History of the Salopian Lodge of Charity in The
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HISTORY OF THE SALOPIAN LODGE OF CHARITY IN THE SHROPSHIRE MILITIA 1804 – 1810 The threat of invasion by the armies of Bonaparte seemed a very real one in the early years of the nineteenth century. The Additional Forces Act allowed once again for the ‘embodying’ of the local Militias (beginning in March 1803), an established if unpopular process by which young men from the Shires were selected for military training. This was done chiefly by ballot, and only if a man was rich enough to provide a substitute could he escape the draft (a certificate of substitution from 1798 is shown, right). The troops thus raised were guaranteed during their five years’ minimum service that they would not be used beyond the confines of the British Islands. Unfortunately, stories circulating of an earlier force of Militiamen from Shropshire who had been packed off to the West Indies (where disease had exacted a fearful toll) led to some grumbling and even resistance to raising a new force in the county. For the most part, however, the men realised the immediacy of the threat from France and her dominions and were content to ‘do their bit’. The story of the Militias during the Napoleonic Wars lacks much of the romance associated with Nelson’s Navy, Wellington’s Peninsular campaign and the rest. Their role was to release regular troops from some of the more mundane duties such as garrisoning ports and parole towns, policing prisons and prison hulks (left), recruiting - and keeping an eye on the Irish. The last of these duties (being ‘overseas’) appears to have required the troops to volunteer for the service: many of the Shropshire men declined to do so when the Regiment was sent to Ireland in 1813 and ‘declared off’ from the Militia. Shropshire provided just one regiment of Militia by 1809 (there had been two, but these had been amalgamated). While many of the recruits were new, the men who were eventually to form a new Lodge in the regiment were in most cases Sergeants or even Sergeant Majors, seasoned campaigners with many years’ service behind them already. One unresolved question is how these NCOs came to include (as it would appear) two ‘other ranks’ among their number. The inclusion of Privates Williams and Dersey would have been in direct contravention to the conventions of the time, as made clear in Lord Bradford’s Standing Orders of the Shropshire Militia in 1813: “ ... [A sergeant]... is on no pretence to treat or drink with Privates...”. Among the original members, James Mansfield is generally considered as the “Father of the Lodge” (a title he was first given in 1811), the driving force behind its inception and also its survival after the return to Shrewsbury in 1815. His portrait (right) still hangs in the Lodge Rooms at Crewe Street, and a formidable man he appears to be! One historical conundrum which has taxed the mind of more than one member of 117 over the years has been the tracing of Mansfield, especially as the names James and John Mansfield figure many times in the Minutes of various Devon lodges which were near neighbours of 153 (including 205, 208, 213, 216 and 306) around the time that the Shropshires were in Plymouth (and indeed after they had left for Ireland). Was there more than one James Mansfield? Records in the Plymouth lodges have a James Mansfield who belonged to Charity Lodge – then 306, now 223. This Mansfield joined in July 1810 from 216 and in October of that year was acting as Senior Warden, in late December as Junior Deacon. Earlier in that same month he “passed the Chair” (a fairly common ritual procedure in those times by which he became a Past Master in 306 – this formula was often associated with joining Chapter). 306 has a cash book which records money received from Bro. Mansfield from Ark and Mark Chapter in January, 1811. Clearly he was an active Mason! A later entry notes that Mansfield “declared off” on February 5th 1811, and intriguingly lists his profession at that time as “Grocer”... On May 7th a James Mansfield is listed as a Visitor, with 153 given as his Lodge! On 7th November, 1813 both James (205) and John Mansfield (216) visited 306 – there is every possibility (though no proof) that these men were brothers in more ways than one... What can we make of all this??! The important clues are in the records of Lodge 216 which, though now extinct, was then founded in the East Devon Militia. The Atholl Register for this Lodge lists a John Mansfield (a Paymaster’s Clerk) in 1806 and a James Mansfield on June 1st 1807 [when the Shropshire Militia were stationed at Dover], the latter born in Tiverton, an Excise Officer... The discharge papers of the Shropshire Militia clearly show 117’s Mansfield to have been a Shrewsbury man, and we know he had a tavern in Shrewsbury soon after 1815 and remained in Shropshire until his death. By far the most likely explanation is that these were two men with the same name, and the unravelling of their movements in the tight-knit Plymouth Masonic community of the day is a challenge yet to be entirely solved! A letter to Lord Bradford held in the Shropshire Archives makes clear that ‘our’ Mansfield had been a quartermaster sergeant in the 2nd Shropshire Militia stationed at Liverpool around 1802. He was accused of having run up a bill for £19 purchasing meat there, which had not been paid: in his defence he said that he had been given credit for 12 months [but five years had passed...]. The problems of supplying a Militia regiment may have placed undue pressure on the QM sergeants - at the same time some were evidently accustomed to buying cheap and selling dear to their own men. Lord Bradford instructed his officers to prevent a recurrence of this kind of problem by sourcing and accessing all necessities centrally, and not having NCOs deal with tradesmen privately. By contrast, the enquiry into the business drew attention to the “admirable behaviour of serg. majors Linnecar and John Cheese, and the correctness they have always displayed.” Cheese was to become 153’s first Junior Warden. Another key early member (though not present at the meeting above) was John Merrington, who was appointed to be Senior Warden of the new Lodge. He left the regiment in 1810, and the Bradford letters make clear the reason – Merrington was a Bandmaster, and while Bradford had been anxious to hold on to him in earlier times (he was evidently good at his job), a request from Lord Powis to take him on to smarten up the South Shropshire Volunteer Militia was acceded to in July 1810. Mansfield served in the Shropshires from 1787 to 1815, receiving his discharge at the age of 47 (this puts his age at about 42 when the Lodge was formed); but many were older than that when they were ‘stood down’. While a handful of the twenty founder members called off in 1813, and several more were discharged in 1815, there were others who were still on the rolls of the Militia up to 1829. Thomas Vickers, who was initiated into 153 in 1810 was not discharged until 1835 (when he was 59 years old). In 1804 the 1st Regiment was stationed at Norwich, moving to Ipswich in 1806, thence to Dover in October of the following year (Dover Castle, right). The military establishment moved the troops around every two years or so, being keen that the men should not be allowed to ‘settle down’ too much in one place. This costly and occasionally troublesome progress seems to have proceeded in a generally clockwise direction around the coastal towns. In 1809 Lord Bradford, Commander of the Shropshire Militia, was writing to his superiors requesting another move. By October 1809 the Shropshires had fetched up at Langney Point Barracks in Eastbourne, near to where on the 2nd of that month the first formal meeting of twenty Masons resolved to make application to the Atholl Grand Lodge for a Warrant to hold a Lodge. It is clear that, in forming a new Lodge for the Shropshire Militia, while the birth may have been at Gosport, the conception was in Dover. [photograph copyright, reproduction by permission of the United Grand Lodge of England] “To the Right Worshipful Grand Master, Deputy Master and other Officers of Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ancient Masons: This Petition humbly Showeth That we the undersigned are all ancient Free Masons, and firmly attached to its Principals [sic], but being in the Army are often prevented from that enjoyment we so earnestly wish to devote a part of our time to, by being often situated where there is no Lodge. Your Petitioners therefore having got permission from their Colonel to take such measures as is necessary to endeavour to get a Warrant Do most humbly pray that you Right Worshipful Lodge will (if you find us worthy) Grant us a Warrant to hold a Lodge of Ancient Freemasonry in the Shropshire Regiment of Militia, and your Right Worshipful Lodge may rest assured that it will be our constant study to support it with that integrity as becomes Men and Masons and which is necessary for so grand an undertaking. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will take this earnest petition into your most serious consideration, and hope that the recommendation that will accompany this, will be a means of our being found worthy of the high honour of having our Regiment enrolled in the list of Lodges.