History of the Chapter
The Royal Somerset House & Inverness Chapter No 4 had a twenty-year gestation period. The Craft Lodge of the same name has a long and distinguished history, being one of the three remaining “time immemorial” lodges, responsible for the formation of the first Grand Lodge in 1717. The Lodge is now well over 300 years old.
The rather long and resonant name of both Lodge and Chapter is in fact the result of changes and amalgamations over many years. The Lodge started life (date unknown) at the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster, and was No 4 on the register. Later it became known as the Old Horn Lodge, and thanks to “closing up” of redundant numbers, it became lodge No 2. In January 1774 the Old Horn Lodge and the Somerset House Lodge amalgamated, and taking the number of one lodge, and the name of the other, became Somerset House Lodge No 2. In 1813, when the union of the two Grand Lodges led again to numbering changes, Somerset House Lodge reverted to the number 4. In 1828 the Lodge amalgamated again, this time with the Royal Inverness Lodge, and by permission of HRH the Duke of Sussex (Grand Master) retained its royal title in the new combined designation of Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge No 4.
With the name and number firmly established, the Lodge worked happily for another forty years, before the idea of an attached Royal Arch Chapter was mooted. The Freemason, physician, clergyman, and historian, the Rev'd Arnold Whitaker Oxford, was one of the Founders of the Chapter, but he is also the person we have to thank for much of our understanding of how the Chapter came into being. Oxford was a fascinating character, who wrote several works of Masonic history, and held high office in Masonic Orders including the Antient and Accepted Rite. He was also an acknowledged expert on the history of the publication of cookery books. He qualified in theology and medicine, and had a number of books published across a range of Masonic, theological, and cookery topics. In his history of No 4 Lodge he records the early attempts to launch a Royal Arch Chapter. The first suggestion in the early 1870s seems to have come to nothing. Later, in March 1879, a meeting was convened for potential founders of a Chapter, but as only four brethren attended, the plan was again shelved.
Finally in 1891 the subject was again raised, and on 23 November 1891 a resolution was passed at the Lodge to petition Grand Chapter for a Royal Arch Chapter to be attached. The Royal Somerset House and Inverness Chapter No 4 was consecrated on 7 November 1892.
The rather long and resonant name of both Lodge and Chapter is in fact the result of changes and amalgamations over many years. The Lodge started life (date unknown) at the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster, and was No 4 on the register. Later it became known as the Old Horn Lodge, and thanks to “closing up” of redundant numbers, it became lodge No 2. In January 1774 the Old Horn Lodge and the Somerset House Lodge amalgamated, and taking the number of one lodge, and the name of the other, became Somerset House Lodge No 2. In 1813, when the union of the two Grand Lodges led again to numbering changes, Somerset House Lodge reverted to the number 4. In 1828 the Lodge amalgamated again, this time with the Royal Inverness Lodge, and by permission of HRH the Duke of Sussex (Grand Master) retained its royal title in the new combined designation of Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge No 4.
With the name and number firmly established, the Lodge worked happily for another forty years, before the idea of an attached Royal Arch Chapter was mooted. The Freemason, physician, clergyman, and historian, the Rev'd Arnold Whitaker Oxford, was one of the Founders of the Chapter, but he is also the person we have to thank for much of our understanding of how the Chapter came into being. Oxford was a fascinating character, who wrote several works of Masonic history, and held high office in Masonic Orders including the Antient and Accepted Rite. He was also an acknowledged expert on the history of the publication of cookery books. He qualified in theology and medicine, and had a number of books published across a range of Masonic, theological, and cookery topics. In his history of No 4 Lodge he records the early attempts to launch a Royal Arch Chapter. The first suggestion in the early 1870s seems to have come to nothing. Later, in March 1879, a meeting was convened for potential founders of a Chapter, but as only four brethren attended, the plan was again shelved.
Finally in 1891 the subject was again raised, and on 23 November 1891 a resolution was passed at the Lodge to petition Grand Chapter for a Royal Arch Chapter to be attached. The Royal Somerset House and Inverness Chapter No 4 was consecrated on 7 November 1892.
The early years of the Chapter were smooth and marked by growth, yet the spirit of ambivalence in the associated Lodge continued. In 1928 Arnold Oxford, who had been Master of the Lodge in 1891 when the vote was taken, and had voted in favour of forming the Chapter, inexplicably wrote that he now considered the decision to have been “a mistake”. Sadly, his reasons for this are not recorded. Oxford was one of the twelve founders, and served as Founding Second Principal. He was First Principal the following year.
Of the twelve founders, one had died and seven more resigned, before the Chapter was five years old, yet it had a steady stream of exaltees (all from No 4 Lodge) and so survived. The first candidate to come from another Lodge was from the Lodge of Honor and Generosity No 165, with which there was an established connection for many years. Since 2012 this relationship has been rediscovered, with several new candidates coming from the Lodge of Honor and Generosity once again. In 1898 a meeting was cancelled at short notice because the Charter could not be found. A replacement was purchased, and meetings resumed, although happily the original Charter was eventually found - more than a quarter of a century later. No 4 Chapter has a history of hosting distinguished overseas visitors, and of assisting in the founding of overseas jurisdictions of the Supreme Order. In 1929 the Chapter exalted the Grand Master of Finland, and other Finnish Grand Officers, as part of the efforts to establish Royal Arch Masonry in that country. More recently the Chapter has exalted the Grand Master of Serbia and the Grand Master of Russia (along with his Deputy) to assist in developing the Royal Arch in those nations. Individual members have been very involved in developing the Royal Arch in Bulgaria. One of the distinguishing features of the Chapter is the ceremony of Thurification, which is performed as part of the opening of every Convocation. The Chapter has an officer called the Thurifer who performs this ceremony, which involves the censing of the Chapter, the altar, and the principal officers. Notes in the “Masonic Record” magazine in the mid 1930s show that this ceremony was revived at that time in Pythagorean Chapter No 79, and it appears to have spread from there to Chapter No 4. At least one other Chapter (in Kent) also retains this ceremony. Some well-known members of this Chapter have included Eric Fraser CBE who, as Director-General of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, oversaw the monumental effort to mass-produce aircraft for the Second World War, which became (under his leadership) Britain's largest wartime industry; Brian Colquhoun, the resident engineer of the Mersey Tunnel, who also directed the production of aircraft factories for the Second World War; Sir Angus Paton CMG FRS, whose engineering skills contributed to the war-time Mulberry Harbours, but whose greatest legacy is probably the Aswan High Dam; and Professor Merton Sandler whose pioneering work in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in the first anti-depressants, and who was later a psychopharmacological ground-breaker in the treatments of Parkinson's disease, alcoholism, migraine, and schizophrenia. The distinctive Past Z jewel incorporates the Royal Arms of Scotland (by permission), below which hangs a horn, a reminder of the origins of the attached Lodge, which was once known as the Old Horn Lodge. The Scottish Royal Arms (superimposed upon two equilateral triangles) also form the Chapter’s badge. These jewels are too expensive to produce today, but a stock is retained for loan to Past First Principals. In 1989 the Chapter began dining at the Oriental Club, with which it was associated for many years. The header picture at the top of this page shows detail from the ornate panelling of the Library of the Oriental Club, where the Chapter spent so many happy hours. Later, dining moved to the Mountbatten Hotel at Seven Dials, until that hotel was closed and rebranded as a "boutique hotel", with no room for its traditional customers. Dinners have been held at other locations. From 2013 to 2019 inclusive, the Chapter dined very comfortably at the Lansdowne Club. From 2020 we have mostly been dining in-house at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, with a few chapter banquets held in members' assorted Clubs. The Chapter is a healthy one, and currently has a membership of around 70, and a waiting list to join. The members represent a broad range of ages, professions, and backgrounds, but share a common commitment to high standards in their Royal Arch Masonry, and to the welcome of visitors at the regular Convocations. |