We thank W Bro Dudley M Wensley PSGD, PAsstProvGM for this report. Edited by W Bro Peter Swatton ProvGCO.
During the Christmas holidays W Bro Dudley M Wensley PSGD. PAsstProvGM (Middx) and his wife visited family in California and while there, W Bro Dudley had the pleasure of being a guest at Hannibal Lodge No 1, Prince Hall Grand Lodge of California.
His visit was arranged through the Grand Chancellor’s office at Great Queen Street and fortunately the Prince Hall Grand Lodge had just one meeting in San Francisco the week before Christmas.
The facilitator for his visit was the Prince Hall Grand Chancellor MW Brother David San Juan who it transpired is a Past Grand Master. He very kindly arranged for a brother who lived near where we were staying in Monterey, to collect and transport him to the meeting – a 2 hour journey each way.
W Bro Dudley says the meeting was very different to any he had previously experienced, but even more enjoyable for that reason, and he could not have been made more welcome.
There were present at the meeting his host the Past Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens and a host of other Grand Officers and at least one entered apprentice.
When all were assembled and before the Lodge was opened, the members present turned to the north east where the flag of the United States of America was prominently displayed. All of the brethren then holding the sign of fidelity, proudly reaffirmed their allegiance to the flag and all that it represented. W Bro Dudley said he “found such a display of patriotism to be most impressive and moving”.
After the Lodge was opened in the third degree the Past GM and W Bro Dudley were invited to retire from the Lodge. The Past GM then re-entered the Lodge and assumed the Chair. W Bro Dudley then re-entered and was escorted to the Chair where he was presented with books containing the ritual of all three Prince Hall degrees and a medallion on behalf of the Grand Master, commemorating the 170th anniversary of Prince Hall freemasonry in California.
Prince Hall Grand Lodges are established in most states of the USA and work alongside the other Grand Lodges. The Grand Lodge of California and the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of California are two separate, sovereign and distinct constitutions, both of which recognise each other and are of course recognised by our own Grand Lodge. Although separate and with their own traditions, they work in cooperation with each other especially in the area of charity.
Prince Hall is thought to have been born in 1735 on the Island of Barbados and subsequently lived in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. After 21 years as a slave, he was freed. Prince Hall was known to have been a very successful business man in Boston and in his time provided employment for very many other freedmen. He was not a ‘Prince’ but had been named Prince by his master when he was a slave; this was quite common practice for slaves to be given names chosen by their masters and if and when freed, took the surname of their previous owners.
Brother Hall was a patriot; he enlisted as a soldier in the revolutionary wars (War of Independence) and served in the 2nd and 6th regiments of Massachusetts with ‘steadiness and valour’. It was said that Prince Hall was “not only a good soldier but also a statesman.”
Happily, as we all know, the barbarous practice of slavery was abolished many years ago thanks largely to the passing of abolition laws in Britain and the suppression by the Royal Navy, of the Atlantic slave trade. Subsequently, following the American Civil War, slavery was at least officially, abolished in the USA.
In 1787 Prince Hall and 14 other freedmen successfully petitioned the United Grand Lodge of England for a warrant to establish a Lodge in Boston, Massachusetts. African Lodge number 459 was constituted on 6th May 1787 with Prince Hall its first Worshipful Master.
After Prince Hall died in 1807 an assembly of the Craft in 1808 agreed that the name African Lodge be changed to Prince Hall Grand Lodge, F & A.M of Massachusetts, following this change of name, Prince Hall masonry successfully expanded south and west.
It took three or more Lodges to form a Grand Lodge and Hannibal Lodge No 1 was one of the three founding Lodges in 1855 of what is today the “Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, State of California, Incorporated.
In spite of the enormous difficulties our African American brethren have experienced over the past 200 plus years and which still exists today in some parts of the USA, freemasonry has flourished and the bonds that bind us as Freemasons are stronger today than ever before. The great principals on which our order is founded, are practiced by the brethren of Hannibal Lodge and the extent to which Prince Hall freemasonry has flourished in spite of the discriminatory ‘Jim Crowe’ and other laws (now happily declared unconstitutional) is truly inspirational.
W Bro Dudley said he could not have been made more welcome by the brethren he met. The last member of our own Grand Lodge to have visited Hannibal Lodge was the present Pro Grand Master MW Brother Jonathan Spence and in order to accommodate his very busy schedule, the Lodge arranged for a special meeting commencing at 8 am – that really was a daylight Lodge meeting! W Bro Dudley was honoured to have followed in his steps although thankfully the meeting he attended did not start until 8 pm.
Should any reader of this article have an opportunity to visit California then W Bro Dudley would urge you to contact the Grand Chancellor’s office at Great Queen Street through the Provincial Grand Secretary, and ask if they can arrange a visit for you.
