At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

At the Sign of the Perfect Ashlar

The compilation of a list of distinguished men in any department of life from which the names of well-known Freemasons svere absent svould , sve imagine , prove a difficult task ; and it is pleasing to be able to notice in the recent Coronation Honours so many leading Craftsmen , to an account of whom we would wish to devote more space than

our columns allow of . To begin with , H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught , Most Worshipful Grand Master , has been promoted to the rank of Field Marshal , and amongst the appointments to the nesv Order of Merit appear the names of R . W . Bros . Earl Roberts , Viscount Wblseley , and Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum , Past Grand Wardens .

© ©• «> Of the new peers , the Right Hon . W . L . Jackson , M . P ., who is the well known Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire and its Grand Superintendent in the Royal Arch , is in public life the Chairman of the Great Northern Railway Company . Previously he filled the office of Chief Secretary

for Ireland , and more recently acted as President of the jameson Raid Commission . R . W . Bro . Sir Francis Knollys , G . C . V . O ., K . C . B ., K . C . M . G ., is well known to the Craft as the King ' s Private Secretary . He svas initiated in the Westminster and Keystone Lodge , No . 10 , and ss'as appointed a Past Grand Warden in 1887 .

In the list of new baronets may be noticed the Lord Mayor , R . W . Bro . Sir J . C . Dimsdale , M . P ., svho has been fittingly selected this year by the Grand Master for promotion to the rank of Past Grand Warden . Bro . Sir W . E . Tomlinson , M . P ., Avas appointed a Senior Grand Deacon and Principal Grand Sojourner in the Royal Arch in 18 9 6 . Among

the knights may be observed the name of Bro . Sir Horace Brooks Marshall , M . A ., LL . D ., Past Grand Treasurer , some account of svhose career by Bro . Thomas Catling appeared in a former issue . Bro . Sir Alfred Cooper , F . R . C . S ., who was surgeon to the late Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha , is a Past

Grand Deacon and Past Assistant Grand Sojourner . Bro . Sir Joseph Firbank , the well known railway contractor , is a Past Grand Deacon , and Bro . Sir Ralph Littler , C . B ., K . C , svhose services to London as Chairman of the Middlesex County Council have been of no mean order , is a Past Deputy

Grand Registrar . & «¦< € > It may also be noticed that a C . B . has been bestowed on Bro . Sir Prior Goldney , Bart ., Past Grand Deacon and Past Assistant Grand Sojourner , the City Remembrancer , and on Bro . Lieut-General Fletcher Owen , Past District Grand Master for Malta .

<* « S ? # > Amongst other well known brethren to be congratulated on well deserved honours are Sir Conan Doyle , the distinguished author , and Sir Joseph Lawrence . It is hardly possible that there are not some members of the Craft in the list who have escaped our notice , and to whom also we would wish to extend our congratulations .

< S / ' O < 8 " A gap svhich svill be much regretted has been left in the ranks of the rulers of the Craft by the death of R . W . Bro . Lord Henniker , Provincial Grand Master for Suffolk as Avell as for the Isle of Man . His late lordship was born in 1842 , and as Baron Hartismere , represented East Suffolk in the

House of Commons from 1866 to 1870 , when he entered the Upper House on his succession to the Barony . The late Lord Henniker was on four occasions Lord-in-Waiting to Her late Majesty Queen Victoria , by whom he was held in high esteem .

It svas in 1885 , while Deputy-Lieutenant of Norfolk and Suffolk and Chairman of the East Suffolk County Council , that our late distinguished brother was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Suffolk , having previously held the highest office in the Mark Degree as Most Worshipful Grand Master . In 18 95 he was appointed Governor of the Isle of Manand

, in 18 99 succeeded the late R . W . Bro . Major J . S . Goldie Taubman as Provincial Grand Master of that Island . That great authority of Manxland , Mr . Hall Caine , lias said that the late Lord Henniker meant svell for the nation over which he presided ; that he aimed at nothing but the good of the

Manx people , and had no selfish interests to serve . «&¦ «¦ & " From Entered Apprentice to Grand Master " is not an incorrect title for the Masonic career of New Zealand ' s distinguished Premier , R . W . Bro . the Right Hon . R . J-

Sedclon , svhose Masonry is no less unique than his public life , of which much has been told us since his arrival in London some tsvo months ago .

BUG . THK BIGHT II 0 X . R . J . SKDDOX . Born at Eccleston Hill in Lancashire in 18 45 , he left home at the age of fourteen to apprentice himself to an engineering firm at St . Helens . While still a lad he worked his way out

to Australia to try his hand at gold digging in Victoria . Meeting svith but poor results , the year 186 4 found him in Nesv Zealand , where , in again trying the gold diggings , he met with no little success , and may be said to have there made the beginning of his fortune .

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, he tilled the chair of Junior Warden . Our esteemed brother had now established himself as a mining engineer in Kumara , and a short time afterwards was chosen as Wellington ' s representative in the Nesv Zealand Parliament . His force of will , sterling common sense , and appreciation of his

country ' s needs , soon won for him a foremost place in Colonial politics . o o ^> His acceptance of the Premiership of New Zealand was but a matter of time . It svas after his appointment to this

high office in 18 99 , twenty-four years after his initiation into Freemasonry , that he svas invited to be the first Grand Master of the newly formed Grand Lodge of Nesv Zealand , over which he presides with such distinction at the present time .