Lodge Dramatic 571

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This portrait of Lodge Dramatic's first Master Bro. W.J.E. Dobson was taking from an original painting which is still in the Lodge's possession to this day

This Mallet was presented to Bro. John Graham...J.P.. Substitute Grand Master of Scotland. And Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow. By the Members of Lodge Dramatic 571 on the 28th of June 1894. It was recently acquired by an antique dealer who kindly notified Provincial Grand Lodge and thus gave us the oppertunity of regaining possesion of this historic Mallet

LODGE DRAMATIC was founded on August 2, 1875, " for the profession ... by the profession." And the profession in question was that of acting. The number of the Lodge should have been 570, for the petition for a charter was submitted to Grand Committee three months before that of Lodge Kenmuir. The petition was, however, sent back to Provincial Grand Lodge " for a report thereon " and after a delay of three months and the allocation of No. 571, Charters for both lodges were granted on August 2, 1875.
When the petition first came before Provincial Grand Lodge, the Senior Provincial Grand Warden said he could see no objections to signing it, on condition that the entrance fee be not less than three guineas, that the Lodge should not be open after midnight and that no office bearer should be appointed who was not resident in Glasgow.

The first meeting of the Lodge was held in St Mark's Hall, 213 Buchanan Street, on Wednesday, August 18, 1875. The first Master was Bro. W. J. E. Dobson, a comedian, and the office bearers included four members of the Theatre Royal staff—the box office keeper, the scenic artist, the gas engineer and the bill inspector.
One of the affiliates at that first meeting was Bro. David Reid, who later became Grand Secretary. In 1875 he was Master of Lodge St Andrew, Glasgow No. 465, and at the age of 21 is believed to have been one of the youngest masters in the history of Scottish Freemasonry. Bro. Reid worked the First Degree at that meeting and the first initiate, No. 17 on the Roll, was William Forsyth, a lithographer. This was to mark the start of the Lodge's association with the printing industry, an association which flourishes to the present day.
The Lodge was consecrated on November 1, 1876.

In the beginning, the customs at Lodge Dramatic differed more than somewhat from accepted Grand Lodge rules. For instance, it was written into Lodge bye-laws that contrary to Grand Lodge law, honorary affiliates should be able to hold office and attain the Master's chair. How this managed to get past Grand Lodge remains a mystery. But pass it did! For many years, too, Lodge Dramatic candidates were voted for by a show of hands. It was not until 1887 at the Provincial Grand Lodge visitation that the attention of the Lodge was drawn to the fact that voting should be by ballot.
However, there was to be another, bigger thorn in the flesh of Grand Lodge! This was the practice of Lodge Dramatic to confer three degrees in one day. Grand Lodge had banned this practice prior to 1875, but had left powers in the hands of Masters so that they could in an emergency confer more than one degree on the same day. These powers were meant to cover members of H.M. Forces who might be posted abroad at short notice and, in each case, the reason for conferring more than one degree on the same day had to be entered in the minute book.
The practice came to be the rule rather than the exception in Lodge Dramatic. After many appeals, Grand Lodge withdrew the concession in 1897 and stated that there be two weeks between degrees.
This was in spite of a protest in 1896 by the then master, Bro. E. T. de Banzie. At a Provincial Grand Lodge visitation he said:
" Lodge Dramatic depends on and was founded expressly for a class of people who cannot always regulate their movements in conformity with the orthodox laws formed for the average individual. Actors and musical men are not average men.
' They are men who require special gifts to pursue their studies and must have retentive memories. It is a common thing for an actor to learn a play in a single night. Surely he can get up a whole degree?"
Many of our members who received all their degrees at the one time went away knowing more about Freemasonry than tne average man who waited the prescribed time.
He appealed for a special dispensation for Lodge Dramatic. It was, however, refused.

THE early minute books have some interesting tales to tell. On April 19, 1876, a Count de Rocheton, P.M. of a French Lodge in Constantinople (now Istanbul), addressed the brethren in French. It was translated by a P.M. from the English constitution . . . Harmony meetings, for which Dramatic is now famed, first started on January 17, 1877 . . . The first Mark degree recorded took place on January 11, 1883 . . . The Lodge of Instruction, which plays such an important part in Dramatic's year, had its foundation laid in 1884 when the R.W.M. Bro. E. T. de Banzie gave a talk on the History and Objects of Freemasonry." ... In the early '90s the Lodge received a visit from Bro. Henry Irving's Dramatic Company and also from the famous actor-comedian Bro. Edward Terry, Past Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of England and an Hon. member of Lodge Dramatic.
There were other, perhaps less famous visitors, and one such is described by author Neil Munro, writing about Glasgow in the 1890s in his book " The Brave Days "...

Of the buildings adjoining the station on the south I can recall but three. One was St Columba's Gaelic Church, to which I went on occasional Sundays. There was also a nondescript flatted building in which, inter alia, a Masonic Lodge held its meetings, mainly for gents of the theatrical profession and other distinguished public entertainers.
Tom Cannon and the Terrible Turk were in Glasgow at the height of the wrestling boom and one day were put forward for the First Degree in Lodge Dramatic. During the preparations in the "adjacent' the goat must have either butted the Terrible Turk in the ribs, or the ritual must have scared him, for I saw a TERRIFIED Turk dash out of the Lodge and up the street for the Wellington Bar, still unpossessed of grips and passwords and sorely in need of a mother's consolation.

BUT back to the minute books . . . Turning the pages to Thursday, March 2, 1911, we find recorded the initiation of George Gordon Jefferson, manager of the Metropole Theatre. Although Bro. Jefferson was well known in Glasgow, it was his son who was to find world-wide fame ... as Stan Laurel, perhaps one of the best comic actors of the screen.
On Thursday, January 11, 1912, we find that the Koran was used as the V.S.L. for two Moslem candidates. Lodge Dramatic has always been world-wide in its interests and members. We have had initiates from as far away as Japan and degrees have frequently been worked in French and German.
By November 26, 1914, 30 members of the Lodge were on active service with H.M. Forces. And on August 12, 1915, the Lodge hears of the deaths of Bro. Captain E. G. Field, P.M., and Bro. J. Waters, first members of the Lodge to be killed in action.
On Thursday, September 14, 1916, Grand Lodge enacts that" no brethren of alien enemy birth or nationality " shall attend Lodge meetings until a peace treaty has been signed.
On now to February, 1918. The Lodge decides to move from Sauchiehall Street to the Central Halls, Bath Street. Last meeting of the Lodge in the Sauchiehall Street premises was on May 23, but the move to Central Halls was delayed because the Military authorities were still in occupation. The Lodge property was stored at Cathcart and insured for £300. Thursday, October 10, saw the consecration of the new Lodge room at Central Halls, and another chapter of the Lodge's history was about to begin.
The Lodge continued to flourish between the wars and 1935 saw our Diamond Jubilee. The Roll Book, now regarded as a classic, already contained many famous names, including Sir Harry Lauder, George Formby, senior, and W. P. McAllister (Doodles the Clown).
But due to the travels of our theatrical members, the stalwarts of the Lodge were becoming—and still are—the brethren from the newspaper industry.
Two of them deserve a special mention here. They are the late Bro. Hugh McCreadie, a Bard of whom the Poet himself would have been proud, and the late Bro. Fred Clayton, an exceptional degree worker and dedicated Mason. To them goes the Lodge's thanks for their research in the preparation of this short history.
A short history it must unfortunately be, and it's forward in time again—this time to 1968. It was then that Lodge Dramatic had the unique occasion of Bro. L. J. Bell, Master, naming his father as his Depute . . . and the following year, installing him into the Chair of the Lodge.
No record of the Lodge would be complete without a mention of the late Lex McLean. Lex was the traditional Glasgow comic, but he had friends and admirers the world over. He was a brother and friend of Lodge Dramatic for many years, and it was often thanks to Lex and his colleagues from the "profession" that Lodge Dramatic's famous harmonies were such a success.
In 1971, the Lodge received its supreme accolade with the first visit to the Lodge of the Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason of Scotland, Bro. David Liddel Grainger, of Ayton. In the short space of 18 months, the Grand Master Mason, who impressed everyone in his travels with his quiet and kindly nature returned to the Lodge—this time to be made an Honorary Member.
This ceremony was conducted only two weeks after the same honour had been conferred on Bro. Adam Ferguson, Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow, and Bro. John McC. Russell, Junior Grand Warden and a Past Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow.
Today, Lodge Dramatic remains as it has always been—a friendly and lively Lodge, where members and visitors mix easily. But as always, they remain precise in their work and decorous within the Temple. The members like to think that 100 years of unbroken connection with the stage and the acting profession have imbued us with a sense not only of tradition, but also of the very necessary discipline which surrounds the " profession."
Although     the     vocations     of    the
membership   are   now   more   varied   than
ever,   our   pride and   interest in matters
' Dramatic " are as alive now as they were
in 1875 when all this began.