Page 135 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

Lodge of the Nine Muses 135

And on 6 July 1841,
Lodge of recreation held at the Star and Garter Richmond .... After a
sumptuous banquet and the honoring of the usual Loyal and Masonic Toasts
– Br Savory, in a speech of much feeling and in a manner equally creditable to
himself, and honorable to the Lodge, presented to Brother John Propert, P.M., a
Masonic Medal with a suitable inscription, illustrative of the deserts of the worthy
and worshipful Brother to whom it was presented, and of the Gratitude and
affection of the members of the Lodge who unanimously, and most cordially gave
it. Brother John Propert P.M. on being thus invested with the Medal, exprefsed
his feelings of thankfulnefs, affection, and attachment, not alone to the Members,
and the Lodge, but to the body of Masonry generally, he acknowledged with
sensations of deep feeling, that the moment chosen for presenting him with this
gift, was not only most grateful to him, but, that it materially enhanced its value,
that it should have been presented in the presence of those he most loved, and
when he was surrounded by those who held the warmest place in his Heart.
This, in Bro. Secretary Crew’s characteristic vein, is the first mention of a Past
Master’s jewel; but it was evidently a tribute to the man personally, not to the office.
The next allusion is twelve years later, on 12 August 1863, when it was moved
“that a Past Master’s Jewel at a cost not exceeding £4. 4 – be presented to each
W.M. on his leaving the chair”. As the proposer, Bro. O. L. Rasch, had himself
been W.M. the preceding year, after having been a Mason for only three years,
the proposal was perhaps thought premature; at any rate it was “withdrawn after
discussion” at the next meeting.
Six years after this the subject was raised again, when on 11 April 1869,
“Brother Addison’s motion for a Past Masters Jewel stood over in consequence
of his absence. The Lodge was rather in favor of a Lodge Jewel and Brother Jones
kindly promised to have a design prepared in order to (sic) a Petition to the Grand
Master.”
There is no record either at the Grand Lodge or in the minutes that any such
petition was presented, nor is there any further reference to Bro. Jones’s kindness. But
this may be the origin of the present Lodge medal, described a little lower down.