Provincial Lite Magazine Spring Edition

THE FIRST ROYAL ARCH CHAPTERS IN KENT An edited Extract from ‘Royal Arch Masonry in Kent 1778-1977’ written by Ernest Dudley Yarnold Grasby, MD, FRCOG, who was at the time Deputy Grand Superintendent of East Kent (1977-1981) Records exist of only four Royal Arch Chapters in the County of Kent in the 18th Century: the Holy Mount Moriah Chapter No.36, the Concord Chapter No.38, the Hope Chapter No.49 and the Hermes Chapter No.77. There were however Military Lodges in Kent holding meetings under what were known as Ambulatory Warrants and these, it is known, were practising Royal Arch Masonry as early as 1769 and before our first Grand Superintendent was appointed in 1778. The Holy Mount Moriah Chapter No.36 was founded under a Warrant dated June 1783, granted to George Washington, Edward Crowhurst and William Cachet to meet at the Sun Tavern (later the Sun Hotel) in Chatham on the 4 th Sunday in January, February, March, October, November and December. The last Exaltee was John Freer on the 29th October 1819. The Royal Kent Chapter No.20 also met at Chatham, but there is no date of Consecration - if indeed Chapters were Consecrated in those days; nor is there any evidence or date of a Warrant, although Chapter Warrants were first issued in 1769. However, there is a list of nine Petitioners and names of Exaltees, most of whom were from the ‘Royal Kent Lodge of Antiquity No.20’, for the years 1817, 1818 and 1819. The last entry was that of John Freer, Surgeon, exalted on the 29th October 1819, the same name as that of the Exaltee in the Holy Mount Moriah Chapter on the same day!!! The Royal Kent Arch Chapter of Antiquity No.20 was a new Chapter under a Charter dated 7th May 1845. Only one of the nine Petitioners was from Lodge No.20. The others came from Madras (1). Gravesend (5), Scotland (1), and Plymouth (1), but the Exaltees came from Lodge No.20. The Chapter meets in Chatham to this day. Although it cannot claim direct descent from the Holy Mount Moriah Chapter of 1783, the association with the original Chatham Royal Arch Masons must have been long and continuous. The Chapter of Concord No.38 was founded in October 1783 and met on the second Sunday in each month at the Sun Tavern in Canterbury. The Warrant was granted to William Apps, Thomas Lowen and Edward Smith, and the first fifteen names are those of Brethren from the Industrious Lodge No.31 of Canterbury. The Jewels on the Collars of the Officers of the Bertha Chapter No.31, whose Warrant is dated 1877, are considered to have belonged to the Chapter of Concord. The Royal Arch Banner, on loan to the Museum, can certainly be dated to the latter part of the 18th Century and in all probability belonged to the Chapter of Concord. 22