Old Globe - 200

The first meeting of the Lodge was in a rented room of the Old Globe Inn in Globe Street Scarborough on the 15 February 1788. 

There were 13 founder members of the Old Globe Lodge of which nine attended the first meeting in a rented room of the Old Globe Inn, Globe Street on 15 February 1788. The first Worshipful Master was Robert Scott, a member of the Britannic Lodge No. 332, (originally No. 423 changed to No. 331 in 1780 and to No. 332 in 1781 being erased on 10 February 1790) often called Britannia, at Whitby. It is not clear when the founders applied to the Premier Grand Lodge, or "Moderns" (being a slightly derogatory term applied by the Atholl Grand Lodge), for a warrant but they did not receive it until 23 August 1788. This was granted to the Globe Lodge No. 531 changed to any 440 in 1792 and in 1814 to 504. 

The premier Grand Lodge did not recognise any other Masonic degrees outside the three craft ceremonies, which apparently proved irksome to the Globe members. In 1791 they applied to the Atholl Grand Lodge, (or "Ancients" as they referred to themselves) for a warrant. This warrant was granted to the Old Globe Lodge No. 267 on 5 March 1791. It is from this time onwards that we find reference to the Royal Arch, Mark and Knight Templar degrees. What is surprising is that these two Grand Lodges were at loggerheads. It was constitutionally illegal for an Ancient Lodge to admit a Modern mason into its meetings and vice versa. Yet the Old Globe continued its association with both Grand Lodges and paid annual dues to both. 

When these two Grand Lodges eventually amalgamated in December 1813 the number was changed to 337, on the 20 of February 1833 to 236 and to 200 in 1863. At the time of the Union the number 504 was allocated to the Globe Lodge and 337 to the Old Globe Lodge. The number 504 was later withdrawn when the error was discovered. 

The lodge continued to meet in the public rooms of the Old Globe Inn until in September 1797 the members agreed to build lodge premises in the coach yard with an entrance from Stockdale Street, since called Globe Street. This was a most unusual step for of the 300 lodges, then under the English Constitution very few, (a Southampton lodge and Phoenix Lodge No. 94 Sunderland were two), met in their own premises. 

Masonic ceremonial and a public procession to St. Mary's Church accompanied the foundation stone laying on 9 October 1797. This is recorded in great detail on a scroll copied from The Scientific Magazine and Freemasons Repository for December 19797 which is kept in the Masonic Hall library. William Travis Esq. M.D. was the Worshipful Master. Beneath the Foundation stone was placed a brass plate inscribed with the details of the ceremony together with coins of the period. When the building was eventually pulled down in a slum clearance scheme in 1936, the plate and some of the coins were recovered and are displayed in the library at the Masonic Hall. Other relics were also recovered: The doorknocker, still in use on the temple door, the Inn sign, affixed above the temple door, and the old lodge room fireplace now in the upstairs lodge room.

The building was completed in September 1798 and at its dedication on 10 of September another public procession and church service was held. Masonry was then but little known or understood by many of the inhabitants of that neighbourhood and it was reported that every time the members assembled they were in the habit of raising Satan. 

By the late 1830s membership dwindled to such a point that the lodge almost ceased to exist. Between 1838 and 1845 the only record is that a few members occasionally gathered together but in insufficient numbers to open a lodge. 

Floor cloths, loose unframed canvasses, were the forerunners of the tracing boards, as we now know them and were laid on the floor in the centre of the lodge, hence the need to square the lodge. In March 1869, a resolution was passed that they be cleaned, framed and hung on the wall. This was done, and there they remain to this day, the present Tracing Boards. 

In 1868 Scarborough underwent change. The centre of the town had moved westwards, the Royal and Crown Hotels had been established and the Grand Hotel had just opened. The social life of the town was now centred in the St. Nicholas Street, Newborough and Huntriss Row area. The Old Globe Hotel had lost its reputation and the area in which it was situated was developing into almost a slum area. By now the hotel had really fallen into disrepute, the lodge room by reason of its leasehold site had reverted to the owners of the Hotel and the Old Globe Lodge were merely tenants. When not in use as a Lodge Room the Masonic quarters were used by the hotel. In the licensing records they are variously described as a Concert Room, a Tap Room and a Smoke Room. Eventually in 1877 it was decided in the interests of Masonry and for the good of the lodge it was desirable to leave the Old Globe Hotel and a search was made for suitable premises. They finally agreed to rent accommodation in the Londesborough Rooms, Westborough. Here they stayed for three years but then decided it was essential to have licensing facilities and a committee was formed to find new premises. In 1884 a suitable site for a Masonic Club was found at 14 St. Nicholas Cliff, our present Masonic Hall. The Old Globe proposed to Denison and Leopold Lodges that the 3 should combine and share the cost of purchasing and refurbishing the premises on St. Nicholas Cliff. The lodges agreed this and the new Masonic Hall was dedicated on 3 December 1884. The first meeting of Old Globe Lodge in the new premises was on 19 November 1884. It was only by the substantial help received by the Scarborough lodges from John Woodall Woodall that made this possible. A past master of the Old Globe Lodge and one of the most active freemasons Scarborough and the Province of Yorkshire North and East Ridings has ever known. Within a year of joining the Old Globe he became Senior Warden and in 1860 was installed as Master. A year later he was appointed Prov. Grand Junior warden followed by promotion to Prov. Senior Warden the following year. In 1888 he was appointed Grand Treasurer, the first Provincial Mason to occupy that office, this also carried with it the office of Grand Treasurer to Supreme Grand Chapter. On his death his window donated his regalia and Masonic jewels to the Freemasons of Scarborough and they are on display in the library. The present Treasurer and Secretary's desks were a gift from him in 1867. He also presented the Masters chair taking in exchange for it the original masters chair.

There have been many famous and even infamous members of the lodge. To mention but a few: - Sir George Cayley, the inventor, Master 1822, 1846 and 1847. Lord Londesborough Master 1853 and 1854 (Lord Albert Denison, 1st Lord Londesborough created 4 March 1850 Baron Londesborough K.C.H., F.R.S., F.S.A., and Vice Admiral of Yorkshire). Sir William Johnson 1868. Sir Thomas Charles Style Baronet (M.P. for Scarborough 1837 to 1841), Lord Alfred Paget C.B. of London (a General in the Army, Equerry and Clerk-Marshal of the Royal Household, M.P. for Lichfield 1837 - 1865) was proposed in 1853, he was elected but never initiated. W.Bro. E. W. Pritchard, Master in 1858 and 1859, also a Past Master of the Royal Lodge in 1857, was executed in Glasgow in 1865 for the murder of his wife and her mother by poisoning.

Another interesting character was a Robert MacKenzie Beverley. He was initiated at a special meeting on 27 May 1819 at the age of 21 years. At the regular meeting on 16 June he was passed after which he proposed Sir George Cayley (the 6th Baronet), Reverend Edward Myalle and William Grinley Esquire as candidates. In July 1819 he was raised. He did not appear to attend another meeting until a lodge of emergency 4 October 1822 when he came as the first Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Yorkshire North and East Ridings to attend the initiation of Sir John Temple Johnson Baronet. He was also appointed by patent on the 10 January 1823 as Grand Superintendent during Lawrence, 2nd Lord Dundas's (who became the 1st Lord Zetland in 1838) absence abroad. On the 5 April 1822 he was elected a joining member of the Constitutional Lodge No. 294 Beverley. At the Old Globe meeting of 16 October 1833 a letter was read out from the secretary of Constitutional Lodge dated 13 September 1833. To the effect that Robert McKenzie Beverly was, on the 6 of September 1833, unanimously expelled from that lodge in consequence of his having neglected and refused to pay his amount of quarterages also having failed to show cause why he should not be expelled. He had ceased to be Deputy Provincial Grand Master in 1832 when Timothy Hutton was appointed in his stead. I have been unable to find any record of him being master of a lodge prior to becoming a joining member and master of the Constitutional Lodge.