Letter of the officers of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, No. 262 to...

AR/1379/12

Letter of the officers of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, No. 262 to Robert Leslie, Grand Secretary

16 March 1801

Letter of Peter Connell, sergeant, Worshipful Master, Joseph Piercy, Senior Warden and William Mealy, Junior Warden, the Star Inn, Newport, Isle of Wight, of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, No. 262 to the Grand Secretary raising the issue of insults received from [Michael] Honan, Worshipful Master, Lodge held in the Fifty-Second Regiment of Foot, No. 309 [SN 1329], Newport, Isle of Wight concerning a disagreement over a Bible, book of constitutions, warrant and jewels, after two lodges were established in both the 1st and 2nd Battallions of the Eighty-Fifth Regiment and the warrant for Lodge No. 309 was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Eighty-Fifth Regiment. Endorsed: draft reply from Robert Leslie informing the officers of of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, No. 262 that he had written to the members of the Lodge held in the Fifty-Second Regiment of Foot, No. 309 [SN 1329], Newport, Isle of Wight and asked both lodges to remain in perfect harmony and friendship as good men and Masons.

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This unnamed lodge was established on 1 January 1801 as No. 298(B) by the Antients' Grand Lodge. It was a travelling military lodge based in the 1st Battalion of the Eighty-fifth Regiment. In 1801 the regiment was based in Jersey, where the lodge met at an unknown location. In 1803 the Lodge relocated with the Regiment to Stoney Hill, Jamaica, West Indies. When the Regiment returned to England in 1809, the Lodge met in barracks at Brabourne Lees and Hythe, Kent and at Ottery St. Mary, Devon. After 1814, a year after the union between the Antients' and Moderns' Grand Lodges to form the United Grand Lodge of England, the Lodge was renumbered as No. 379 and represented members from all battalions of the Eighty-fifth Regiment. The Lodge was renumbered again to meet as No. 262 in 1832. The movements of the Regiment and Lodge after 1814 are unclear although they met on St. Vincent's, West Indies, in 1845. The warrant was returned on 3 August 1846 by order of the Regiment's commanding officer and the Lodge was erased.