Incredible - A Brother brought home

A Brother brought home

The Gillingham Lodge of Benevolence No.184 was warranted by the Antients Grand Lodge in December 1787 to meet at the Crown & Thistle Tavern in Chatham; and it would unite in 1824 with two other nearby Antients warranted lodges. The Lodge drew many of its members from the personnel employed or stationed at the Chatham Naval Dockyard; and in February 1920 it unveiled a memorial tablet in its lodge room at Park Place, New Brompton, to commemorate the twelve of its Brethren who had lost their lives in the Great War.

A Brother brought home - One of whom was Brother John Corner. On the 8^th February 1917 he was serving on the destroyer HMS Ghurka when it struck a mine off Dungeness in the English Channel; he was one of 74 crew members killed, his body being later recovered from the sea on the 27^th February 1917 near Worthing in Sussex. He was carrying one of the Masonic Identification Cards that were issued by many lodges to their members on active service. This card identified him as a Mason to the Chief Coastguard Officer and Superintendent of Police at Worthing, who were also Masons, and they wrote to the Lodge No.184 saying that:

‘it might be of interest to the brethren of the lodge to know that even in death he was found by brother masons and cared for as a brother.’

A Brother brought home contd. - A moving reminder that caring for those in need is part of the obligation we all made as Masons; and that this includes the honouring of all those, Mason or non-Mason, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

‘Some Loving Souls that my heart held dear.

In silent sorrow will drop a tear

But I shall have peacefully furled my sail

In moorings sheltered from storm and gale

And greeted the friends who had sailed before

O’er the unknown sea to the Unknown shore.’

The Unknown Shore (anon)

Our thanks to W. Bro. J.H. Kentsbeer, who recorded the story of Bro Corner in the Bi-Centenary history of the Gillingham Lodge of Benevolence compiled in 1988; also to W. Bro. M. Brooks who included it in his 2015 Cornwallis Lecture 'Kent Freemasonry in The First World War'.  

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