St. Paul's Lodge, No.374 on the register of the United Grand Lodge of England, can fairly claim to be the oldest English language institution in Montreal, having been established in that city in 1770 by virtue of a warrant dated 8th November 1770. This warrant was granted by R WBro.the Hon. John Collins, Provincial Grand Master for Canada, by virtue of a Patent from the 6th Duke of Beaufort,Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England (the so-called 'Moderns')from 1767 to 1772. Because of the uncertain and intermittent nature of communications between England and the Canadas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the direct reporting line and the identifying number of the Lodge underwent a series of changes, until the establishment,under the UGLE of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Montreal & William Henry in 1823, when it became No. 782 on the register of the parent Grand Lodge. Subsequent renumberings in 1832(to no.514) and in 1863 (to its present number,374) round out the Shufflings. On 24th April 1833 a fire destroyed the Masonic Hall, where St.Paul's had held its meetings since the Hall's dedication in 1824, and with it virtually all the Lodge records to that date.The first Provincial Grand Master of Montreal&William Henry,the Hon. William McGillivray,appointed in 1823, died in December 1825, and the Hon. John Molson was appointed in his place. Molson resigned the office in December 1833, which remained vacant until the appointment of the Hon. Peter McGill in 1846. McGill resigned in 1849, and William Badgley succeeded to the office in December of that year.1855 witnessed the formation of the Grand Lodge of Canada, and the subsequent adherence thereto of the vast majority of those Lodges in Lower Canada warranted by the UGLE. On 10th November 1857 the Lodge adopted the following resolution:
" That in view of the existing condition of Masonry in Canada and the present reduced number of Lodges in this District hailing from the Grand Lodge of England, it is inexpedient to continue the Provincial Grand Lodge of Montreal and William Henry - and that in consequence this Lodge do, on the dissolution of that body - hold their communications direct with the United Grand Lodge of England."
St.Paul's continued to deal directly with Great Queen Street until advice was received, in a letter from the Grand Secretary dated 6th June 1955, that " The Grand Master has been pleased to include your Lodge in a Group to be called 'The Montreal and Halifax Group of Lodges' and that he has been further pleased to appoint WBro. J. Charles Hope as Grand Inspector of the Group." Successive Grand Inspectors since then: Hazen Hansard 1971 -1984 ; John Berth - Jones 1984 -1985; Stanley Waters 1985 - 1996; John Fookes 1996 - 2009 and Peter Vatcher 2009 - Present. Between 1770 and 1930 the Lodge had held its meetings in at least 15 different locations within the city. Then in 1930, the Grand Lodge of Quebec having been unable to meet the conditions under which St.Paul's had made a substantial contribution towards the new Temple to be constructed on Sherbrooke Street, the Lodge purchased the property at 2130 Mackay Street which we were happy to call home from 1930 to 2000. In that year we finally moved out of the old city of Montreal and are now established at Harmony Hall, in Pierrefonds.The fortunes of the Lodge have fluctuated over the years,as has, in more recent times, the makeup of its membership; the latter largely a reflection of the substantial changes in patterns of social and recreational behaviour.The above section was written by W.Bro. Alan Black, PJGD
A History of the Lodge 1770 to 1970
It was the year 1770. The memories of the Seven Years War were fading; French and English subjects of George III lived and worked well side by side. Soldiers and Priests,Trappers and Farmers, Clerks and Voyageurs came and went in the muddy streets as they proceeded on their various occasions.The Nineteenth Century was still three decades in the future. The seven month old baby William Wordsworth slept in his cradle. It would be another five weeks before the baby Ludwig van Beethoven would be born. Thomas Gainsborough had just completed his masterpiece, "The Blue Boy" and Oliver Goldsmith sent "The Deserted Village" to the printers.
In April of that year, James Cook had discovered and named Botany Bay. In March, a mob of civilians had brawled with troops in a small town named Boston. The daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Maria Antoinette, had been married to the Dauphin of France in May: Their execution at the hands of the rabble was twenty three years in the future. The American Revolution was not to begin for another five years.
On the eighth of November, in the upper room of a tavern on St.Paul's Street the Worshipful Master and Officers of St. Peter's Lodge No. 4, installed the Worshipful Master and Officers of a newly formed Lodge. During the subsequent banquet, and following the enthusiastic honouring of the Loyal Toasts, The Worshipful Master of St. Peter's Lodge no doubt asked leave to speak; he desired,he would have said, to urge the next health.
Down the centuries we can hear his ringing tones as he welcomes the new Lodge to the ranks of Freemasonry. Looking into the future, he predicts a long life of undeviating loyalty to the cause of English Freemasonry. Doubtless he peeps into the past and speaks about the traditions and principles of the Craft. It is very likely that he spoke at length and spoke well in the rolling periods of the time, until he bade the Brethren rise and empty a bumper to the future well-being of the new Lodge.
The dinner ending, the Brethren departed in harmony into the dark, narrow streets to wend their several ways home. We can asssume that many speculated briefly on the future of their Lodge, but their wildest dreams would not envisage their baby Lodge, two hundred years later strongly striding into her third century still bearing the original name of St. Paul's; deeply and proudly loyal to the Mother Grand Lodge of all Grand Lodges; having been through nine changes of number to be now number 374 on the registry of the United Grand Lodge of England. Neither War, Invasion, Rebellion, nor Riot, Fire and Plague have served to halt the progress of Saint Paul's Lodge since its foundation.
The above contribution was written by W.Bro. John M. Coupland