A number of Atholl Lodges were originally created or supported by the British and Irish Militia. On this page are links to the original document, to read or download, and below it the transcribed content, if you would like to read it directly.
If you have anymore information about the involvement of the militia in your lodge, and you would be pleased to share it, please do contact us.
View Original Document
THE IRISH LODGES
Records show that two warrants were issued to the Royal Fusiliers by the Grand Lodge of Ireland:
No. 38. - 10th December 1750.
No. 231. - April 1752.
There are no registrations for either of these Lodges.
No. 38 must have been dated originally between November 1734 and September 1735 and the issue of 1750 a transfer or reissue.
However, on the evidence of W. Brother R. E. Parkinson, the acknowleged authority on the Irish Lodges, this warrant was issued,
not to the 7th but to the 38th Foot. The Lodge was erased on 1st November 1801.
No. 231 was erased on 5th November the same year.
The Regiment was in Ireland, first in Dublin and then in Londonderry, from 1749 until 1755. The number 231 was reissued in 1811 to a Lodge at Armoy which has since disappeared; it was again revived when the Carleton Lodge of Portadown was warranted in 1879.
It is interesting to note that an English Regiment still holds an Irish warrant of this period. No. 322 Glittering Star Lodge, warranted in 1759, is held in the Ist Bn. the Worcestershire Regt. the 29th Foot. This Lodge, opened in ample form by the Grand Master of Ireland, met in the Tower of London in 1938, the first masonic meeting ever held there.
THE CANADIAN LODGES
The Grand Lodge of the Antients formed a Provincial Grand Lodge in Lower Canada in 1791. H. R. H. Prince Edward, Colonel of the Royal Fusiliers, was appointed Provincial Grand Master with authority to issue warrants.
The earliest reference to the Regiment in Canadian Freemasonry is the appearance of six members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Andalusia as visitors in Lodge No. 241, Quebec, on 27 December 1791.
They were:
Pte. John Fisher
Pte. John Finch
Cpl. William Stuart
Pte. John Graber discharged 13 January 1791.
Sgt. George Mansforth discharged 31 July 1791.
Pte. Fred. Bogatch discharged 24 August 1791.
In 1792, while stationed at Richelieu, (now Sorel), the Officers applied for and were granted a warrant for the Royal Rose Lodge No. 2, and in the following year the Other Ranks formed the Lodge of Fidelity No. 7, both on the Register of Lower Canada. The records of both Lodges in Quebec are fragmentary; in Nova Scotia they are almost complete for the period during which they were working there.
The Regiment had come to Canada from Gibraltar, where lodges were administered by the Antients' P.G.L. of Andalusia The officers of the Regiment were members of the P.G.L. of Andalusia, and the Other Ranks were members of the P.G.L. of Lower Canada. Prince Edward, the fourth son of George Ill, later became Duke of Kent and the father of Queen Victoria; hence the nickname bestowed upon the Regiment on her accession: "Dad's Old Corps".
THE MILITIA BATTALIONS.
THE ROYAL WESTMINSTER MILITIA
The Regiment of Westminster Militia was formed in 1760. The title 'Royal' first appears in pay lists in 1794. The Regiment was embodied as The 3rd Middlesex or Westminster Regiment of Militia in 1797, and re-named Royal Westminster Militia in 1804. The Regiment was stood down in 1816 and the Headquarters establised at Brentford, moving to Hammersmith in 1850. Three years later the title was again changed to 3rd Royal Westminster Middlesex (Light Infantry) Militia. When the Cardwell reforms were introduced in 1881 it became the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and was renumbered 5th on the formation of the 3rd Line Battalion in 1898.
THE ROYAL SOUTH MIDDLESEX MILITIA
Formed in 1853, this Regiment became the 5th (Militia) Battalion in 1881; it was renumbered 7th in 1898 and 6th in 1908.
THE ROYAL LONDON MILITIA
The East and West Regiments of London Militia were raised in 1794 and given the privileges of the City of London as enjoyed by the Train Bands. This is the beginning of this particular regiment, but the history of militia in the City can be traced back to the London Levies in King Alfred's army which subdued the Danes in AD886.
Both Regiments were styled 'Royal' in 1804, and in 1820 they became the Royal London Militia by amalgamation. In 1881 the Regiment joined the Royal Fusiliers as the 4th (Militia) Bittalion, being renumbered 6th in 1898, and 7th in 1908.
WAR SERVICE
The Militia were embodied during the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars for garrison duty at home; during the latter period the Royal Westminster volunteered to serve abroad; were sent to Corfu, receiving the Battle Honour MEDITERRANEAN. For the South African War they were again embodied; the 6th and 7th were stood down after a few months but the 5th Bn. again volunteered for foreign service, and were awarded the Battle Honour SOUTH AFRICA 1900-01.
In the Kaiser's War the 5th and 6th Bns. were employed as training units at home;
the 7th, at first a Special Reserve unit, went to France in 1916, serving in the 63rd (Naval)
Division until the Armistice.
In 1919 the Militia Battalions became dormant, and they were not revived for Hitler's War.