Page 9 - MML - Journal - Centenary Edition - Vol. 01 / 2023

History of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103
– Retrospect of a Century
By R W Bro. S. Ramaswamy, P.DY.G.M., P.DY.R.G.M.
The Madras Masters Lodge was conceived primarily as a lodge of research and improvement and with a view to bring into close contact the rulers and past rulers of various lodges in the South. Therefore, the membership was restricted to only installed masters and it was the first Masters Lodge commissioned in India and it remained the only Masters Lodge for 27 years till The Bharat Mata Masters Lodge was consecrated on 14-04-1950 at New Delhi. The first public announcement of the proposal to form a Lodge of Installed Masters in Madras was made by a distinguished mason, who was made chief engineer of the British East India Company at Bengal, who served in the Indian Civil Services in the Madras Presidency from 1896 to 1934, who was a mason even as a student in the Cambridge University, who adorned the Eastern Chair in the Lodges under the District of Madras (EC) on no less than five occasions, who was installed as the W.M. of Madras Masters Lodge for two successive years and who was the District Grand Master of the Madras District from 1922 to 1934, and who was the chief secretary of the Madras Province, R W Bro. Sir. Archibald Campbell, ICS. The proposal was made at the meeting of the District Grand Lodge held on 18-03-1922. The proposal was warmly welcomed by all the lodges in the District under the English Constitution and as many as 88 brethren signed the petition for grant of a warrant. The petitioners were members from different constitutions also, English, Scottish and Irish. Among the eighty-eight, 40 brethren were Europeans and 48 Indians. Such a large number of petitioners was something unique in the history of Freemasonry then and also by the present standards. The petition was made by individual masons as there was no
provision for sponsoring a new lodge by an existing daughter lodge in those days.
In the petition as well as in the warrant W Bro. C. R. M. Smythe, Deputy District Grand Master was designated the first Master, W Bro. Sivagnana Mudaliar the first Senior Warden and W Bro. J. E. Lee the first Junior Warden. The original warrant of the lodge bearing No. 4487 (EC) was dated 01-11-1922. The consecration took place at the Moore Pavilion, Peoples Park, Madras on 24-03- 1923. 49 of the 88 petitioners were present on the evening of the consecration and there was a large number of visitors from several parts of the country. Just a month prior to the consecration of the lodge the foundation stone for the Freemasons Hall, Egmore was laid by the Governor of Madras, Lord Willington who was also a mason. P.M. Sivagnana Mudaliar, a member of the lodge began a fund collecting drive and collected Rs. 1,40,000/- towards the construction of the building.
Madras Masonic Journal Vol. 01 / 2023 - Centenary Year Edition
C. R. M. Smythe
P. M. Sivagnana Mudaliar
R.W. Bro A. Y. G. Campbell, District Grand Master of Madras was the consecrating officer assisted by W Bro. Thirumalai Pillai as Senior Warden, W Bro. A. R. Knapp as Junior Warden, W Bro. E. O. Jervis as Chaplain, W. Bro. M. G. Clinch as Director of Ceremonies and W. Bro. P. Pallanjee as Inner Guard, all of whom were or later became members of the Madras Masters Lodge.
A Publication of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103, GLI 8