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A History of the Lodge of Faith no. 581
A small group of Masons under the banner of Caledonian Lodge No. 204 got together to form a new Lodge, to be called “The Lodge of Faith No. 847”, and was consecrated on the 23rd. of May, 1851
Letter received by Bro. G.H.Noton, P.M. Caledonian Lodge, No. 246, from the Secretary of the Province of East Lancashire
Sir and Brother,
I am directed by the Wor. Prov. Deputy Grand Master, East Lancashire, who is at present in London and likely to be for some time to come, to write you an appointment enabling you to act in his absence and on his behalf in constituting the Lodge of Faith, No. 847, at the New Inn, Openshaw, Manchester, on Monday the 19th. day of May, inst., or other convenient day within one calendar month from the date hereof. This will, therefore, authorize you to do the needful on the occasion proceeding in all aspects in conformity with the warrant of the said Lodge and with the laws and regulations contained in the constitutions of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England, and also causing a transcript of this letter to be entered in the minutes of the proceedings of the Lodge on the day.
I am, Sir and Brother,
Yours fraternally,
J.R.Wolfenden, Prov. Gr. Sec., East Lancs
To give some idea of the times in which our founding Brethren lived, Ether was first used in 1846 at the same time that the potato famine was raging in Ireland. The Communist manifesto was written by Karl Marx in 1848.
There were no electric lights, motorised transport or telephones. Stephenson’s Rocket made the world’s first railway journey from Liverpool to Manchester in 1829 only 22 years before we started.
Below is an extract from the minutes of our first meeting:
1851. This was the same year that the Crystal Palace was opened to house the Great exhibition and the 1 O’clock gun first sounded in Edinburgh Castle to assist seafarers in setting their chronometers. On a macabre note, public hanging was still taking place.
23 May.
Bro. G.H.Notan of Caledonian was appointed to consecrate the Lodge in the absence of the P.G.M. who was in London, at the New Inn , Openshaw. (No longer in existence) There were 12 petitioners with 28 Brethren in all present. Bro. Joseph Stewart was our first Master.
Various Brethren were empowered to buy “Masonic tools and furniture” etc. and a Bro. Hammond was asked to buy “a pair of slippers and a pair of “drawers” made of thick flannel and ample in size”.
Our first Candidate was announced on this same night; a Mr. John Ashbury, Carriage Builder of Gorton.
6 June.
Lodge night is fixed as the first Friday in every month and Lodge subscriptions set as 1/- per month and 4d. each for refreshments. The Tyler was to be paid 1/9 per meeting and 6d. for each Candidate prepared. (A reasonable amount for those times.)
In 1863, the Lodge number was changed to 581. There is no mention in the minutes as to why.
A sign of the times in which our Brethren lived is shown by the kind donation of a Grave by a Mr Charles Wright in May 1891. He stipulated “to be for the use of deceased members of the Lodge of Faith only”.
The Lodge continued to prosper moving from the New Inn 1871 to the Drover Inn, Ashton Old Road, Openshaw. We stayed there until 1883 moving to the Church Inn on Clayton Lane. There would be three more moves before we became resident at the Masonic Hall, Bridge Street, Manchester, holding our first meeting in the Sykes Suite on 18th September, 1929. We were thanked by Province for both our financial help and support on various committees in the building and furnishing of the Hall.
As the years passed and the journey and parking in Manchester became progressively worse, effecting membership, it was decided to move out of the city. Stanley House, Audenshaw was to become our new home. New motorway links and ample parking facilities coupled with a very accommodating committee, made to move both beneficial and easy. This now brings us to a new age.
Initially our Founding Brethren travelled by horse transport. Now we can go around the world faster than they could travel to London.
There have been many traumatic events during our long history. We saw the Crimean war where victory gave us the enemy cannon from which our V.C’s are cast. There followed the Indian mutiny and later Charles Darwin published his “Origin of the Species”. The American civil war had the effect of hitting Manchester with a cotton famine. Slavery was abolished in America and the first F.A. cup final. Telephones and radio must have been miracles to our early Brethren. Several wars and leaps in technology followed, as at that time Britain lead the world. All this brings us to the present day where the technology we enjoy today would have amazed our founders.
During the last 150 years or so, the Lodge has seen many changes, but the one thing that has never changed is the three tenets by which all Freemasons work; Brother Love, Relief and Truth.