NORTHERN NIGERIA LODGE - NO. 3325 (1909)
Northern Nigeria Lodge No. 3325 was warranted on 20th July 1908. The petition to form the Lodge was signed by twenty-two Masons, and was sponsored by Accra Lodge No. 3063.
The Lodge was consecrated on 3rd July 1909 at the Masonic Hall, Zungeru (then the seat of government of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria). The Consecration was carried out by Sergeant-Major D. A. Wallbach, a P.M. of Lodge Malwa No. 1994 and one of the Petitioners. He was assisted by J. Bremner as S.W., and E. Lloyd Williams as J.W. The first Master, Lieut, (later Capt.) H. B. Dixon of the Sherwood Foresters ruled the Lodge for the first two years. He was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle early in 1915.
A history of Northern Nigeria Lodge covering the period 1909— 1959 was written by the Hon. Mr. Justice Lionel Brett, KT. a past District Grand Master who ruled the Lodge as Master for the year 1949—1950.
Most of the information here concerning the Lodge has been extracted from this history. For the first eight years of its existence the Lodge met at Zungeru. The consecration and all meetings up to March 1910 were held at a building referred to in the Lodge minutes as the Masonic Hall, Zungeru.
On the 2nd April 1910 the Meeting was held at the Court House, Zungeru and it was decided that a new Temple should be built. The minutes record that “it had been ascertained that the building could be of stone and could be erected at small cost by prison labour.” On the 22nd April that same year, the foundation stone was laid by Sir Hesketh Bell, the Governor, and the first Meeting in the new Temple was held on 6th August 1910. This building remained the home of the Lodge until the move to Kaduna in 1917, on the general move of the seat of government.
During the year 1912, the Lodge was invited to sponsor two new Lodges. One was to be at Naraguta and, on 6th, April 1912, the Lodge actually resolved to “mother the Plateau Lodge, Naraguta, providing the Founders’ liability did not exceed £5.” In the event, another eighteen years elapsed before the consecration of Plateau Nigeria Lodge No. 5229, at Jos. On the 4th May 1912, the minutes record that “Bro. E. Lloyd Williams suggested that the question of mothering the Lodge which it was proposed to form at Lokoja be for the time being allowed to drop, and that all papers connected therewith be deposited with the Secretary of this Lodge for custody.” The suggestion was approved, and it does not appear that the proposal was ever revived. The papers referred to are not now to be found.
It was also during the year 1912 that the Lodge was first informed, in a letter from Calabar Lodge No. 3434, of the proposal to petition the Grand Master for the formation of a District Grand Lodge for Northern and Southern Nigeria. The matter was discussed on 7th December 1912 and any decision was postponed, pending further information. The next reference appears in the Minutes of the Meeting held on 6th December 1913 when a letter from Grand Lodge was read notifying the formation of a District Grand Lodge, and stating that the Lodge would come under its jurisdiction. While individual members of the Lodge lent their support to the proposal to form a District Grand Lodge (four of them accepting office in the District Grand Lodge on its formation) the collective opinion of the Lodge seems to have been that such a step was premature.
During 1914 the Lodge submitted two unsuccessful petitions to Grand Lodge for permission to remain directly under the jurisdiction of Grand Lodge. If the relations between the Lodge and District Grand Lodge were ever less than cordial, it would seem that they did not long remain so. The second District Grand Master, J. A. Pickels, not only joined the Lodge and attended it regularly during his stay in Kaduna between 1917 and 1921; but held the first Communication of District Grand Lodge ever to be convened outside Lagos, in Kaduna, under the banner of the Lodge on 20th October 1917. The last Meeting of Northern Nigeria Lodge No. 3325 to be held at Zungeru took place on 2nd December 1916, and the Lodge next met in the P.W.D. Store at Kaduna on 10th February 1917.
The Ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Temple at Kaduna took place on 17th May, 1917. The foundation stone was laid by H. E. Sir Frederick Lugard, and it is of interest that in a speech made during the celebration of the independence of Northern Nigeria in May 1959, the Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, included a quotation from the address given by Sir Federick Lugard on that occasion.
The first Lodge meeting in this Temple took place on 1st August 1917. This building was situated at the corner of Prince Edwards’ Way and Lugard Road. In August 1961 the Lodge moved to a new Temple in College Road, Kaduna; which was dedicated by the District Grand Master on 7th February, 1962. Both buildings were the property of the Lodge, the former site being disposed of when the newest building was acquired.
Lodge Meeting Days
Meeting Days:
Northern Nigeria Lodge meets Second Saturday of February, April, June, August, October, November.
Second Saturday of February,
April, June, August, October,
November . Installation
second Saturday in November
Time: 3pm
Contact:
Mail: P.O. Box 14350, Wuse Abuja FCT.
