William Stuart

27 September, 2016

1844 – 1873

On the 16th March 1832, at a regular meeting of Bamborough Lodge No. 851 being held at the Assembly Rooms of the Essex Arms, Watford, and under the Mastership of W. Bro Thomas Abel Ward, two Candidates were presented for Initiation. One named Augustus Smith of Ashlyn’s Hall, Berkhamsted, and the other William Stuart of Aldenham Abbey. The former subsequently moved to the Scilly Isles and was destined to become the Provincial Grand Master for Somerset and the latter to become one of the most eminent and highly respected Hertfordshire Freemasons.

William Stuart, who had been named after his father, The Most Reverend William Stuart, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, resided at Aldenham Abbey together with his wife, daughter and sons, one of whom had also been named after his grandfather and father and who, at the time that his father became a Freemason, was eight years old.

Aldenham Abbey was situated in the small village of Aldenham, some four miles east of Watford. The Estate, although not as extensive as some in the county, was sufficiently impressive to have been acquired, in the 1890’s, as the English residence of the renowned American philanthropist, Pierpont Morgan.

As the Member of Parliament for the County of Bedford, William Stuart also possessed ‘Tempsford Hall’, near Sandy in Bedfordshire as well as a town house in Hill Street, Berkeley Square, London.

  1. Bro Ward, having completed his year as Master of the Lodge, was duly elected to serve for a further year and at the Installation Meeting held in April 1833 he appointed and invested Brother Stuart as Junior Warden of the Lodge. An even higher honour, however, was to be conferred upon Brother Stuart that same year by his appointment by the Most Worshipful Grand Master, The Duke of Sussex, as Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England and it was in that capacity that on the 7th November 1833 he attended the meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge, held in the Shire Hall, Hertford, at which the Marquess of Salisbury was installed as Provincial Grand Master for Hertfordshire.

This, seemingly, meteoric rise from Initiate to Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England in the short space of thirteen months, while, not totally unique, does give some indication of the very high regard in which Brother William Stuart was held by his Brethren and the eminence he was to achieve in the years that lay ahead.

It was also in 1833 that it was resolved by the members that, henceforth, the Lodge should be known as the Watford Lodge No. 580, that being the number which had been allocated to Bamborough Lodge in the recent closing up of Lodge Numbers by Grand Lodge.

Having served the requisite period as a Warden and having been duly elected, Brother Stuart was installed as Worshipful Master of the Lodge on the 4th of April 1834 and thereby became the first Brother to preside over the newly named Watford Lodge.

Such was the success of his year of Office, their having been eleven Initiates and one Joining Member, that the Lodge was rapidly outgrowing the accommodation at the Essex Arms. This situation led to the decision, with the agreement of the Proprietor of the Essex Arms, for the Lodge to have a purpose built masonic hall constructed in the grounds of the premises and the project received the enthusiastic support of William Stuart.

At the Annual Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge, held on the 7th May 1835, the RW Provincial Grand Master, The Marquess of Salisbury, was pleased to appoint W. Bro Stuart as Deputy Provincial Grand Master and he was to hold that Office, with great distinction, for the next nine years. In spite of his additional responsibilities, both Masonic and Parliamentary, he continued to give his full support to Watford Lodge by undertaking the duties of Master for the years 1838, 1850 and 1858.

Of all the many honours that came the way of William Stuart throughout his long and distinguished Masonic career, it is likely that, to him, one stood above all others, that of proposing his son, William Junior, to become a Mason. In 1843, William Junior, having reached the age of eighteen, informed his father of his wish to be initiated into Freemasonry. Having discussed the matter with his son he wrote to the Secretary of Watford Lodge informing him that it was the wish of his son to be initiated and that he was most anxious to see that wish gratified.

It was pointed out that as his son was only eighteen it would be necessary for a signed petition from the Lodge to be submitted to the RW Provincial Grand Master, by the hand of the Provincial Grand Secretary, requesting a Dispensation for a minor to be balloted for Initiation. The Secretary of the Lodge was W. Bro Thomas Abel Ward, who had been the Master of the Lodge at the time that William Stuart was made a Mason, dealt with the matter with all speed and the necessary Dispensation was granted by the RW Provincial Grand Master. At the April Meeting of the Lodge it must have been the source of great joy and satisfaction that the Father witnessed the Initiation of the son in the Lodge in which he had been an Initiate.

It is interesting to note that Brother William Stuart Junior progressed through the Lodge offices and it must have been most pleasing for his father to be present when in 1848, his son was Installed as Master of the Lodge. Very soon it became clear that William Junior had been cast from the same mould as his father and pursued his Masonic and political interests with the same enthusiasm and dedication. He became a Member of Parliament and also attained the rank of Colonel in the British Army. On the 24th November 1847 the Stuart Lodge No. 540 was constituted in Bedford to which William Junior became a member and in 1855 the MW Grand Master appointed him to be the first Provincial Grand Master for Bedfordshire. This happy circumstance of having father and son as the heads of adjoining Provinces forged a long lasting bond of fraternal friendship between the two Provinces, which is still shared by all the Orders.

In the early months of 1844, the RW Provincial Grand Master, The Marquess of Salisbury, to the regret of the Brethren of Hertfordshire, announced his resignation, for personal and private reasons, from all his Masonic Offices. However, the news that the MW Grand Master, the Earl of Zetland, had appointed the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, W. Bro William Stuart, to fill the vacancy was greeted with much pleasure and the very large numbers that attended his Installation, at Watford, on The 12th April 1844, confirmed his popularity.

Later in the same year of his Investiture the Provincial Grand Master presented to his Mother Lodge a magnificent bound copy of the Lodge By-Laws which had been exquisitely illustrated by Mrs. W. Stuart and encased in a box which had been crafted out of Acacia Wood taken from a Tree grown on the Aldenham Abbey estate.

It is worthy of note that both are often placed on display at the Installation meeting of Watford Lodge so that the Brethren may have an opportunity of appreciating, not only the considerable artistic talent of Mrs. Stuart, but also the great support which she rendered to her husband.

It is recorded that Mrs. Stuart and the family often accompanied the Provincial Grand Master at social gatherings and so it was of particular sadness to the Brethren to learn of the death, in February 1852, of their daughter and expressions of sympathy were extended to the family.

In the autumn of the following year, RW Brother Stuart suffered a further serious loss by the death of his wife and, again, the Brethren extended to their Provincial Grand Master their sincere condolences well knowing how sadly she would be missed.

The honour of being the only Lodge to be consecrated by RW Brother Stuart during the tenure of his Office belongs to the Berkhampstead Lodge No. 742, now No. 504, which took place at the King’s Arms Hotel, on New Years Day 1845. The RW Provincial Grand Master was attended by a team of Provincial Grand Officers and, having conducted the Ceremony of Consecration, subsequently installed the Master Designate, Brother S.L. Wilson, into the Chair of the new Lodge.

There was a gap of fifteen and a half years before Gresham Lodge No. 1171 (now 869) was consecrated at a Meeting held on the 19th June 1861 at the Four Swans Hotel, Waltham Cross. The Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, W. Bro Jeremiah How, in the presence of the Provincial Grand Master, carried out the Ceremony of Consecration. The Master Designate, W. Bro Braithwaite, was installed and the Officers invested. The duties of the Secretary were entrusted to W. Bro Jeremiah How. The RW Provincial Grand Master was clearly most pleased to have this very experienced Brother in charge of the administrative affairs of this new Lodge and that Freemasonry was once again represented in this area of his Province. The Salisbury Lodge No. 435, formerly No. 630, founded in 1836, the third senior Lodge in the Province having moved from Waltham Cross in 1847 to Enfield had, therefore, ceased to be numbered on his Roll of Lodges.

The King Harold Lodge No. 1327 was consecrated on the 27th September 1870; the second new lodge to be situated in the South East part of the Province, at Waltham New Town. The meeting was held at the Britannia Hotel, Waltham New Town, and the Ceremony of Consecration was entrusted, once again, to a Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies, W. Bro James Terry. The positive assurances which had been given to the Provincial Grand Master concerning the future prospects for this new Lodge proved to be correct for by the completion of the first year they had admitted twenty-two Initiates and ten Joining Members.

The Consecration of Gladsmuir Lodge No. 1385 on 29th December 1871 was placed, by the RW Provincial Master, in the hands of the Provincial Senior Grand Warden, W. Bro H.B. Hodges at the Red Lion Hotel, Barnet, which was a rapidly expanding town. The need for a new Lodge in the area was great and the influx of candidates in the first two years was a great encouragement to the Founders that the Lodge would prosper.

It will, of course, come as no surprise that Brother William Stuart did not confine his Masonic activities solely to the Craft. On the 15th July 1833, he was Exalted in the Clarendon Royal Arch Chapter No. 580, subsequently to be renamed and renumbered Watford Royal Arch Chapter No. 404, and, on the retirement of the Marquess of Salisbury, he took over the Office of M.E. Grand Superintendent for Hertfordshire. The demands made on his time in the discharge of the duties of the Office were not great because there were only two Chapters in the Province, one of which moved out of the Province in 1851 and the Hertford Royal Arch Chapter did not come into existence until 1872.

The religious family background in which William Stuart grew up and, later, his involvement in Aldenham Church and friendship with the Vicar, The Rev. The Hon. William Thellusson, afterwards the 3rd Lord Rendlesham, who had been initiated in The Bamborough Lodge shortly after William Stuart, may well have inspired him with a determination to become an active member of one of the Christian Masonic Orders.

Having achieved this ambition it paved the way for the introduction into Hertfordshire, in 1840, of the Order of the Temple, (now often referred to as Knight Templar) when he, together with a number of qualified members of the Clarendon Royal Arch Chapter, petitioned the Supreme Grand Master of the Order for a Warrant of Constitution for the founding of the Watford Encampment (Preceptory) which was duly consecrated, at Watford, on the 24th July 1840 and William Stuart was installed as the Provincial Grand Commander (Prior) an Office he was to hold for the next five years at which time he was installed as the Deputy Grand Master of the Order. In May 1861, at a meeting of the Grand Conclave of the Order he was installed as the Grand Master, and, in honour of his election to the highest Office in the Order, the Members of the Watford Encampment obtained approval for the name of the Encampment to be changed from Watford to Stuart. The name still graces the senior Preceptory in the Provincial Priory of Hertfordshire.

On the 26th August 1872, RW Brother Stuart presided over the Annual Meeting of his Provincial Grand Lodge for the last time and it was with much regret that, during the following year, the Brethren of the Province learned that, due to advancing years and indifferent health, he had felt it necessary to retire from all his various Offices.

The report of his death on the 7th July 1874 was received with greatest sadness in this Country and beyond these shores. However, succeeding generations of Hertfordshire Masons are fortunate to have a perpetual memorial of this distinguished and well loved Brother in the form of a splendid portrait in oils, painted in 1843, in which he is depicted wearing the regalia of a Past Grand Senior Warden of the United Grand Lodge. This portrait hangs in the West of the Lodge Room at the Halsey Masonic Hall at Watford. There is another fine portrait, painted towards the end of his life, and as Master of the Temple, which is prominently displayed at 86 St. James’s Street, London, which is the Administrative Headquarters of the Order.

At the meeting of Watford Lodge held in October 1874, it was unanimously agreed that the following resolution should be recorded on the Minutes :-
That the Brethren of this Lodge, meeting for the first time since the lamented death of the Right Worshipful Brother William Stuart, Past Provincial Grand Master, Past Master, and for more than forty two years a Subscribing Member, desire to record on the Minutes their deep regret at the loss thereby sustained by the Craft, the Province and the Lodge. A zealous promoter of the grand Principles of Freemasonry, Benevolence, and Charity, and a regular attendant and liberal benefactor of his Mother Lodge, a kind and genial friend at all times to the Brethren, he has passed away full of years, the type of a good Mason and a Christian gentleman’’.

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