Pharos Lodge delivers history lesson on the anniversary of Waterloo
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Scunthorpe-based Pharos Lodge has given members and visitors a history lesson by highlighting the pivotal role played by Freemasons on both sides of the Battle of Waterloo.
Led by Master John Coates, pictured above relaxing after the second degree ceremony for Robbie Mawer, the Festive Board took place in a room bedecked with Union Jacks.
Presentations revealed that the battle had been fought 210 years earlier to the day, and brought the Masonic dimension of its story to life.
Napoleon himself had helped unite the Grand Lodge of France with the Grand Orient of France in 1799, but it’s not clear if he was still on the square by the time of the battle.
He was assisted by Marshal Ney, who’d been initiated into the St John of Jersusalem Lodge in Nancy in 1801.
Wellington had been initiated into the Wellesley Lodge 494 in Ireland, but subsequently resigned. It may have been a decision he regretted; at his funeral it was said that he’d wished he could have taken a more active role.
The Prussian Commander von Blucher was a member of Archimedes Lodge of Altenberg.
Four Coldstream Guardsmen played a significant role in the battle by closing a defensive gate against the French in intense hand-to-hand combat. It was at Hougoumont, a key defensive position for the British, and the French had made repeated, intense attacks to try and capture it. One Guardsman was Brice MacGregor, who’d been a member of the Lodge of United Strength since 1816, meeting at the Saddlers Arms in Swallow Street, off Piccadilly. He survived the battle, and was a lodge member until his death in 1846, serving at Master in 1822 and 1823.
He had been initiated into an Irish Lodge 895 with three comrades in arms – Tom Goddard, William McRobert, and Joseph Plumtree.
To add a little pomp and circumstance to the Pharos Lodge proceedings standards were borne in by Alex Culbert, the ADC, and Mark Hill, both forces veterans. Mark had performed superbly as Senior Deacon during the ceremony
Robbie Mawer with his dad Alan, John Coates, and ProvSGW Gideon Hall.
IPM Dave Sefton repairs the bunting, which had fallen not through French assaults, but by tape defeated by the heat.
Steve Spavin and Ian Needham illustrate the joy of friendship experienced in Freemasonry.
