Clifton Chapter No 703
E,Comp.
E.Comp.
E.Comp.
It is the proud heritage of Clifton Chapter that it was the first Chapter to be founded in the Fylde. Clifton Lodge recommended the prayer of petition on 4th December 1871, and Unanimity Chapter No 113 of Preston on 13th December 1871 approved the formation of a new Chapter. The Provincial Grand Superintendent E. Comp. Sir Thomas George Fermer-Hesketh countersigned it. The original Summons for the Consecration was dated the 14th September, but it was not until 4th October 1872 that the actual Consecration took place at the Clifton Arms and Pier Hotel, Promenade, Blackpool. Even at that time Blackpool may have had in mind our now famous long seasons. The founders, the first Installed Principals - Lord Skelmersdale (Z), Ralph Landless (H), and James Porter (J) - and other Officers are recorded in the Minute Book together with the name of fourteen brethren then proposed for exaltation, a proposition for a joining member, and six Companions elected to Honorary Membership. Lord Skelmersdale was elected as First Principal for a second term but it appears that he did not attend the Chapter again after the Consecration
In 1875 the first "printed" Bye-Laws were approved by Supreme Grand Chapter. The first recorded donation to Masonic Charities was made on 8th December 1875, when a sum of £10-0-0d was forwarded to the Royal Masonic Institution for "Decayed, Aged Freemasons".
In1886, a meeting was called, attended by Officers of the Chapter, to consider the advisability or erecting a Masonic Hall. The first shares issued to the Chapter was in December 1887, when 100 x £1 were purchased. The Chapter moved to the "new" Masonic Hall on 19th October 1899, and at the following meeting, in December, it was announced that the Chapter was now permanently moved to Adelaide Street. Thus ended an association with the Clifton Arms and Pier Hotel that had lasted 27 years.
The United Grand Lodge and the Supreme Grand Chapter issued a report to all Lodges and Chapters on 22nd November concerning the new Licensing Act. The report stressed that under no circumstances should drinks be brought into the Chapter - "being a sacred place" - for the purpose of drinking the health of the First Principal. The appropriate place being the Banqueting Room, and should members require drinks outside this room it will be necessary to form a Club. On becoming members of the Club it will then be come possible to continue drinking - a directive which still applies.
As with most Minutes of Lodges and Chapters very little appears in the Minute Book regarding the news of either the First or Second World Wars, although recorded in the Minutes of October 21st 1915 is a communication from Supreme Grand Chapter requiring all Companions of German, Austrian, Hungarian and Turkish birth should refrain from all meetings in Royal Arch Masonry during the period of the War.
On the firm foundation of the past, this "grand old Chapter" must prosper, and with confidence we look forward to the future