The Roorkee Years

The lodge was warranted to meet twice a month; but due to the uncertain availability of military Brethren they had many emergency meetings, and multiple Degree ceremonies were not uncommon. At the lodge’s first regular meeting on the 17th April 1872 there were nine Initiates; the meeting lasted for 6½ hours, with frequent ‘Callings On and Off’ when no doubt refreshments were taken.

The lodge members came from a mixture of Masonic backgrounds, so at their meetings there were some unusual customs and practices. Such as referring to the Master’s Chair as the ‘Eastern Chair’, and using ‘ballot bones’ for balloting. They may also have copied some lively dining customs from the many different regiments that passed through Roorkee; watch out at our festive boards for the Bengal Tiger!

Initially there were very few civilian lodge members, and seemingly no native Indian members; in 1896 of the lodge’s 31 members only three were civilians. The Royal Engineers were the primary source of the lodge’s membership for its first 70 years, together with the other regiments that passed through Roorkee. However, being a military lodge its membership did fluctuate widely; with spates of recruitment, followed by sudden declines when regiments were posted away or members were called to active service.

The late 1920s saw the beginnings of what was to be an on-going decline in the lodge’s military membership; although the loss was to some extent alleviated in the late 1930s by an influx of distinguished Indian Brethren, and in 1939 the lodge elected its first Indian Master. The 2nd World War again saw many members called to active service; in just one six month period the IPM, Wardens, Secretary, and both Deacons were all posted away. After the war things did initially improve, in 1946 there were 13 Initiations and 11 joining members; but serious concerns still remained about the lodge’s long term future.

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