Gould's History of Freemasonry Around the World - Lodge Prudentia

OF CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND 11city . He was assisted by H . Aquilar, R . N ., commander of the gunboat Grappler,then lying in Esquimalt harbour, a few miles from Victoria,who was Past Masterof Good Report Lodge, No . 159 E . R. The new Lodge numbered eleven Chartermembers . During 186o nine Masons became members by affiliation, includingW : . Bro. Burnaby himself . John Malowansky, a Russian news agent and tobacconist,was the first person to be made a Mason in the Jurisdiction by Initiation. This popular young man soon rose to be J . D . of the Lodge, but some fiveyears later he left for the Cariboo gold fields and in 1866 he went to Kamchatkafor the Alaska Commercial Company . In 1875 Bro . Malowansky took his demitin order to join a Russian Lodge in Petropavlovsky . No word was ever afterwardsreceived from him . In 1931 Victoria Lodge had 420 members on its Roll .One of its traditions is that the Grand Master for the time being shall Installits Officers . On only one or two occasions since the organisation of the GrandLodge has this failed to take place .The example set by Victoria was soon followed by New Westminster, thencapital of the Colony of British Columbia . In 186o the Masons there applied tothe Grand Lodge of England for a Charter . It was granted, and in December1861, Union Lodge, No . 1201 E . R . was duly Constituted .The Lodges at Victoria and New Westminster used the English Ritual . Thiswas unfamiliar to many Masons who had come from the United States where adifferent Ritual was in use . Consequently, some of the American Masons residingat Victoria, who wished to use the Work to which they were accustomed,applied to the Grand Lodge of Washington Territory for a Charter in 1861 .Victoria Lodge protested that since the Colony of Vancouver Island was British,no Masonic Body other than the Grand Lodges of the mother country had anyright to grant either a Warrant or a Dispensation for a Masonic Lodge in theJurisdiction . It was further declared that any Lodge so established would betreated as clandestine . Foreseeing the difficulties which might arise if theirPetition were successful, the applicants withdrew it, and joined by some otherMasons they applied to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a Charter for VancouverLodge, No . 421 S . R .Nine Lodges had been Chartered in the two colonies by 1871 . The GrandLodge of England had established Victoria Lodge, No . 1085, later re-numbered783, and British Columbia Lodge, No . 1187, at Victoria ; Union Lodge, No . 12o1,later re-numbered 899, at New Westminster ; and Nanaimo Lodge, No . 1090, atNanaimo . Besides Vancouver Lodge, No . 421, the Grand Lodge of Scotlandhad authorised Cariboo Lodge, No . 469, at Barkerville ; Caledonia Lodge, No .478, at Nanaimo ; Mount Hermon Lodge, No . 491, at Hastings, now part of theCity of Vancouver . At Victoria it also established Quadra Lodge, which shouldhave been numbered 5o8, but which was still under Dispensation when theGrand Lodge of British Columbia was established . In May 1867, the GrandLodge of Scotland appointed Dr . Israel Wood Powell, a prominent physician ofVictoria, as Provincial Grand Master, and in December 1867 the Grand Lodge ofEngland appointed Robert Burnaby of the same place as District Grand Master .