Grosvenor Lodge 1257

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A short History of Our Lodge

Foreward & Acknowledgement:

This history is dedicated to W. Bro Eric Humberstone PJGD the insperation for our lodge for so many years.

The history relies heavily upon a book that he wrote to celebrate our centenary in 1969.

Our Name:

The name Grosvenor was not the founders' first choice.Original petition had requested the name "The Zetland Jubilee Lodge" Lord Zetland, the Worshipful
Grand Master observed that the word Jubilee implied 50 years, whereas his tenure of office had only been 25 years! The proposed name was duly changed
to "Grosvenor" the most likely explanation for this choice was that the lodge was to be held in Westminster, and the Duke of Westminster whose family
name was "Grosvenor", owned much of the property and land in that part of London.

Our Formation:

On 21st January 1869 an initial commitee was formed to propose a new lodge to serve Freemasons in the Pimlico area of London. Thereafter there
appeared to be weekly committee meetings and by 26th February it was agreed that "a deputation should wait upon St Luke's Lodge No 144 to support
their petition." This was acceded to by 2nd March.On 15th March Grand Secretary wrote that the warrant would be granted, enabling the Consecration to
take place on 24th April - Just 3 months after the initial committee meeting! The Lodge was duly consecrated in the "private room of Brother Fisher" at
Victotia Station, followed by "a good dinner with dessert for seven shillings & sixpence" and that the wine ticket would be "seven shillings & sixpence extra!

Our Family tree:

Our Mother Lodge St Luke's Lodge No 144 from whose number of our founders were drawn. In 1879 Grosvenor sponsered the formation of Caxton
Lodge No 18 the then Worshipful Master, W. Bro. Thomas Meredith, became the first master of our daughter lodge. Between 1940 - 1945, W.Bro.
Arthur Trewinnard, the lodge secretary sent out regular "Newsletters" enabling the Brethren to keep in touch with each other and maintain contact with the
Lodge. Our membership, therfore the cessation of hostilities, was extremily healthy. The Lodge was pleased to sponsor the formation of our second
daughter lodge. Portcullis No 6085 enabling brethren a quicker progress to the Master's Chair than would otherwise have been possible. Our ties with
Portcullis have been strongly maintained. It is worthy of note that there are 2 other English Constitution Lodges which share our name: one in Birmingham
(No 938) and one in Cheshire (4312)

Where we meet:

The Lodge grew rapidly in its formative years, continuing to meet at Victoria Station until 1871. From there it moved to the Caledonian Hotel in Adelphi
Terrace. In 1874 we moved to the Westminster Palace Hotel in Victoria Street, the to Freemasons Hall in 1877. We have continued to meet at Freemasons
Hall since then, except for 2 short periods, initially in 1905 - 1909 during the rebuilding, when we met at the Criterion Restaurant and in the Second World
War when accommodation was overstretched and the Lodge therefore held its emergency meetings at a variety of places in the West End of London.

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