Our History
The Old Askean Lodge No 6986
First Worshipful Master
W.Bro. W. R. C. Ashby. P.G.D. L.G.R. P.P.G.W.
(From September 1950-51)
(Founder)
This piece was written by: W.Bro. W. Ruston.
The Old Askean Lodge was started in 1950 by a group of Old Askeans who had started their Masonic career in a variety of other Lodges. The leader of the Founders was W.Bro. W.R.C. Ashby whose philosophy was that every officer in the Lodge should have a part to play and this is continued up to the present day. When I joined in 1962 I was by far the youngest member. The LOI was held over a pub at New Cross Gate and it was run on very strict lines. You were given a piece of work to learn, for the next week, and you were expected to have done so. The Lodge has over the years moved the venue for its Lodge Meetings and the Lodge of Instruction to various parts of London. It has now settled on Grand Lodge for its Lodge Meetings and its Lodge of Instruction is based at Sidcup.
The Lodge having started out as an Old Boys Lodge, membership of which was restricted to Old Askeans, the sons of Old Askeans and members of staff at Aske's. However the school ceased to provide us with the necessary recruits and it was therefore necessary to make our membership open in 1980.
We are a small but happy Lodge offering opportunities to all to participate in and enjoy Masonry.
(From September 1950-51)
(Founder)
This piece was written by: W.Bro. W. Ruston.
The Old Askean Lodge was started in 1950 by a group of Old Askeans who had started their Masonic career in a variety of other Lodges. The leader of the Founders was W.Bro. W.R.C. Ashby whose philosophy was that every officer in the Lodge should have a part to play and this is continued up to the present day. When I joined in 1962 I was by far the youngest member. The LOI was held over a pub at New Cross Gate and it was run on very strict lines. You were given a piece of work to learn, for the next week, and you were expected to have done so. The Lodge has over the years moved the venue for its Lodge Meetings and the Lodge of Instruction to various parts of London. It has now settled on Grand Lodge for its Lodge Meetings and its Lodge of Instruction is based at Sidcup.
The Lodge having started out as an Old Boys Lodge, membership of which was restricted to Old Askeans, the sons of Old Askeans and members of staff at Aske's. However the school ceased to provide us with the necessary recruits and it was therefore necessary to make our membership open in 1980.
We are a small but happy Lodge offering opportunities to all to participate in and enjoy Masonry.
The first person in our Lodge to serve as Master twice.
W.Bro. J.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGScN (RA)
(From September 1953-54)
(Founder)
and again from:
(September 1981-82)
W.Bro. J.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGScN (RA)
(From September 1953-54)
(Founder)
and again from:
(September 1981-82)
The School and the Lodge
This piece was written by: W.Bro. A. Johnson and finished off by W. Bro. S.K.Homewood,
Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Boys’ School was founded in 1876 and can be regarded as a direct descendent of an ancient ‘marriage’ between Sir Robert Aske and the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
In 1684 Sir Robert Aske bequeathed in his will (curiously masonic in its tone as well as in its charitable scope) the sum of £20,000, “.... to be given in trust to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, to the Master and four Wardens thereof, the money to be laid out in the Purchase of Land within a mile of the City, or thereabouts, thereupon to build Almshouses for twenty Poor Unmarried Men .... and the Residue of the Estate to be laid out in Educating a like number of the Sons of the Freeman of the Company, at a cost of £20 each”
The Haberdashers’ Company duly built an almshouse at Hoxton and opened it in 1692
“.... for the relief of twenty poor members and for the education of twenty boys, sons of decayed freeman of that Company”.
The Hoxton establishment, with its tiny school, flourished until 1852 but was then closed down and there would have been an end to the history. The Company however, more than compensating for this loss, progenerated a veritable family of schools in the latter part of the 19th Century in various parts of the country. There was one built in Monmouth and another at Hampstead, the latter now moved to a new site in Elstree. There were also two girls schools built at Acton and Hatcham.
All of these bear the name Haberdashers’ Aske’s, with the place of their foundation added to distinguish them.
Our own School was founded at Hatcham, an old parish in south London which is geographically at least the nearest to Hoxton: if not “within a mile of the City” it certainly overlooks it from its location at the top of Pepys Road.
The nature of the School has changed over recent years and is now a Six Form College but still proudly maintains its links with the Company.
There has always been some association between the School and Freemasonry. The first Headmaster W.J. Spratling was himself an Officer of Grand Lodge, and it may be more than a coincidence that a young man who left school a few years later, was a prime mover in forming the Old Askean Lodge in 1950. W.Bro. W.R.C.Ashby, P.G.D., L.G.R., P.P.G.W.(Surrey) left the School in 1896, and appropriately took the Chair as our first Worshipful Master.
W.Bro.W.H. Manchee who paid the Lodge a visit just before his death in 1954 was traditionally known to be the boy waiting on the steps for admission when the School opened in 1876.
It was at the 1949 Annual Dinner of the Old Askean Club held at Restaurant Frascati in London that W. Bro Ashby made an announcement that made it clear to all Masons present that consideration was being given to the foundation of an Old Askean Lodge. The response was immediate and enthusiastic and on 7th September 1950 the Lodge was duly consecrated in No 10 Temple, Great Queen Street, London WC2 when a total of 146 Brethren were present. The Consecration Banquet followed at Restaurant Frascati, Oxford Street, London which was to become the first meeting place of the Lodge.
The Festive Board at the Consecration Meeting consisted of Soupe a la Tortue (Turtle Soup), Supreme de Sole Chaglisienne, Caneton Roti (roast duck) followed by Poire Framboises, a meal very similar to our last meeting at Parkers for those who were fortunate to be here. The Lodge has met at a number of London venues over the years but is now settled at Great Queen Street, dining locally.
From the very beginning the Founders settle on an Old Askean form of Taylors working and it is still this ritual, largely unaltered, which is used today. The main principle has always been to create opportunities for as many Brethren as possible to participate in each and every ceremony, not only in the Lodge of Instruction but in Lodge itself. Once again W. Bro Ashby’s influence was evident here, for he was a great student of the Craft and its History and rituals. With the assistance of the other Founders, he encouraged Brethren to ask questions both in Lodge and at Lodge of Instruction which might help to unravel some of the mysteries of our work.
In the Fifties he formed a study group of young inexperienced Brethren ‘to explore unanswered questions which might arise in the Craft’. The end product of this collaboration was the publication, by W.Bro Ashby, of the book ‘The Modern Craftsman’. The question and answer format has been used by later study groups and it is still the custom, from time to time, to hold question and answer sessions in Lodge.
The period 1950-69 was one of steady growth with 44 new members, 36 of them as Initiates. In 1963 the Lodge was honoured by hosting the 16th Festival of the Federation of School Lodges, the business meeting being held at Haberdashers’ Hall, the Lodge meeting in No 1 Temple, Great Queen Street with R.W.Bro J.W.Stubbs M.A., P.G.W. Grand Secretary as Honoured Guest and the subsequent dinner in the Grand Hall in Connaught rooms. Some 371 Brethren from all over the country attended. During the Lodge meeting the then W.M., W.Bro R.M. Hills, one of the original junior Brethren in the study group, presented a Lecture on the 1st Degree which he had written himself and named ‘The Ashby Lecture’ in honour of the Father of the Lodge.
During the next twenty years, 1970-89, in common with many Old Boys Lodges, the Lodge suffered a reduction in new members, with only 17 Initiates in that time. However, a dedicated band of Past Masters ensured that the Lodge of Instruction, which had met once a week September to April since the Foundation of the Lodge, continued to function in order that all new members had a regular contact with the Craft and the chance to work and question the Ritual.
In the 1990s the Lodge managed to achieve an average of one Initiate each year and is now facing the difficulties of the new century with some equanimity.
These comments are indeed salient words from the author of this piece, Alan Johnson a Member and Past Master of the Lodge who has since passed away, and are still very current. We are now well in to the new century and still struggle to attract and retain new Members. However, we are a small but merry band of like-minded folk who enjoy each other’s company and extend that fraternal feeling to our guests who we welcome today and to our future Meetings.
At the Consecration of The Old Askean Lodge, there were 18 Founders , 17 of whom were Old Boys of the School, the other being Rev R A Shute who was a master at the School, since when the Lodge was founded, a bye-law allowed only ex pupils and Masters of the School to join. Included in this number were W R C Ashby whose initial idea it was to form the Lodge and John R Morgan, our last surviving Founder who passed away in January 2006 but not before receiving a Certificate from Grand Lodge to celebrate his 50 years in Freemasonry. John was also the first person in our Lodge to serve as Master twice, firstly in 1956/57 and then again in 1981/82. However, his memory lives on within the Lodge with his son Gwilym, who John Initiated in December 1979, and John’s grandson, Rees, who Gwilym initiated in November 2002. Incidently, Gwilym is due to set his own record later this year by becoming Master of our Lodge for the third time and I’m sure Rees has his sights set to eclipse this by serving as Master four times. We shall see. We have had 2 further members who have celebrated the 50 years achievement, W Bro Bill Ruston Initiated in April 1962 from whom we will hear a little later and W Bro Ray Carter initiated 3 years later in March 1965. Both were initiates of The Old Askean Lodge and served the Lodge very well in their time and, I am pleased to say, Bro Bill still continues today by serving in any Office requested of him as well as being a stalwart of our Lodge of Instruction.
As you have heard, in the early formation of the Lodge, Lodge of Instruction was a very important, fundamental part of being a Freemason to our Founders and I hope they would be pleased today with the attendance by both junior Brethren and the many old hands offering assistance to them in the understanding of the ritual as well as rehearsing their parts in our ceremonies. As well as being a place to learn about Freemasonry, it is also a place to have some fun since if you don’t enjoy it, Members would not attend regularly, so may this long continue and I encourage all Members to attend as regularly as you can ever remembering the Freemason mantra that family must come first and it should not be to the detriment of your personal connections. When I joined the Lodge in 1994, LOI was held at the Askean Rugby Club although myself and Bob Carter had been interviewed by the Committee at The Archers public house in New Cross. Following the sale of the ground at Kidbrooke, we moved to Old Colfeians for a year and were then offered Avery Fabrics, in West Wickham High Street, a shop run by Bill Illingworth, a member of the Lodge. Following Bill’s resignation, we moved to the offices of Duncan Pocock in Oxted, which was owned by John Marshgreen and Peter Dessent and met there for a number of years when Ian Johns fortunately decided to build an office at the bottom of his garden and offered its use to us for which we were and are still very grateful. Mondays would not be the same without confusing the hell out of, not only our own members, but also those from other Lodges that do not have regular LOI, as to what knocks should be performed, ever remembering , it’s Old Askean Workings!!!
This piece was written by: W.Bro. A. Johnson and finished off by W. Bro. S.K.Homewood,
Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Boys’ School was founded in 1876 and can be regarded as a direct descendent of an ancient ‘marriage’ between Sir Robert Aske and the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
In 1684 Sir Robert Aske bequeathed in his will (curiously masonic in its tone as well as in its charitable scope) the sum of £20,000, “.... to be given in trust to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, to the Master and four Wardens thereof, the money to be laid out in the Purchase of Land within a mile of the City, or thereabouts, thereupon to build Almshouses for twenty Poor Unmarried Men .... and the Residue of the Estate to be laid out in Educating a like number of the Sons of the Freeman of the Company, at a cost of £20 each”
The Haberdashers’ Company duly built an almshouse at Hoxton and opened it in 1692
“.... for the relief of twenty poor members and for the education of twenty boys, sons of decayed freeman of that Company”.
The Hoxton establishment, with its tiny school, flourished until 1852 but was then closed down and there would have been an end to the history. The Company however, more than compensating for this loss, progenerated a veritable family of schools in the latter part of the 19th Century in various parts of the country. There was one built in Monmouth and another at Hampstead, the latter now moved to a new site in Elstree. There were also two girls schools built at Acton and Hatcham.
All of these bear the name Haberdashers’ Aske’s, with the place of their foundation added to distinguish them.
Our own School was founded at Hatcham, an old parish in south London which is geographically at least the nearest to Hoxton: if not “within a mile of the City” it certainly overlooks it from its location at the top of Pepys Road.
The nature of the School has changed over recent years and is now a Six Form College but still proudly maintains its links with the Company.
There has always been some association between the School and Freemasonry. The first Headmaster W.J. Spratling was himself an Officer of Grand Lodge, and it may be more than a coincidence that a young man who left school a few years later, was a prime mover in forming the Old Askean Lodge in 1950. W.Bro. W.R.C.Ashby, P.G.D., L.G.R., P.P.G.W.(Surrey) left the School in 1896, and appropriately took the Chair as our first Worshipful Master.
W.Bro.W.H. Manchee who paid the Lodge a visit just before his death in 1954 was traditionally known to be the boy waiting on the steps for admission when the School opened in 1876.
It was at the 1949 Annual Dinner of the Old Askean Club held at Restaurant Frascati in London that W. Bro Ashby made an announcement that made it clear to all Masons present that consideration was being given to the foundation of an Old Askean Lodge. The response was immediate and enthusiastic and on 7th September 1950 the Lodge was duly consecrated in No 10 Temple, Great Queen Street, London WC2 when a total of 146 Brethren were present. The Consecration Banquet followed at Restaurant Frascati, Oxford Street, London which was to become the first meeting place of the Lodge.
The Festive Board at the Consecration Meeting consisted of Soupe a la Tortue (Turtle Soup), Supreme de Sole Chaglisienne, Caneton Roti (roast duck) followed by Poire Framboises, a meal very similar to our last meeting at Parkers for those who were fortunate to be here. The Lodge has met at a number of London venues over the years but is now settled at Great Queen Street, dining locally.
From the very beginning the Founders settle on an Old Askean form of Taylors working and it is still this ritual, largely unaltered, which is used today. The main principle has always been to create opportunities for as many Brethren as possible to participate in each and every ceremony, not only in the Lodge of Instruction but in Lodge itself. Once again W. Bro Ashby’s influence was evident here, for he was a great student of the Craft and its History and rituals. With the assistance of the other Founders, he encouraged Brethren to ask questions both in Lodge and at Lodge of Instruction which might help to unravel some of the mysteries of our work.
In the Fifties he formed a study group of young inexperienced Brethren ‘to explore unanswered questions which might arise in the Craft’. The end product of this collaboration was the publication, by W.Bro Ashby, of the book ‘The Modern Craftsman’. The question and answer format has been used by later study groups and it is still the custom, from time to time, to hold question and answer sessions in Lodge.
The period 1950-69 was one of steady growth with 44 new members, 36 of them as Initiates. In 1963 the Lodge was honoured by hosting the 16th Festival of the Federation of School Lodges, the business meeting being held at Haberdashers’ Hall, the Lodge meeting in No 1 Temple, Great Queen Street with R.W.Bro J.W.Stubbs M.A., P.G.W. Grand Secretary as Honoured Guest and the subsequent dinner in the Grand Hall in Connaught rooms. Some 371 Brethren from all over the country attended. During the Lodge meeting the then W.M., W.Bro R.M. Hills, one of the original junior Brethren in the study group, presented a Lecture on the 1st Degree which he had written himself and named ‘The Ashby Lecture’ in honour of the Father of the Lodge.
During the next twenty years, 1970-89, in common with many Old Boys Lodges, the Lodge suffered a reduction in new members, with only 17 Initiates in that time. However, a dedicated band of Past Masters ensured that the Lodge of Instruction, which had met once a week September to April since the Foundation of the Lodge, continued to function in order that all new members had a regular contact with the Craft and the chance to work and question the Ritual.
In the 1990s the Lodge managed to achieve an average of one Initiate each year and is now facing the difficulties of the new century with some equanimity.
These comments are indeed salient words from the author of this piece, Alan Johnson a Member and Past Master of the Lodge who has since passed away, and are still very current. We are now well in to the new century and still struggle to attract and retain new Members. However, we are a small but merry band of like-minded folk who enjoy each other’s company and extend that fraternal feeling to our guests who we welcome today and to our future Meetings.
At the Consecration of The Old Askean Lodge, there were 18 Founders , 17 of whom were Old Boys of the School, the other being Rev R A Shute who was a master at the School, since when the Lodge was founded, a bye-law allowed only ex pupils and Masters of the School to join. Included in this number were W R C Ashby whose initial idea it was to form the Lodge and John R Morgan, our last surviving Founder who passed away in January 2006 but not before receiving a Certificate from Grand Lodge to celebrate his 50 years in Freemasonry. John was also the first person in our Lodge to serve as Master twice, firstly in 1956/57 and then again in 1981/82. However, his memory lives on within the Lodge with his son Gwilym, who John Initiated in December 1979, and John’s grandson, Rees, who Gwilym initiated in November 2002. Incidently, Gwilym is due to set his own record later this year by becoming Master of our Lodge for the third time and I’m sure Rees has his sights set to eclipse this by serving as Master four times. We shall see. We have had 2 further members who have celebrated the 50 years achievement, W Bro Bill Ruston Initiated in April 1962 from whom we will hear a little later and W Bro Ray Carter initiated 3 years later in March 1965. Both were initiates of The Old Askean Lodge and served the Lodge very well in their time and, I am pleased to say, Bro Bill still continues today by serving in any Office requested of him as well as being a stalwart of our Lodge of Instruction.
As you have heard, in the early formation of the Lodge, Lodge of Instruction was a very important, fundamental part of being a Freemason to our Founders and I hope they would be pleased today with the attendance by both junior Brethren and the many old hands offering assistance to them in the understanding of the ritual as well as rehearsing their parts in our ceremonies. As well as being a place to learn about Freemasonry, it is also a place to have some fun since if you don’t enjoy it, Members would not attend regularly, so may this long continue and I encourage all Members to attend as regularly as you can ever remembering the Freemason mantra that family must come first and it should not be to the detriment of your personal connections. When I joined the Lodge in 1994, LOI was held at the Askean Rugby Club although myself and Bob Carter had been interviewed by the Committee at The Archers public house in New Cross. Following the sale of the ground at Kidbrooke, we moved to Old Colfeians for a year and were then offered Avery Fabrics, in West Wickham High Street, a shop run by Bill Illingworth, a member of the Lodge. Following Bill’s resignation, we moved to the offices of Duncan Pocock in Oxted, which was owned by John Marshgreen and Peter Dessent and met there for a number of years when Ian Johns fortunately decided to build an office at the bottom of his garden and offered its use to us for which we were and are still very grateful. Mondays would not be the same without confusing the hell out of, not only our own members, but also those from other Lodges that do not have regular LOI, as to what knocks should be performed, ever remembering , it’s Old Askean Workings!!!
The first person in our Lodge to serve as Master twice.
W.Bro. J.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGScN (RA)
(From September 1953-54)
(Founder)
and again from:
(September 1981-82)
W.Bro. J.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGScN (RA)
(From September 1953-54)
(Founder)
and again from:
(September 1981-82)
The first person in our Lodge to serve as Master three times.
W.Bro. G.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGSeN (RA)
(First Time, September 1986-1987)
(Second Time, September 2002-2003)
and again from:
(September 2016-2017)
W.Bro. G.R. Morgan, SLGR, PPrGSwdB, PPrGSeN (RA)
(First Time, September 1986-1987)
(Second Time, September 2002-2003)
and again from:
(September 2016-2017)
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