Page 13 - The Early History of The Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. UGLE

THE BATTLE FOR ‘INCORPORATION’ AS A PRELUDE
TO THE FORMATION OF THE LODGE

ROM 1767 onwards the Duke of Beaufort and his friends, who were the
ruling set in the Premier Grand Lodge, made a serious attempt to ‘incorporate’
Ftheir Grand Lodge first by Royal Charter and later by Act of Parliament in a
similar manner to a City Livery Company. Thus it was hoped to provide a Hall but,
of much greater importance, to render their rival in London illegal. It is a fact that the
5th Earl Ferrers, as Grand Master, had proposed the building of a Hall with a school
attached in 1763. For this, he had generously provided a substantial sum of money.
In the same year Thomas Edmondes, the Senior Grand Warden, gave an address
in the Stewards’ Lodge in which he is supposed to have said that Earl Ferrers had
resigned as Grand Master because his scheme to ‘incorporate’ had been rejected. This
seems a most unlikely reason, though to do so because the Hall and School were
not to be built is much more in character. As this address was only published some
two years later, it seems highly probable that it was done for propaganda purposes,
especially as the 6th, 7th and 8th Earls Ferrers not only opposed all forms of coercion,
such as ‘incorporation’, but also gave liberally to the Hall Fund and to Ruspini’s Girls’
School.
Despite opposition from within their own ranks the new rulers proceeded with
12
their plans. The situation was further complicated because they had formed a
Lodge of their own, the Lodge of Friendship, which might be called the first of the
fashionable and exclusive kind of Lodge in London. To bolster their seniority (and
for a consideration) they exchanged numbers and Warrants with a Lodge in decline,
13
14
so becoming No. 3 in the List of Lodges. This action was generally unpopular and
condemned by Grand Lodge who nevertheless allowed it to pass. The following year,
General Salter, the first ‘Ranker’ General and a member of the Shakespeare Lodge,
was deposed as Deputy Grand Master in favour of the Rt. Hon. Charles Dillon of
Lodge No. 3.
It is at this point that Ruspini entered the controversy on the side against
‘incorporation’ on the grounds that it might adversely affect foreign Masons in
England and English Masons abroad, and in any case it was contrary to the principle

12 AQC. 46. “Attempted ‘incorporation’ by the Modems.” W. I. Grantham.
13 This Lodge is still working as the Lodge of Honour and Generosity, No. 165.
14 AQC. 56. “Thomas Dunckerley and the Lodge of Friendship.” C. DE. Rotch.