THE GROSVENOR LODGE NO 1257
A short History of our Lodge
Foreword & Acknowledgement:
This history is dedicated to W Bro. Eric Humberstone PJGD who was the inspiration for our lodge for so many years. The history relies heavily upon the book that he wrote to celebrate our centenary in 1969. I was privileged to be initiated into Grosvenor Lodge in 1986, which was Bro. Eric's Golden Jubilee year, and during which he was Master. He gave to me a copy of that book, which I have treasured. What struck me when reading the account of how Grosvenor Lodge began, was the speed with which matters were resolved. It is unlikely that a lodge formation could be attended to today with such alacrity.
Our name:
The name Grosvenor was not the founders' first choice. Originally the petition had requested the name "The Zetland Jubilee Lodge", but Lord Zetland, the Worshipful Grand Master observed that the word Jubilee implied 50 years, whereas his tenure of office had only been 25 years! The proposed name was duly changed to "Grosvenor". The most likely explanation for this choice was that the lodge was to meet in Westminster, and the Duke of Westminster whose family name was "Grosvenor", owned much of the property and land in that part of London.
Our formation:
On 21st January 1869 an initial committee was formed to propose a new lodge to serve Freemasons in the Pimlico area of London. Thereafter there appeared to be weekly committee meetings and by 26th February it was agreed that "a deputation should wait upon
St Luke's Lodge No 144,
to support their petition." This was acceded to by 2nd March. On 15th March Grand Secretary wrote that the warrant would be granted, enabling the Consecration to take place on 24th April - Just 3 months after the initial committee meeting! The Lodge was duly consecrated in the "private room of Brother Fisher" at Victoria Station, followed by " a good dinner with dessert for seven shillings & sixpence" and that the wine ticket would be "seven shillings & sixpence extra"!

Our Family tree:
Our Mother Lodge is St Luke's Lodge No 144,(sitelink), from whose ranks a number of our founders were drawn.
In 1879 Grosvenor sponsored the formation of Caxton Lodge No 1853, and the then Worshipful Master, W Bro. Thomas Meredith, became the first master of our first daughter lodge.
Between 1940 -1945, W Bro. Arthur Trewinnard, the lodge secretary, had sent out regular "Newsletters" enabling the Brethren to keep in touch with each other and maintain contact with their Lodge. Our membership, therefore, at the cessation of hostilities, was extremely healthy. The Lodge was pleased to sponsor the formation of our second daughter lodge, Portcullis No 6085, enabling brethren a quicker progress to the Master's Chair than would otherwise have been possible.
Our ties with Portcullis have been strongly maintained; we share a Lodge of Instruction and just this year, they have undertaken a Passing for us because of a "backlog" of ceremonies that we were experiencing.
It is worthy of note that there are 2 other English Constitution Lodges that share our name: one in Birmingham (No 938) and one in Cheshire (No 4312).
Where we meet:
The Lodge grew rapidly in its formative years, continuing to meet at Victoria Station until 1871. From there it moved to the Caledonian Hotel in Adelphi Terrace. In 1874 we moved to the Westminster Palace Hotel in Victoria Street, then to Freemasons Hall in 1877. We have continued to meet at Freemasons Hall since then, except for 2 short periods, initially in 1905-1909 during its rebuilding, when we met at the Criterion Restaurant and in the Second World War when accommodation was over-stretched and the Lodge therefore held its emergency meetings at a variety of places in the West End of London.


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