Letter from Benjamin Gee, Worshipful Master of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth...

Letter from Benjamin Gee, Worshipful Master at Brabourne Lees, Kent of the Lodge held in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, No. 262 to Robert Leslie, Grand Secretary recommending a warrant for Lodge members from the 68th Regiment of Foot, previously members of various other lodges, to form a new Lodge. Gee seeks confirmation of the expenses for a new warrant and jewels and details for opening a new lodge. Gee recommends Sergeant Thomas Power as Worshipful Master, Quartermaster Sergeant Nicholas Ross as Senior Warden, Sergeant Peter Harmon as Junior Warden, Sergeant Hugh Borland as Secretary, Sergeant Owen Kebble as Treasurer and John Gillespie as Tyler. Gee will send names and payment for registration, including members joining from the 68th Regiment of Foot. The Antients' Grand Lodge granted a warrant for Durham Faithful Lodge, No. 348 [SN 1551] meeting in the the 68th Regiment of Foot on 22 June 1810.

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.