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THE Massachusetts' District  of China

by Kit Haffner, FPS

Lodge Numbers Grow

My article on 'The First American
Lodge in China' concluded with the
growth of Massachusetts' Masonry in
China from a single Lodge to four, one
in the northern port of Tientsin (Tianjin)
and two sisters to Ancient Landmark in
Shanghai. This process continued, and
soon there were even more. The charter
dates and locations were:

 Dec. 14, 1864
Ancient Landmark Shanghai

 Sep. 14, 1904
Sinim (orig. Cathay) Shanghai
UD only Peiho Tianjin (Tientsin)

 Sep. 14, 1904
Shanghai (orig. Orient)Shanghai

Jun. 15, 1916
International Beijing (Peking)

 Mar. 21, 1921
TalienDalian (Dairien)

 Sep. 13, 1922
Hykes Memorial Tianjin

 Mar. 10, 1926
Pagoda Shenyang (Mukden)

 Mar. 13, 1929
SungariHaerbin

UD only Chin Ling Nanjing (Nank-
ing)

UD only Delta Lodge of China
Guangzhou (Canton)

Regrettably, Peiho Lodge did not pro-
gress beyond its dispensation. Attempts
to revive it also failed, though from the
list it can be seen that by 1922 a new
Lodge was established in the city of Ti-
anjin, and this time it lasted until the
Pacific War. The early failure of Ameri-
can Masonry in Tianjin is hard to under-
stand, as generally the influence of the
United States in northern China was
greater than in the south (where Britain
predominated), and Tianjin had a well-
equipped Masonic hall with several Eng-
lish and Scottish Lodges. Noises were
even being made about a separate Dis-
trict Grand Lodge for English Masonry
in the north. Could it be that the Amer-
ican brethren were too well established
in English Lodges? (Only an English-
man could write this).

But the trio of Massachusetts Lodges in
Shanghai prospered until the Pacific War
and revived briefly until the 'liberation'
of China. Despite the vicissitudes of
time, Sinim Lodge continues to flourish
in a new home in Tokyo (and I hope that
its members will forgive the inadvertent
omission of its name from my last ar-
ticle).

           Lodge Names

The name changes shown in the list,
made as the charter was granted, were
caused by sensitivity to other names.
'Cathay' has the disadvantage of being
the name used by China at the time of
Marco Polo, when the Mongolian for-
eigners ruled the country with a rod of
iron. And the English objected that it was
too similar to their own Far Cathay
Lodge No. 2855 of Hankow.

The name Sinim was supposedly pick-
ed by Bro. the Revd. John Reside Hykes
and was taken from lsaiah 49:12 which
reads in the King James' Version, 'Be-
hold, these shall come from far; and lo
these from the north and from the west-
and these from the land of Sinim. ' Com-
mentaries at that time suggested that
Sinim was Hebrew for China. (Modern
scholars suggest that Sinim is Syene,
modern Aswan).

'Orient' has no such problem, but
there was already a Lodge with the same
name in Massachusetts, and since
Lodges in that jurisdiction are unnum-
bered, very considerable confusion
would result.

         District Deputies

The organization of the Massa-
chusetts' Lodges remained that of super-
vision by a District Deputy Grand
Master. There were also a couple of pe-
riods when there was no District Deputy
1878-91 and 1895, when the single
Lodge, Ancient Landmark, reported
directly to Boston, Mass. Apart from
those years, there were nine such officers
stretching over the years from 1864 to
1915.

Without doubt the most colorful was
the Revd. John Reside Hykes who was
referred to in my earlier article, and who
will again be mentioned in connection
with the 'higher' degrees under Ameri-
can jurisdictions. From his photograph,
he appears to have been a massive man
with a balding top amply compensated
by a massive white beard spreading over
a voluminous chest and corporation. His
congregation must have regarded him as
half way between Moses and God the
Father. It was quite clearly his influence
that energized the brethren of Ancient
Landmark after forty placid years, to
petition for the two new Shanghai
Lodges, and indeed to hope for a possible
Lodge in Tianjin.

Bro. Hykes resigned as District Deputy
in 1905, perhaps believing that he had
done enough for the Craft, as he cer-
tainly remained active in the 'higher'
degrees. Amazingly, apart from his re-
ligious and Masonic work he was at the
same time American Vice-Consul in
Shanghai. He died in 1921, after forty-
eight years of missionary service in
China .

With Bro. Hykes' resignation, at least
in terms of expansion, the American
Craft again became static. From the list
it would seem that no expansion took
place until 1916. However, Masonic ac-
tivity relates to quality as well as num-
bers, and the three Shanghai Lodges
supported a joint Lodge of Instruction.
This first met in 1913, although it had
been proposed as early as 1909.

One meeting each year was devoted to
a joint rehearsal of the installation cere-
mony. At other meetings, one of the
Lodges would demonstrate a degree
working and receive friendly criticism
from senior brethren as Preceptors. At
other meetings, discussion was the rule
of the day. It all seems rather like a typi-
cal English Lodge of instruction, tingled
with a greater degree of informality.
Clearly the aim was to produce well-edu-
cated young Masons of high ritualistic
ability.

      International Lodge

The list at the head of this article shows
that, after this quiet period, Internation-
al Lodge was formed in Beijing (pre-
viously Peking or even Peiping). The
petition for this Lodge must have been
formulated early in 1915, as the dispen-
sation was dated July 24. There were
twenty-seven founders whose names ap-
pear to justify the name 'International,'
and notable amongst them for the first
time in a petition were a number of
Chinese names, one being the first Senior
Warden.

A separate history of the Lodge indi-
cates a definite attempt to immerse its
membership in Chinese affairs and cul-
ture. The entrance to the Temple in 'The
Street of the Well of the Prince's Palace'
had large character quotations from
Mencius about the proper use of com-
passes and squares. Incidentally, the
street is now a main thoroughfare, and
the Masonic premises long since gone,
but the exotic name (Wang Fu Jing
DaJie) remains.

(One of the petitioners was Bro. Francis
Nixon, who at the age of ninety was still
a prominent Hong Kong Mason when I
was in my thirties. At one Lodge festive
board, we ascertained that within a week
he was exactly three times my age! Bro.
Nixon was prominent in the postal serv-
ice from his arrival in China in 1904, and
received citations under four different
regimes. It may be wondered how
twenty-seven Masons were there in Beij-
ing, five hundred miles from the other
Massachusetts Lodges in Shanghai. Bro.
Nixon provides a clue--he was a mem-
ber of one of several English Lodges in
Tianjin, only fifty miles away. Indeed,
once a year International Lodge and
Union Lodge of Tientsin No. 1951 each
used to travel the distance by train and
carry out a degree working in the other's
premises, bringing a candidate with
them.

           The District
        Grand Lodge Concept

The appointment of Provincial Grand
Masters to represent the Grand Master
in a province remote from London be-
came an established custom from 1725
and eventually this was to cover all Eng-
lish and Welsh Masonry outside London
itself. Whilst these officers were origi-
nally individuals, they soon were
authorized to appoint subordinate of-
ficers to assist them, and the Provincial
Grand Lodge became a small version of
a Grand Lodge. Some today appear as
such even in size; for example, the Pro-
vincial Grand Lodge of West Lancashire
now has 524 Lodges. Under the current
Constitutions, the Provincial Grand
Master for such a large Province can
appoint a Deputy, thirteen Assistants
and seventy-three other Provincial of-
ficers.

The concept spread overseas, and yau
will not need me to remind you that RW
Bro. Daniel Cox was the first Provincial
Grand Master for New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, patented by the Duke
of Norfolk on 5 June 1730. A total of
twenty-three Provincial Grand masters
were appointed for various parts of the
area now the United States during that
century. However, in 1866, the United
Grand Lodge of England designated
overseas 'Provinces' as 'Districts,' but
apart from location there is no difference
between the two. Districts and Provinces
rank together in order of the date of the
Patent of office of the present Provin-
cial/District Grand Master.

Despite the early use of Provincial
Grand Masters to govern remoter terri-
tory, the idea of a 'District' in American
Masonry has generally been smaller in
area and number of Lodges within the
territory of a Grand Lodge, with one or
two Officers (such as District Deputy
Grand Master and District Grand Lec-
turer) appointed by the Grand Master.
Thus the Massachusetts Lodges in
China were governed solely by a District
Deputy Grand Master for the period
which I have so far considered.

       The Massachusetts'
       District of China

The District Deputy Grand Master for
China from 1910 was RW Bro. Stacy A.
Ransom, and he no doubt looked with a
degree of envy at the shared responsi-
bility for a number of Lodges which ex-
isted in the English Scottish jurisdictions
in northern China. He is stated to have
been 'mainly responsible for the organi-
zation of the District Grand Lodge. '
There were three Lodges in Shanghai
and we have just seen that a new one had
been petitioned for in Beijing. With a roll
of four Lodges, a minimally sized Dis-
trict Grand Lodge was a possibility, and
it was announced in the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts on 9 December 1915 that
two District Grand Lodges would be
created, one in China and the other in
the Panama Canal Zone. Obviously
Grand Lodge's administration had
looked at Bro. Ransom's idea and seen
that it could be sensibly applied to
Panama as well.

Things progressed rapidly, and the Dis-
trict was inaugurated and Bro. Ransom
installed as the first District Grand
Master on November 24, 1915. The
ceremony was carried out in Shanghai
by the English District Grand Master of
Northern China, RW Bro. Robert S. Ivy.
This occasion of great solemnity and re-
joicing was attended by a record number
of Master Masons representing over
twenty Lodges under ten jurisdictions.
Bro. Ivy was fulsomely thanked for his
services in carrying out the ritualistic
work.

Bro. Ransom appointed sixteen Dis-
trict Officers, and since they were the
first of a fairly unique institution, I will
record the list in full:

 Deputy District Grand Master:
Alfred H. Aiers

 District Senior Grand Warden:
Offley Crewe-Read

 District Junior Grand Warden:
FrederickJ.W. Melville

 District Grand Treasurer:
Harry E. Gibson

 District Grand Socretary:
Elma F. Shanstrom

 District Grand Marshal:
George E. Marshall (sic)

 District Grand Chaplain:
William Cohen

 District Senior Grand Deacon:
Carlton Roeper

 District Junior Grand Deacon:
Charles Houghton

 District Senior Grand Steward
:William Whiting

 District Junior Grand Steward:
Charles Powell

 District Grand Sword Bearer:Frank
J. Seeman

 District Grand Standard Bearer:
William C. Woodfield

 District Grand Pursuivants:
William B. Pettus
Herbert W. Strike

 District Grand Tyler:
Crispin Matthews

That no racism existed in this listing is
seen in the probable race of the appro-
priately named Chaplain. However,
even the most cursory glance reveals
that, in the commercial center of China,
Massachusetts Masonry could not pro-
duce a single Chinese brother worthy of
District rank. But we are at the turning
point, and have already seen that the
brethren of the new International Lodge
were happy to have a Chinese as Senior
Warden. The District could of course
only appoint those who had passed
through the ranks of their Lodges, and
in successive years we find that Bro. C.T.
Wang was District Grand Chaplain in
1921, with others in this office in 1925,
1927 and 1930. Bro. R.H.P. Sia was
Assistant District Grand Marshal in
1931, and this was the highest office
achieved by a Chinese brother in the
pre-war Years.

Massachusetts' Masonry had in fact set
a lead in the initiation of Chinese, even
whilst this was prohibited under the old
Imperial rule which lasted until 1911. An
educational officer sent by the Chinese
Government to the States and called
variously Tsung Lai Shun and Laisun
Chan had been initiated, passed and
raised in Hampden Lodge in 1873. (He
later visited Union Lodge of Tientsin
No. 1951, English constitution, at its
consecration meeting in 1881, the first
known Chinese in a Lodge in China.
Bro. Chan acted as interpreter for Bro.
H.M. King David Kalakaua of Hawaii
when he visited China, later in 1881).
Thus Masonry at home had set the lead,
long before International Lodge and the
China District followed.

The District prospered in a modest
way, despite the call home and to Europe
of many American brethren to serve in
World War I . The roll of brethren in 1917
was 287, ample at an average of seventy-
one to keep four Lodges running.

Bibliography

'Bro. Tsung Lai Shun in Massachusetts.' Hong

Kong (Chater Cosmo Transachons, Vol . 2 for 1980) .
Gratton, F.M., and Ivy, Robt. S., The History of
Freemasonry in Shanghai and Northern China, Tient-
sin (Various Masonic Bodies) 1913.

Masonic Ycar Book for 1985-6, London (United
Grand Lodge).

Nagel's Encyclopedia Guide - China, Geneva
(Nagel) 1984.

Nation, W., The History of Frccmasonry in Northern

China, 1913-1937, Shanghai (Various Masonic
Bodies) 1938.

Roads, David J., 'Early Masonry in Hawaii:

French, California and Scottish,' Hong Kong

(Chater-Cosmo Transactions, Vol. 3 for 1981).

Philalethes February 1991
