William White
The below photograph of a gravestone in #Poole appeared on the Lodge of St Cuthberga Twitter feed with a question regarding which Lodge William White belonged to.
The inscription on the stone reads:
'Sacred to the memory of William White, Died March 15th, 1857, Aged 77 years. Who was Tyler and Janitor of the Masonic Lodge 23 years. This stone was erected by the Brethren……….Amity 160………of the chapter………..Poole'.
The Lodge on the stone is the Lodge of Amity, No.160 was the number it had at the time. It was revised to No.137 in 1863. The Chapter of Amity had the same number.
William White was born in #Wareham in 1789. His father’s name was Charles and his Mother was Elizabeth Wellspring. Charles was a joiner and William followed in his footsteps.
In 1808 William married Elizabeth Lock in Poole. Their first son, William Jnr, was born in Portsea, Hants in 1813 and, in 1819, their second son, John, was born in London Middlesex.
William and his family returned to Dorset and there is a record in the Appendix to the History of the Lodge of Amity of him being Tyler from 1839. In the appendix there is a †against William’s name with a note that states that there is no record of William being initiated into The Lodge of Amity or having joined the Lodge.
Interestingly the inscription on the gravestone would suggest that William was Tyler from 1834, which was a time when Amity records are rather sketchy.
There is also no record of a William White, carpenter, joining any English Lodge at the correct time and place to be our William. There is one intriguing report of a William White joining an Irish Constitution Lodge in Barbados, which is possible if William was taken on as a ships carpenter during his family’s time in Portsmouth. Or it may simply be that William joined Amity in 1834 and it was never properly recorded or reported.
Under the year 1839, page 266 of the History of Amity has the following passage:
The Tyler, William White, appears to have got possession of the Minute Book about this time, and has written his name in the most incongruous places. In one instance for example, he has written after the names of the Wardens “Wm White, Tiler” There is no mention of this Brother‘s Initiation or Joining, and no record of him for some years other than his signing the Book and writing his own name in the Minute Book. It was still the custom of the Lodge to have two serving Brothers, one acting as Tyler and the other as Inner Guard, and on several occasions where the Secretary has entered the designation “Tiler” against Bro Churchill’s name, Bro White has crossed it out, substituted the letters “I.G.”, and written “Tiler” against his own name!
Under the year 1857, page 295 of the History of Amity has the following passage:
On March 18th the death was announced of Bro William White, the Tyler……..
The history goes on to record: The minutes record that “the W. Master, Past Masters and many of the Brethren attended the remains of their late departed Brother to his last resting place”
The event was recorded in the local paper (image)
The Lodge history also records: Four years later a tombstone was erected over the grave at the joint expense of the Lodge and Chapter.
This explains the dual iconography on the tomb stone with emblems of the Holy Royal Arch on the left and the Craft on the Right; truly reflecting the complete journey of Pure and Antient Freemasonry.
However, the story does not quite end there as the Lodge history goes on:
The Secretary applied to the Deputy Provincial Grand Master for a dispensation to initiate William Pearce as Tyler, but on May 20 he was rejected on the ballot. A majority of the Brethren evidently had a more suitable candidate in view, for at the same meeting John White “was at once balloted for as a serving Brother and unanimously elected” the dispensation “to Make, Pass and Raise” being read on June 3.
John White, a Carpenter and Licensed Victualler, was William’s son.
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Mark Hinsley
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