Page 50 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

50 An Account of the

twenty-two; after this the numbers fell again, with certain fluctuations, to twelve
in 1850; by 1854 the number was twenty and then, with a temporary spurt up to
eighteen in 1861, it fell to eight in 1868 and 1870. This was the lowest limit; from
1870 the numbers mounted steadily to thirty-five in 1888, thirty-four in 1889,
and thirty-five again in 1890. In 1891 the numbers dropped suddenly to twenty-
five, and they have since varied between twenty and thirty.
Over the whole period from 1837 to 1938 the average has been from twenty-
one to twenty-two.
The small membership round about 1870 caused incidentally some difficulties
in the Lodge. Visitors were impressed to make up the roll of officers and on one
occasion the Tyler was called in to act as J. W. The subject is referred to again in
Chapter Seven.
The question of limiting the number of members was raised in 1897, when
the membership was twenty-eight. On 14 December notice was given of a
motion “That a Committee be appointed to consider and report to the Lodge as
to the expediency of fixing any and what limit to the number of Members of the
Lodge”. The Committee reported on 14 February 1899:
That the Byelaws of the Lodge do not prescribe any limit to the number of
members .... After careful consideration ... your Committee is of opinion that it is
neither necessary nor expedient to propose any new byelaw limiting the number
of your members. They however suggest that whenever the number of home
members reaches 30 no addition should be made beyond that number without
the approval of the members which should be practically unanimous.
It is doubtful whether a Bye-Law limiting the number would have been
sanctioned in any case by the Grand Lodge, but since the report of this
Committee the membership has been limited to a maximum of thirty by a tacit
understanding, and indeed, since 1890, has never actually reached that number; it
is now (1939) twenty-six, with one Honorary Member in addition.
22
The Lodge is justly proud of the number of distinguished men whose names
figure on its membership list. Twenty-six are to be found in the Dictionary of
National Biography. One, probably the best known to history, achieved a tomb still
to be seen in Westminster Abbey – General Paoli, the Corsican hero – though

22 Dates in brackets are those at which membership began, and are given to facilitate reference
to Appendix A, where fuller details may be found in many cases.