Today we help celebrate Lodge Justice’s belated Centenary, which took place in mid October when they were finally presented with their Centenary warrant during their night of Installation.
Lodge Justice No.4421, which meets at Byker Masonic Hall, may have been one of the first Lodges to meet on a Saturday in the Province of Northumberland, as its petition, which was sponsored by Lodge Temperance No.2557, which also meets at Byker Masonic Hall, was submitted to the United Grand Lodge of England on 30 January 1922, stated that it would hold meetings on the second Saturday of the month at the Old Assembly Rooms, Westgate Road, Newcastle.
There were eighteen founder members of the new Lodge, the majority of whom came from Lodge Temperance, with others making up the numbers from Holy Cross Lodge No.3679, Neptune Lodge No.2908 and Walker Lodge No.1342. The reason for a new Lodge in the area was probably not hard to determine for Freemasonry was experiencing a new renaissance in the years following the First World War, and the rapid growth of some Lodges meant that it could take a long time to progress through a Lodge.
The first Master was W.Bro Robert English Womphrey, a well-known Wallsend freemason who had been involved with several Lodges in the area, with the Senior Warden Bro. Nicholas Wilson Maugham and the Junior Warden Bro. George Brack.
The name of the Lodge is taken from the First Degree Charge, given to every Initiate, ‘Let Prudence direct you! Temperance chasten you! Fortitude support You! and Justice be the guide of all your actions!’ with this latter sentiment appearing on the front of the Lodge Summons which also includes a figure representing Justice holding the Scales of Justice and wielding the Sword of Justice.
Approval for the new Lodge was subsequently readily granted and it was consecrated on 16 June 1923 at Wallsend Masonic Hall, by the then Provincial Grand Master, RW.Bro Charles Warren Napier-Clavering.
The Lodge soon established itself in the Royal Assembly Rooms, staying there until 1947, when it relocated to the Masonic Hall, Stephenson Road, Newcastle, and later moved to the Newcastle East Masonic Hall, in Corbridge Road in 1969. The Lodge celebrated its Golden Jubilee on Saturday 10 June 1972 in the presence of the then Provincial Grand Master, R.W.Bro. The Rev. L H Cross who conducted a Service of Thanksgiving and delivered an Oration.
The Lodge sponsored one other Lodge, The Lodge of Concord No 6723, in 1948, which met at Maple Terrace, but has since surrendered its Warrant.
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