Page 63 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

Lodge of the Nine Muses 63

As cash came to hand it was sometimes immediately appropriated to reduce
the liability; for instance on 4 November 1815, “Bro . Willoughby paid £21. 10.
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for his arrears. The afs. Treasurer paid said £21. 10. to Messrs Willis on acc . & took
a receipt for that amount.” Bro. Willoughby must have been five years behind.
The then Treasurer, Bro. Savage, was an old man and in poor health, and things
may in consequence have got rather slack.
The minutes for 24 January 1816, throw some light on the situation:

This being the day for the annual election of a Master the R.W.M. [Sir
Wm. Rawlins] resigned his office but was unanimously reelected and reinvested
with the honors and insignia of his high station and he resumed the Chair. It
was reported to the Lodge that Bro . Savage continued to labor under severe
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indisposition and that there was little hope of his recovery. And the Master
stated that this being the anniversary for the Election of Treasurer the Lodge
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would perhaps remember his long services and re-elect Bro . Savage especially
as Bro . Henry Martin had offered to continue his services as afsistant.
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Bro . Savage unanimously reelected Treasurer. Bro . Henry Martin reappointed
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Afs . Treasurer.
But on 3 March 1816, the death of Bro. Savage, “an old and respectable officer
and member”, was reported, and Bro. Martin succeeded to the Treasurership. In
1816 it was possible to be at once respectable and respected.
The irregularity in the payment of subscriptions led to another difficulty
- uncertainty as to who were or were not members of the Lodge. On 26
February 1819, “the correction of the list of members was ... postponed to the
audit meeting of the Treasurer’s accounts”, and in the following November it
was “Ordered that the Secretary do apply forthwith for all arrears due to the
Lodge and that the defaulters be informed that they will be reported to the
Grand Lodge if their arrears be not discharged”, and on 25 February 1820, Bros.
Henry Woodthorpe, Senior and Junior, who had refused to pay subscriptions
for the years 1810 and 1809 respectively, were ordered to be so reported.
In April 1821 the Lodge moved from the Thatched House to the Freemasons’
Tavern. It was still in debt to Messrs Willis, and on 10 May 1821,