sir Robert nor his successor , George Durant , Avho nominally held office from 1774 to 1779 , ever had , so far as is known , any practical connection Avith Shropshire Masonry . Several lodges had , indeed , sprung into existence in the county during the periods mentioned ,

but these were short lived , tne last survivor of them being erased in 1783 , and no record of their Avork is anywhere to be found , nor is there any reason to suppose that the high officials mentioned knew of their existence . The Craft Avas for the lirst time placed upon a solid foundation in the

province in the year 1785 , Avhen a lodge known as No . 1 , Whitchurch , and then No . 47 8 on the register of the Modern Grand Lodge , was founded through the instrumentality of Major Charles Shirreff , an officer on half pay , AVIIO , for some unknown reason , settled in the quiet town of Whitchurch .

Since this date the history of the lodges from time to time founded in the province can , in nearly every case , be obtained from their own minute books , the only important exception being that of the Agenorian Lodge working at Bridgnorth

for nominally the lirst half of the last century , and there is some ground for hoping that even in this case the minute books are not destroyed , and may yet be found . Shirreff had from early youth been an active Freemason , and had assisted at the foundation of lodges in various parts of the world , including one at St . Heliers in jersey , and two in

America , when he Avas in service with his regiment . He was firmly convinced that he Avas an "Ancient" Mason , but by some mistake his application for a Avarrant for the Whitchurch Lodge reached the Grand Secretary of the " Moderns , " and the Avarrant was ultimately granted by the Grand Lodge of

that body . The minute book of the Whitchurch Lodge , Avhich has recently been found , contains a copy of its by-laws , of Avhich the 32 nd runs as folloAvs : — " Through the Benevolent Intention of Reforming the Errors of those calling themselves Modern Masons , and

bringing all Mock Masons into a Right Channel . It ' s now resolved by this Society that all such applying to it shall be Enter'd Gratis , and if Passed or Raised , are only to pay half Fees . "

It is safe to assume that the Grand Secretary of the Moderns never saAv this by-law , or there would have been a row . The whole incident furnishes valuable evidence as to the probable insignificance of the alleged difference between the Avorking of the IAVO rival Grand Lodges , Ancient and Modern . Shirreff , being unable from want of means

to accept the office of Provincial Grand Master which he had once intended to apply for , in the year 17 86 obtained the appointment for the Rev . Francis Henry Egerton , then Rector of Whitchurch , and Prebendary of the " Golden Stall" in the Cathedral of Durham , afterwards Earl of

BridgeAvater , and now best remembered as the founder of the famous series called " The Bridgewater Treatises . " Egerton generally lived in a house called the Maison d'Egerton in Paris , and seems for the benefit of his flock , upon his occasional visits to them , to have hunted a pack

of harriers and dispensed hospitality with a liberal hand . He appointed Shirreff to be his Deputy , and for a feAV years does appear to have given some little attention to the province , which had hitherto been so much neglected by its rulers . During his tenure of office , Avhich lasted till 1819 ,

though purely nominal after 1800 , fwe , lodges Avere founded in the county , one of which , the Salopian , No . 262 , established in 1788 , has continued to work until the present day , and celebrated

its centenary in 1 S 08 . I lie same period also saw an Ancient Lodge , founded in the Shropshire Militia in 1810 , settle down in ShreAvsbury when the regiment was disbanded after Waterloo . This lodge , Avhich originally obtained the number 153 of an old military lodge in the 13 th Regiment of Foot , obtained a Civil Warrant in 1820 , and is now the flourishing

Salopian Lodge of Charity , No . 117 . Shirreff appears to have gone to live in London about the year 179 8 , Avith the result that , Avanting his knoAvledge and experience to advise them , three of the newly founded lodges Avere erased for not paying their contributions to the Hall Fund . He was , as his

letters , many of which are still to be seen in the Grand Lodge library , plainly show , a hard worker , yet filled with vast ideas of his own importance and dignity in the Masonic world , partly due , no doubt , to the fact that he held a patent from the King of Prussia , through one of the Deputy Grand

Inspectors in North America giving him , as he conceived , jurisdiction over all lodges within seventy-five miles of his residence . Moveover , he had , as he tells us , arrived at the " Ne plus ultra" or 25 th degree , and carefully cherished certain books Avhich cannot now be identifiedbut Avhich

, unfolded a system of what he calls " Philosophic Masonry . " He suffered greatly from rheumatism and gout , and in one of liis letters gives a cure for the latter ailment which is worth recording . He says : " I knoAV this gentleman Avell and