CHAPTER TEN
RELATIONS WITH GRAND LODGE
After the reinstatement of 1787 St.John's Lodge, like most other lodges, made returns to Grand Lodge every few years and so remained precariously on the roll. For a few years around 1800 they received a small sum of money for the widow of John Taylor. Taylor had become a Freemason in 1790 in order to be Tyler to the lodge. After a year or two he enlisted and went to Ireland leaving behind him with no visible means of support his wife, five small children and a sixth unborn. He died in Ireland.
Proxy Masters
In the negotiations about Mrs,Taylor, Captain George Sinclair is referred to as Proxy Master but it is not known whether he held that post officially because Grand Lodge's minutes are deficient at the relevant time. The first recorded Proxy Master was Walter Moir who held the appointment in 1799 when Grand Lodge's minutes recommenced. Moir was an accountant, a member of Caledonian Lodge and was active in Edinburgh masonic circles until about 1822. In 1799 and 1800 he was Master of his lodge and as such was a member of Grand Committee. His re-election to the chair of his lodge in 1808 will be mentioned below.
In 1806 a proxy commission was made out in favour of Donald Horne who was also a member of Caledonian Lodge. Horne was a W.S.in Edinburgh and grand-father of the World War One general, Lord Horne. His father, William, was a member of St.John's Lodge and a founder of St.Fergus's Lodge at Wick. When the commission came before Grand Committee it was, with others, rejected as part of some plot which does not concern us here. The ostensible reason for the rejection was that the commission was dated 29th December instead of 27th. A new commission was made out and was accepted in August of the following year. Horne was Master of Caledonian Lodge in the years 1817 to 1822 but he had ceased to be Proxy Master around 1809.
One imagines that Horne gave up the proxy in order that a Caithness Freemason might be appointed. It is not quite clear why Horne gave it up. Perhaps it was withdrawn as the lodge threatened in the matter of the Associated Lodges dealt with below; perhaps he quarrelled with the Lodge temporarily on that matter; perhaps he was concerned that the lodge was again running into arrears. What was happening was that the Treasurer was taking credit for the sums due to Grand Lodge but was not remitting them. In 1811 the lodge wrote to Grand Lodge offering a composition of 3 guineas and explaining the difficulties they were in with building debts and defaulting office bearers. They also put in a reminder that they had contributed 5 guineas to the building of Freemasons' Hall in Edinburgh. The composition was accepted.
Donald Horne was asked to resume the proxy but he did not respond. The lodge then turned to Neil Ryrie who accepted and became Proxy Master at the end of 1811. Ryrie was born at Camster and joined St.John's Lodge in 1788 when he was a merchant in Thurso. Later he set up in business as a brewer in Edinburgh. For two years around 1810 he was a Baillie there.
These Proxy Masters were none of them regular in their attendance at Grand Lodge but they may well have given satisfactory service for all that. The principal duty we know about was that of passing on the dues to Grand Lodge. This was not an onerous task as it only involved one payment every three years on average.
Neil Ryrie is not known to have been active in Edinburgh Freemasonry. In 1815 he was a member of the committee which organised the St.Andrew's Day banquet. His next appearance at Grand Lodge was for the festival of St.Andrew in 1827 when he was merely listed as a distinguished member. We may suppose his proxy to have ended effectively in 1815 because later dues seem to have been transmitted directly to Grand Lodge.
During the terms of these Proxy Masters there are a number of occasions when Proxy Wardens are also listed but it has not seemed worthwhile to note them.
Provincial Grand Masters
Caithness had no Provincial Grand Master from the time that Sir William Dunbar stopped attending the lodge soon after 1760 until 1801. Although Sir William lived until 1795 when he had reached about 85 years had no connection with St.John's Lodge for the last 20 years at least. In 1801
Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, 7th Baronet of Coul, was made Provincial Grand Master of Orkney. A later minute includes Caithness in his title and, at his request, Ross & Cromarty were added. Sir George occupied the post for 25 years but we do not know of anything to relate him to St.John's Lodge, His successor did not have Caithness in his title. We are unlikely to be wrong in dismissing both men as irrelevant to our history.
The Secession of the Associated Lodges
We now come to a lengthy digression on a matter which, though only marginally related to the history of St. John's Lodge,has a general interest. The matter was rooted in politics.
The parties of the day were the Whigs and the Tories. At the beginning of 1807 the Government was a coalition known as "The Ministry of All the Talents" whose chief ministers were Whigs. This Government brought in a bill to enable Roman Catholics to occupy the higher commissions in the army as they already could occupy the lower commissions. The King, George III, was bitterly anti-Catholic and refused to entertain the bill. The Government then dropped it but the King asked for an undertaking in writing that they would not raise the matter again. On their refusal to give the undertaking he dismissed them when a Tory Government came in to replace them.
Now the leading members of Grand Lodge were Whigs. It is not, therefore, surprising that they tried to reject a motion brought forward at the May 1807 communication of Grand Lodge by Dr.John Mitchell, Master of the Caledonian Lodge, that an address of congratulation be sent to the King for his defence of the Established Religion. The motion was declared lost by 27 votes to 28. Mitchell claimed a miscount and demanded a scrutiny but this was refused.
At a special communication in June,summoned at the request of Mitchell's adherents, a motion for "No scrutiny" was brought forward by James Gibson (later Sir James Gibson Craig,1st Baronet of Riccarton), a well-known Whig, and was carried by 95 votes to 47. This did not settle the affair which dragged on in Grand Lodge and was the subject of numerous pamphlets.
There was another circumstance which made this affair a very dangerous one for Grand Lodge. The Kilwinning Lodge had been outside Grand Lodge from 1744 until 1807 and, as part of the settlement in that latter year, she had been given a place on the roll ahead of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel)No.l. This placing, which was not justified by the available evidence, but was probably necessary to heal the breach in Scottish Masonry, was a source of dissatisfact ion to the Edinburgh lodges generally.
Thus by June 1808 the leading members and, probably, the majority of the members of the Lodge of Edinburgh, Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, St.David Lodge, Edinburgh St.Andrew's Lodge and Caledonian Lodge were in revolt. By July they were meeting as the Associated Lodges and 47 of them were suspended by Grand Lodge. To replace suspended office bearers new elections were held in the rump lodges and it was at this time that Walter Moir was re-elected to the chair of Caledonian Lodge. He held the office until 1814.
Legal proceedings were instituted against the Associated Lodges but the Court of Session refused Grand Lodge the exclusive jurisdiction it claimed. The revolt did eventually peter out and by 1813 all the suspended members except Mitchell had been re-admitted. In several cases they were immediately elected to office again and the crisis was safely passed.
In August 1808 it was reported that 98 lodges had written to express their approval of Grand Lodge's actions in this affair. There is no further mention of the opinions of daughter lodges. One wonders how many of them shared the view of St.John's Lodge.
St.John's Lodge Comments
In January 1809 the lodge was sufficiently upset by the dispute to appoint a committee to look into it. They reported, in February and it was ordered that a copy of the report should "be sent to Grand Lodge and to the lodges which were named in it.
The report is as follows:-
Your Committee having read with attention the several communications from the Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, containing proceedings against Right Worshipful Brother Mitchel,Master of the Caledonian Lodge Edinburgh and his adherents, and also certain Minutes and Resolutions of the Lodges Cannongate Kilwinning, Edinburgh St.Andrews and Mary's Chapel, after mature deliberation on their contents, beg leave to Submit to the consideration of the Brethren the following Resolutions.
I/. That St.Johns Lodge Thurso,views with deep regret, the unfortunate quarrel which has arisen between the Grand Lodge and several of the lodges under its care,
2/. That this lodge shall on no Account interfere in this business nor pay the least attention to the repres entations of either Party; for however coloured with the appearance of Masonry, this Lodge can consider the proceedings on both sides as nothing else than Party Spirit and Political Cabal utterly inconsistent with the Principals and derogatory to the true interests of Free Masonry, and which, if persisted in, must end in the Subversion of all Masonic order.
3/. That the Lodge deprecates the idea of Seceding from the Grand Lodgo of Scotland; but humbly begs leave to recommend in the strongest manner, to the Office Bearers of the Grand Lodge the necessity of adopting every measure calculated to conciliate the Seceding Lodges and restore them to their allegiance to the Grand Lodge.
4/. That as it does not appear that means calculated to obtain this most desirable object were tried by the Grand Lodge before those measures of severity which occasioned the Secession were resolved to This lodge will not for the present make any Election of a Representative to the Grand Lodge, but will in every other respect maintain its connexion with and acknowledge its allegiance to it.
5/. That this Lodge will never admit that a difference of opinion between Grand Lodge and any Lodges under its care or the Representatives of such Lodges is to warrant the Grand Lodge in depriving such Representatives of their right of acting as Members of Grand Lodge.
6/. That this Lodge has not been able to discover any reason why Brother Gibson did not meet with any share of the Censure and Punishment inflicted by the Grand Lodge on Brother Mitchel and his adherents,"
Chapter Eleven
MASTERS AND MEMBERS
Masters
We mentioned above that Colonel Benjamin Williamson of Banniskirk was Master in 1809. The four members of this family who are noted in this history were conspicuous for the long service they gave to St.John's Lodge. Colonel Williamson joined the lodge in 1785 and was still active when our records end in 1812. His brother, John,who had been a surgeon with the Rothesay and Caithness Fencibles, became Master at the end of 1812, eighteen years after his entry to the lodge.
Colonel Williamson is said, in the Old Statistical Account, to have been a leading agricultural improver. From 1795 to 1802 he was in command of the 2nd Battalion of the Rothesay and Caithness Fencibles when they were serving in Ireland. As both of his sons were killed in the Peninsular War the lodge was deprived of another generation of the lairds of Banniskirk to sustain it.
Another notable family connected with the lodge was that of William Henderson who was Master in 1811 and 1812. He was a writer in Thurso and succeeded John Rose as Sheriff--Substitute in 1818. He held that office until his death in 1826. It was then that Wick successfully claimed the right to be county town. One of his sons was Professor of Pathology at Edinburgh University and was an early proponent of homeopathy. Another son, John, who was an initiate of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge No.2 and an affiliate of the Lodge of Holyrood House (St.Luke1s) No.44 compiled the valuable "Caithness Family History".
William's elder brother, John, was a long a member of the lodge although he is not known to have held any office. He was at one time Ulbster's factor and wrote the "General View of Agriculture in Caithness" in 1814. This has a good deal of interesting information about Thurso. He was the first agent of the Commercial Bank in Thurso and the agency was held by the Henderson family until 1870. One of John's sons rose to the rank of major-general in the Royal Artillery.
The last known Master of St.John's Lodge was Captain Patrick Doull Calder. He was Master in 1819,1820 and 1821 while on half-pay. His father,Benjamin Calder of Mount-pleasant, had been an officer in the Customs service and was nephew and heir to Patrick Doull mentioned above. Benjamin joined St.John's Lodge before 1785 and had been a founder of St.Fergus's Lodge at Wick. Patrick was born in 1787 and he entered St.John's Lodge at the age of 17years. He was able to rejoin the army in 1825 as a Royal Engineer and had risen to major-general by his retirement in 1855.
Other Members
It is not proposed to run through the names of all those who served the lodge because in most cases we have no useful information to impart. But one must take note of the long service given by two merchant families, George Paterson and his son, Alexander, and the two Patrick Swanys.
David Brodie of Hopeville joined the lodge around 1790 and later affiliated to the Wick lodge. With Sir John Sinclair he founded the township of Sarclet. He owned a brewery at Millbank which he sold to his brother, Alexander, in around 1815. Alexander joined the lodge in 1795 was the last Treasurer of whom we know and he must have had quite a difficult job. On his death in 1859 the brewery was taken over by McKidd as a foundry.
Many of those who became members of St.John's Lodge were unable to attend because they were on military service or had for other reasons left the county. One who became a member while on leave was William Stewart of the 3rd Regiment of Foot. He was the grandson of a Jacobite refugee who had made his home in Caithness. His father had farmed Dounreay but in 1801 bought Strath (of Bylbster). William was Colonel of a Portugese regiment during the Peninsular War and was rewarded for his services by an award of land (of his own choice) comprising 3,000 acres near Bathurst in New South Wales. He made the choice after he had attained the rank of general and had served as Lieutenant-Governor of the colony in the early 1820's.
General Stewart's brother-in-law, Stewart Ryrie,was another exile. He joined the lodge in about 1800 when a bank clerk in Thurso. Later he served with the Commissariat and was with Picton in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. He joined his brother, Neil for a time but later emigrated to Australia where he was Auditor of Colonial Accounts. His most notable descendant was the World War One cavalry leader and statesman, Sir Granville Ryrie.
Some of the brethren who later formed St.Peter's Operative Lodge were long members of St.John's Lodge. The only one of them who seems to have been active - or, perhaps, been allowed to be active - was Alexander Carnaby. Carnaby affiliated from Stirling Royal Arch Lodge No.76 in 1781 when he came to Thurso as Supervisor of the Salmon Fisheries. He later set up as a merchant and he served as an ensign in the Rothesay and Caithness Fencibles. In St.John's Lodge he was a trustee and a member of the committee of management in 1812 and, as he occupied the chair at one of the meetings in 1813, he may have been Depute Master.
John Finlaison
One of Thurso's most illustrious sons, John Finlaison,was another absentee member of St.John's Lodge. It seems likely that he was only present one night to receive the degrees. His father had been a fisherman - Finlayson is the more orthodox spelling of the name used by all but John who died when John was only 7 years old. John was apprenticed at 15 to Donald Robeson, the writer. At 19 he was factor to the Earl of Caithness and to Sir Benjamin Dunbar, but at 21 he decided to become an advocate.
When he arrived at Edinburgh, however, he fell in love and required an occupation which offered a quicker financial return. He obtained an appointment in the Admiralty and soon made a reputation for efficiency and energy. It is said that before his time no one had been able to devise a workable filing system despite many attempts. He provided periodical financial statements which were only three weeks late in place of the previous eighteen months and yet saved £60,000 per annum, in the department producing them.
From a study of the question of financing a plan for seamen's pensions he became a pioneer of actuarial science and in 1822 he was appointed Actuary to the National Debt Office. Before he investigated the position that office had been selling annuities at a loss because the mortality tables were out of date. When Finlaison had, after a great deal of laborious work, produced new tables it was estimated that he had made a saving of £80,000 per annum. He continued with the National Debt Office until his retirement in 1851 but he made important investigations concerning the emancipation of slaves and compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages. In 1847 he was the first President of the Institute of Actuaries at London and filled that office which the members would not allow him to resign until his death in 1860.
John Finlaison affiliated to the Prince of Wales Lodge No.259, London, in 1818 and was its Deputy Master in 1825 and 1826. This office, under the English Constitution, exists only when the Master is a Royal Prince. At this time the Master was the Duke of Clarence, later William IV. It is interesting that, in 1826. United Grand Lodge ruled that John Finlaison and others in his position was entitled to all the privileges of actual Masters.
He was a Grand Steward in 1820 and Senior Grand Deacon in 1828. In 1829 he was Grand Standard Bearer of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of England. It is likely that he was a member and Past Principal of the. Prince of Wales Chapter but it is difficult to check this point.
Composition of the Lodge
We remarked earlier that roughly half of the voters in the county were members of the lodge. This was still true in 1811 when the number of voters had decreased to 21. The office bearers and committee members were still almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of the landed, gentry and the merchants although the membership as a whole was more varied than it had been. One may guess that it was a weakness that there was no sign by 1812 of admitting artisans to the inner circles.
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