Initiates

Initiates into Loyd Lindsay Lodge

Since our Consecration in 1904, two hundred and eighty Brethren have been initiated into Loyd Lindsay Lodge.

Not surprisingly, in the first year of our existence ten Brethren were Initiated into the Lodge, five in October and five in November – the WM at the time, W.Bro. Edward B. Ormond must have been a very well organised Mason! The years towards the end of the Second World War, 1944 and 1945, also proved to be a busy time for the Lodge – five Brethren were Initiated in 1944, all on different months, and seven Brethren were Initiated in 1945 including a “double” ceremony in both November and December 1945. At the other end of the scale, there have only been four years when we have not initiated a candidate – 1915, 1991, 1999 and 2001.

The occupations of our Initiates are also interesting and reflect the history of our area as well as the community we live in. Seventeen of our Initiates were involved with the land, as farmers, agricultural agents or gardeners – our first Initiate, Bro. H.G. Gregory was a Gardener. There have been twenty-eight Initiates who owned or worked in local shops, two Station Masters, one Tramway manager and two Workhouse Managers. Schoolteachers top the list of individual professions, with thirteen, although if you include Bro. H. A. Glaysher, who was a Gymnastics Instructor, there were fourteen. Surveyors also figure prominently, nine of them, as do Police Officers and Licensees, both with six. In addition, three of our Initiates state their profession as “Gentlemen”. I’m not sure where this leaves the other two hundred and seventy five of us!

Out of the two hundred and eighty Brethren who were initiated into Loyd Lindsay Lodge, seventy-three have gone on to become Worshipful Master of the Lodge. This is quite a high proportion, in fact, and a tribute to the hard work over the years of the Lodge of Instruction. Our first Initiate to become Worshipful Master, was Bro. A.J. Belcher, who was Initiated in October 1904, along with four others, and eventually became Worshipful Master six years later, in 1910. One of his fellow Initiates, Bro. Harry Edwardes, succeeded him as WM a year later and went into the Chair of Loyd Lindsay, again, in 1916. Only two Loyd Lindsay Initiates, Bro. Rowland W. Roberts (1927 to 1929) and Bro. D.W. Williams (1993 to 1995) served as Worshipful Master  for consecutive years. The full list of Initiates is as follows: