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Brethren, I would like to say something
about the proposal to create The Rulers’
Forum and why I believe such a body will
have an important role to play in the future.
When the old Board of General Purposes
was transformed into the new much smaller
one, it was thought advisable to create a
General Council, under the chairmanship
of the President of the Board, to retain that
wealth of knowledge and experience which
the former members had acquired over
many years of service.
It did not succeed for a variety of reasons
and is now a standing committee which
has not met for some years. The Associated
Masonic Provinces is a much older body,
and although it has performed some useful
functions for the Craft and has come up
with many innovative ideas, it has struggled
to be heard.
The Rulers’ Forum would, in effect,
unite both the General Council and the
Associated Masonic Provinces under
the chairmanship of the Grand Master.
Although it will have no powers, as such,
it cannot fail to have considerable influence,
comprising, as it will, the High Rulers,
the President and Deputy President of the
Board and the President of the Committee.
Of the remaining members, two-thirds
will be elected to represent the Provinces
and London, while one-third will be
appointed by the Grand Master. Its role will
be to debate some of the issues facing us at
this time, and to encourage brethren with
good ideas to air them in a spirit of fraternal
co-operation. I am excited by the creation
of such a representative body and hope its
members will be enthusiastic and forward
thinking with the best interests of the Craft
at heart.
In fact, brethren, visiting Lodges in
London, our Provinces and Districts over
the past year I have begun to sense a new
optimism among our members and this is
reinforced by the figures [see p20].
We are continuing to lose members
overall and Lodges will go on closing when
their numbers make them untenable, but the
number of Grand Lodge certificates we issue
each year appears to be holding up. If we
average out the drop in the number of
initiates since the millennium, it is less than
1% a year. This surely means our efforts must
be concentrated on retaining them, and to
do that we must educate them into the
meaning and relevance of Masonry in the
21st century.
Brethren, as you will have read in the
report of our last meeting, the Prestonian
Lecture is entitled The Victoria Cross –
Freemasons’ Band of Brothers and will be
given by W Bro G S Angell. I would like
also to commend to you the exhibition
currently on view in the Library and
Museum to mark the 150th anniversary of
the institution of the Victoria Cross in 1856.
The criterion for the reward is simple –
conspicuous valour in the presence of the
enemy – but its winners have been drawn
from all sections of the armed forces,
including some civilians under military
command, and from all walks of life.
This exhibition is a tribute to those
holders of the Victoria Cross who were
also Freemasons and includes some of their
stories. They amount to over 10% of all
the awards ever won, which is a remarkable
figure and one of which we can feel
justifiably proud.
Pro Grand Master’s tribute to
The Hon. Edward Latham Baillieu,
Past Deputy Grand Master:
Brethren, many of you will be aware of the
loss that has been suffered by the Craft by
the death on 10 February of RW Bro. the
Honourable Edward Latham Baillieu, Past
Deputy Grand Master. I believe that a
memorial service will be held in due course,
but in the meantime I should like to say a
few words in Grand Lodge now, so that
those of us who knew him can be reminded
of what sort of man – and Mason – he was,
and those who did not may have some idea
of what they have missed.
Bro. Baillieu, known to all his friends as
‘Ted’, was born in 1919 and was educated at
Winchester and Oxford University, where
his career was interrupted by the Second
World War. He served in the Royal Horse
Artillery and was invalided out after being
wounded. In 1946 he was initiated into
Empire Lodge No. 2108 in London and two
years later was exalted into Empire Chapter.
Meanwhile, he was making his career
in the City as a stockbroker. In 1962 he
was appointed a Deputy Grand Director
of Ceremonies and served in that capacity
for three years under the late Brother Frank
Douglas, whom he succeeded as Grand
Director of Ceremonies in 1968. When he
relinquished that office in 1976 he became
Assistant Grand Master in succession to
the present Lord Cornwallis, in this again
following in Frank Douglas’s footsteps
(though this time at one remove). When
Lord Cornwallis became Pro Grand Master
in 1982, Ted succeeded him as Deputy
Grand Master (and Second Grand
Principal), finally retiring in 1989.
Ted was a larger than life character with an
imposing presence, forthright in expressing
his opinions, but commanding great affection
among many of those who worked with or
for him. He was a most impressive Grand
Director of Ceremonies, but was nonetheless
modest enough to claim in later years that
Bro. Alan Ferris, who succeeded him, was
the true professional in that office.
As a Ruler of the Craft he had no need to
grow into his office, for he already brought
with him all the necessary characteristics.
After his retirement he only rarely attended
Masonic functions in London – the last one
of any magnitude being the 275th anniversary
of Grand Lodge at Earls Court in 1992.
Increasing infirmity in his later years
meant that we saw less and less of him.
He nonetheless retained a keen interest
in the affairs of the Craft, which is left
the poorer by his passing.
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MQ Magazine
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