1963 – 1974
Alexander Woods was born on the 18th January 1891 in Hull, the only child of his father’s second marriage, and was educated at Hull Grammar School. On the 24th May 1905 at the age of fourteen years and four months, he commenced his Banking career when he joined the York City and County Bank at its Hull Branch. The York City and County Bank which had been established at York in 1830, was acquired in 1909 by The London Joint Stock Bank which in turn became part of the Midland Bank in 1918. He remained at Hull until September 1913 when he was transferred to the Beverley Branch.
It was during his time in Hull that he became a Territorial with the 5th Battalion East Yorks Regiment and was commissioned on the 1st April 1909 when he was eighteen years old. In 1914 he married Edith Robinson at Nottingham and they had two sons and four daughters, the elder son dying in infancy. He was mobilised in 1914 shortly after the outbreak of The Great War and joined The East Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Yorks Own) and was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps. He served with distinction in France and Belgium, he was a prisoner of war in Germany for some time and after the end of the Great War he went to India and engaged in the Afghan War of 1919. On demobilisation in 1921, he was transferred to the Regular Reserve of Officers in the East Yorkshire Regiment with the rank of Major, and was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1923.
In 1935 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 95th (Birmingham) Anti-Aircraft Regiment R A At the outbreak of the Second World War he was called up from the Reserve proceeding overseas to France three days later. He was engaged in Movement Control but returned home after the Midland Bank had arranged his release.
It was in 1918 that he became interested in Freemasonry when he was initiated into the Constitutional Lodge No. 294 at Beverley, on 31st January 1919. He was then aged twenty-eight, his address was India and his occupation Major. He became a Country Member in 1922. In May 1923 he was appointed the first Manager of the Bank’s new branch at Bishop’s Stortford and during his time there he built up a thriving branch business. His connection with Hertfordshire Masonry began from this time. On the 8th December 1925 he joined St. Michael’s Lodge No. 2136 at Bishop’s Stortford. He did not hold any office in the Lodge and resigned from it on the 11th March 1930.
At this time Bryan Nockolds,a local Solicitor and keen Mason and a great friend of Alexander Woods, was instrumental in forming a new Lodge at Sawbridgeworth. A Warrant was granted on the 11th March 1929, the Sawbridgeworth Lodge No. 5110 being consecrated on the 29th May 1929 at Freemasons’ Hall by W. Bro William Hamilton-Underbill, Deputy Provincial Grand Master in charge. Alexander Woods was the first Junior Deacon and was installed as Master of the Lodge in 1934.
In March 1930 he was appointed a Superintendent of Branches at Head Office in London where he remained until the 1st August 1931 when he was appointed Assistant Manager at the Bank’s New Street Branch, Birmingham, the premier Branch outside London. In 1939 he was appointed Manager. On the 1st February 1943 he was appointed a Joint General Manager of Midland Bank at Head Office in London and continued in that post until his retirement in May 1951. During this period he became a Joining Member of Francis Davies Lodge No. 5035 at Kings Heath, Birmingham, becoming Worshipful Master in 1938, and of Holden Lodge No. 2946, London in 1943. He was a Founder Member and first I.P.M. of Fortior Lodge No. 6172, Birmingham, consecrated on the 30th October 1945, a Founder Member of Broad Acres Lodge No. 7012, Leeds, consecrated on the 25th October 1950 and finally he joined the Hertfordshire Masters’ Lodge No. 4090 in 1952, and was Master in 1957 and 1971. He was Senior Grand Deacon in 1948 and was Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Hertfordshire from 1952 to 1963, and during this time had also been appointed Past Provincial Grand Warden (Worcs.)
Alexander Woods was also a man dedicated to public and charitable works. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Warwick in 1941 and one of H.M. Lieutenants for the City of London in 1946. He was awarded an MBE on 1st January 1965 for Public Services. He was very involved in the cause of ex-service charities including the Royal British Legion and The Limbless Ex-Service Association. He was Commander of Birmingham Home Guard in 1940 and on behalf of the Bank organised the resettlement support for the ex-servicemen and women returning after the 1939/45 War. He was also County Commandant of the Warwickshire Cadet Force in 1941, Commandant of the City of London Special Constabulary, Treasurer of the National Playing Fields Association, a member of the Council of the Institute of Bankers and also a Liveryman of the Spectacle Makers Company in 1951.
Colonel Woods was installed as Provincial Grand Master on 21st January 1963 by Lord Cornwallis, then RW Provincial Grand Master of Kent. He presided over the 1974 Festival in support of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys. He invited W. Bro Donald Forrester, Assistant Provincial Grand Master to organise the task of raising £250,000 and when outside contributions were added, the total reached £481,147. He remained at the Head of the Province, but failing health prevented him attending the Festival celebration on 5th June 1974. On 31st July 1974 he despatched his request to be relieved of his post to the MW Grand Master.
Alexander Woods was a man of wide experience, strong personality and high achievement. He enjoyed a happy family life with his wife, who sadly predeceased him in 1967, and his children and their families. He was able to spend his last years at his London home apart from a short while at a Nursing Home in Sheringham where he died on the 4th May 1975 aged eight-four years.
During his term in charge of the Province, twenty Lodges were consecrated. RW Bro Woods consecrated fifteen of them, the first Ashwell Lodge No. 7903 on 2nd May 1963, and the last Penman’s Green Lodge No. 8384 on 11th October 1971. Included in these fifteen were three successive Old School Lodges, Old Elizabethans Lodge No. 7987, Old Verulamians Lodge No. 7988, and Old Hertfordian Lodge No. 8083. V.W. Bro Arnold Simon, as Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master, consecrated St. Stephen’s Lodge No. 8468 on 4th January 1973, the only consecration he performed in a very illustrious Masonic career in Hertfordshire. Bro Guy Halsey consecrated four Lodges as Deputy Provincial Grand Master, the first Redbourn Lodge No. 8484 on 10th May 1973 and the last, Stuart Lodge No. 8578 on 27th June 1974. He also consecrated St. Augustine’s Lodge No. 8579 on 23rd October 1974 as Deputy Provincial Grand Master in charge.
