A Re-Start
Although there is no specific mention of the death of Bro Thomas Preston, nor of his elevation to Provincial Grand Master, in April 1845 a Patent of Appointment was issued to Lord Francis Egerton constituting him Provincial Grand Master. But, in the interval between his appointment and his Installation he had been elevated to the Peerage in his own right as the Earl of Ellesmere.
Owner of the Bridgewater Canal and a large land owner in South Lancashire, Lord Ellesmere was installed at a Provincial Grand Lodge meeting held in Bolton on 2nd July 1846, when the town was 'en fete' and the Province welcomed its first Provincial Grand Master for 16 years. However, Lord Ellesmere never again attended Provincial Grand Lodge and resigned his position in 1856.
His successor was Bro Stephen Blair. His Masonic record was impressive: - PM Anchor and Hope Lodge No 37; PGJW 1835 to 1840; PGSW 1840 to 1846 and Deputy PGM 1846 to 1856. Stephen Blair was a Bolton industrialist, Mayor and MP and he was installed as PGM at the Royal Exchange, Manchester on 24 th July 1856.
Following his appointment the Province began to prosper with the following key foci: -
- A 'Local Fund of Benevolence' was started - the first payment being made in 1856.
- In 1858 a Charity Committee was formed since when Lodge Charity Representatives have been appointed.
- In the same year the first beneficiary of the Provincial Annuity Fund was elected.
- Provincial by laws were revised.
- A chain of office was provided for the use of the PGM.
- Provincial Lodge assumed the pattern with which we are now familiar.
- Bro Blair 'dedicated to the purposes of Freemasonry' the Manchester Freemasons Hall, Cooper Street on 2nd November 1864.
Bro Blair's successor to the office of Provincial Grand Master was Colonel Le Gendre Nicholas Starkie who term of office began in 1870. Colonel Starkie's outstanding service to the Province was the development of the ELMBI. He was affectionately known as the 'Father of the Institution' and presided over 28 consecutive Annual General Meetings of the Institution.
In 1875 Provincial Grand Lodge decided to organise and extend the working of the 'East Lancashire Systematic Benevolent Fund' with the result that from 18th January 1876 'The East Lancashire Systematic Masonic Educational and Benevolent Institution was formed. Since 1910 this organisation has been known as the ELMBI [Incorporated].
In 2006 - after 130 years - the organisation's name again changed to the ELMC, 'The East Lancashire Masonic Charity', to reflect the changing and ever more demanding times for assistance.
Despite the change in name, its aim is still the same as when founded in 1876, i.e.
'The education and advancement in life of children of indigent or deceased Freemasons of East Lancashire, and to afford relief or assistance, where considered desirable in aid of Freemasons and their families in the said Province, and generally to promote the cause of Masonic Charity'.
To commemorate Colonel Starkie's great work for the Institution, the Province in 1901 purchased a perpetual presentation in his name on the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
When Bro Starkie became Provincial Grand Master in 1870, the Province contained 79 Lodges. On his death in 1899, there were 113 Lodges and 4,829 members in the Province.
Such was W Bro Starkie's profile as PGM that an area of this Province has been named after him. Also, a craft lodge - The Starkie Lodge No 1634. This Lodge was consecrated on 27th December 1876 at the Station Hotel, Ramsbottom, with the personal permission of the then Provincial Grand Master.
After moving to the Civic Hall in Ramsbottom some years later, the Lodge had to move again in 1989; the Lodge now meets at Haslingden Masonic Hall in Rossendale. At its inaugural meeting, Starkie Lodge also received Colonel Starkie's personal permission to use his Starkie family crest on the Lodge summons and PM jewels. A practice that is carried on to this day and revered by its members.