William Forssteen

27 September, 2016

1797 – 1803

The Roman Catholic Church has a habit of elevating worthy priests to episcopal sees that consist of little more that ruined piles of masonry often covered by the blown sands of the desert. Nevertheless these are worthy men holding positions of responsibility within the church. The church has decided that episcopal rank will enable these officials to carry out their duties with an authority equal to the importance of the tasks allotted to them.

It seems that in the eighteenth century the Premier Grand Lodge thought in a similar way. Brethren who were highly respected and active within the orbit of Grand Lodge in London were sometimes given the rank of Provincial Grand Master even when there was no effective Province over which to preside. Such a Brother was William Forssteen who was granted a Patent in 1797. As he had not served as Grand Steward prior to his appointment and in accordance with the Masonic rule of the day he was required to pay the sum of ten guineas to the Fund of Charity and the records show that this was paid. The appointment as Grand Steward came to him in the following year 1798.

Hertfordshire was hardly a pile of sand in the desert but it had no Lodges at that time. The handful of Lodges that had existed prior to Forssteen’s appointment had all ceased to work some ten years before he took office. Maybe Grand Lodge hoped for action in Hertfordshire that would bring forth results similar to those resulting from the appointment of the great Thomas Dunkerely to various Provincial Grand Masterships earlier in the century. It seems that Dunkerely only had to be placed in a Province for it to flourish. Alas ! Dunkerely had died in 1795 so was not on hand to give encouragement and advice to Forssteen. The new Provincial Grand Master may have visited the Province and attempted to revive the Craft there but there is no evidence of any success. It should also be noted that his successor as Provincial Grand Master, George Harvey, was also a Member of Shakespear Lodge and the two men appear to have been friends and so it is possible that Forssteen rendered encouragement and assistance to Harvey who eventually managed to bring the Province back to life.

It should be remembered that transport two hundred years ago was a major problem when compared with today’s options. For someone such as Forssteen, living in London, a visit to Hertfordshire for Masonic purposes would probably have taken up a whole day or even have required an overnight stay. Although there is no evidence of visits to Hertfordshire, Forssteen is recorded as being present in Essex at the installation of his friend George Downing as Provincial Grand Master of that Province which took place on 15th May 1797 at the Black Boy, Chelmsford.

He ceased to be Provincial Grand Master on 11th May 1803, when he was appointed Junior Grand Warden as in those days it was not permitted to hold two offices in Grand Lodge simultaneously.

Despite his apparent lack of success in Hertfordshire, William Forssteen took an active part in London Masonry both in Grand Lodge and elsewhere. He was greatly respected during his lifetime and died much regretted. He was initiated at the age of twenty-three in Shakespear Lodge, which was then numbered 146 but which now bears the number 99, on 13th February 1788 and had reached the Chair of that Lodge by 1792. A few weeks after his initiation the Chevalier Ruspini instituted the Masonic Girl’s School and this body was soon to become one of the abiding interests of Forssteen’s life. In 1791 he was elected to serve on the House Committee of the School and was described at the time as a ‘zealous friend’ to the Institution. Early in 1792 he was a member of a committee formed to persuade Grand Lodge to place a levy on all initiates towards the upkeep of the School. Soon after, he was elected a member of all the major committees of the School and was annually re-elected to these until he became joint Treasurer in 1800 and ultimately sole Treasurer in 1804. He was at the centre of all major decision making and played a leading role in negotiations with various outside bodies to the undoubted benefit of the Girl’s Institution. He continued in these activities until ill health forced him to offer his resignation as Treasurer and Trustee to the Girl’s School in 1818. The Governors accepted his resignation as Treasurer with regret but urged him to remain a Trustee and at the same time passed a resolution to the effect ‘That William Forssteen, Esq., the late Treasurer, be a perpetual member of all the committees of this Charity’. Only one other Brother had received this distinction, Chevalier Ruspini himself.

William Forssteen died in 1838 having served the Craft with distinction for half a century.

A portrait of Forssteen appears in a well known print best known as depicting the Chevalier Ruspini leading a group of orphan girls into Grand Lodge. Forssteen is shown among the spectators.

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