St.Peter's Operative Lodge No.284

The Fifth Minute
Thurso Lodge Conveened 27th Decr.1758 being St.Johns day Present Right Worshipful Sir James Sinclair, Right Worshipful Sir William Dunbar Sandside, Scotscalder, Mr. James Murray, George Sinclair, Mr.McIntosh, George Gibsone, George Taylor, John Mathison, Andrew Taylor, John & Alexr. Johnston & Andrew Sinclair.
Lodge Opened in due form And Minutes of last Meeting being Read It was moved from the Chair That this Lodge should Correspond with the Grand Lodge & send up a List of all the Members of this Lodge Because great Benefits must Arise to the Lodge from such Correspondence. To this motion all the Members present agreed Unanimously,& prayed the Most Worshipful Provincial Grand Master Sir William Dunbar Bart.our Honourable & most worthy Brother to carry on the Correspondence with the Grand Lodge And to Report from time to time what Instructions may be sent from the Grand Lodge which he readily & Cheerfully undertook to do. The Secretary was Appointed to Acquaint the Absent Members of this Lodge with this Resolution And at the same time to Intimate to them to send in their Quotas for having their names enrolled in the Grand Lodges books which is two Shillings & sixpence per Man.
Some Members having by an Address to the Chair Represented that the Lodge has not the necessary Accommodation, & yet is kept at a great Charge. It was Proposed that a. Proper Lodge should be Built, as our Worthy Brother George Sinclair of Ulbster offered some time ago to give a Plot of Ground gratis for that Purpose. All the Members present agreed that it is proper to Build a Lodge But would not Determine any thing until a more full Meeting or till such time as the Absent Brethren would give their mind upon it in Writing. Lodge Closed in due form.
This is the first minute to tell us how many were present and 14 is a very small number for an anniversary meeting. The members, however, are full of confidence in their future and, as we shall see, the idea of a hall of their own recurs in the history of St.John's Lodge.
Although Sir William Dunbar Cheerfully undertook to carry on a correspondence with Grand Lodge he did not, in fact, do so and it was only after Grand Secretary had advertised in the newspapers for lost lodges that Thurso made contact again.
Further Extracts from the Minute Book
It is not proposed to give the remaining minutes in full because they would occupy too much space but some of the highlights will he noticed.
On 6th March 1759 the minute begins as follows:- The Lodge being met in order to Testify their Joy at the Success of their Honourable & Worthy Br. George Sinclair of Ulbster without Intending to displease any person. This must refer to some success in local politics.
On 18th July 1759 the minute begins:- "The Brethren residing in Town being Conveened". It goes on to say that as the brethren living in the county did not see fit to attend on 23rd April "the Wardens had not called the Lodge." It is difficult to see what it was hoped to gain by this procedure.
The minute for 27th December 1759 contains the reply to Grand Lodge's advertisement:-
Thurso 14th Janry.1760 Most Worshipful Br.
By Desire of our Right Worshipful Sir James Sinclair of Mey Baronet Master of Thurso Lodge I am directed to Intimate to you agreeable to the Advertisement we saw from you in the Edinburgh, news Papers That Sir James Sinclair of Mey was elected Master of our Lodge for this Current year, and very deservedly, And Appointed Mr.George Gibsone Mercht. in Thurso his Senior, & Mr. George Taylor of Thura Junior Wardens That their stated days are First Tuesday of April; Twenty fourth of June
if Lawful day, if not Tuesday following. First Tuesday of September With the Anniversary Meetings of St.Andrew & St.Johns days.
This will be transmitted you under cover of the Most Worshipful Sir William Dunbar of Westfield Baronet Provincial Grand Master of the Lodges in the Northern District Who I doubt not will Write you more fully, & Shew the great Advantage this Lodge looks for in having frequent opportunity's of corresponding with the Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Along with the above it's thought proper to send a List of the Members of our Lodge which you have under I am With the Salutation of a Br.
Most Worshipful
Your Affece.Br.& Hule.Servt.
George Gibsone S.
The list contains 30 names and these are given in the Roll of Members attached to this history. These members were duly recorded in Grand Lodge's books and are the first of St.John's Lodge to appear there.
On 1st December 1760 Ulbster was proposed for the Chair when "The Whole Brethren present testified their Approbation of the Agreeable Choice of such a Master by the Proper Signs." This -is unlikely to have been Ulbster's first term as Master. He was seldom present during the session and Daniel Macintosh usually occupied the Chair.
On 7th January 1761 William Shearer,  junior a Mason in Thurso was entered. As the Treasurer was absent payment of his dues were referred to the next meeting "unless the Treasurer can obtain it of him sooner." On 10th October 1761 John Paterson, Vintner in Kirkwall,"a well Behaved Discreet young Man." ,was entered "being Indemnified from the Ordinary Expenses, These two extracts reveal good reason for the lodge's shortage of funds.
On 30th November 1761 four brethren including Mr Robert Edwards of Inverness Old Lodge (now No.6) having "Attended the Lodge as Visitants were Admitted as Members". This Robert Edwards,of whom we hear no more in the minutes, was a merchant in Inverness who was Junior Warden in 1755 and Senior Warden in 1757 in the Inverness lodge. In the latter year he got into trouble with the lodge because he continued the practice of irregular entering of Freemasons after the lodge had decided to stop it. He may have been suspended or expelled but it is more likely that he stopped attending and the lodge allowed the matter to drop.
The office bearers for 1762 were a new team. Sir William Dunbar was Master and he appointed Bridgend as his Depute and Lochend and Assery as Wardens. Fortunately,the Depute Master appointed Daniel Macintosh and George Taylor as Depute Wardens because, in fact, Bridgend was the only one of the new team who attended at all.
At the end of 1762 and during 1763 attempts were made to have a meeting of the lodge every month but the numbers attending proved too few to make this possible. When the minute book ends in October 1765 no progress had been made in this direction.

1757-1763 Reviewed
In 6 years there were 28 meetings,19 apprentices were entered,15 fellows of craft passed,15 master masons raised and 13 affiliates or honorary members - there is no distinction between these two categories at this time - were added to the roll of members.
The lodge in the early 1760's was composed of 15 members of the landed gentry,10 Thurso merchants,   3 lawyers, 3 officers of the Customs and Excise, the parish schoolmaster and two artisans - an operative mason and a joiner. From all accounts,some of the landed gentry were notably spendthrift and several of those mentioned in the lodge records were sold up at a later date. This was to the benefit of the merchants the more successful of whom became the next generation of landowners. Quite apart from Freemasonry - and we do not doubt the interest in Freemasonry - the lodge offered the opportunity of a stag-party to the more affluent people in the county,. They were not short of comforts at home and would generally entertain there but an occasional convivial meeting in the lodge would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter Five