Craft
Gillingham Lodge of Benevolence No. 184
United Grand Lodge of England, Province of East Kent
Key facts
- Founded
- Warranted 13 December 1787 (an “Antients” lodge)
- At Franklin Road since
- 1924
- Meets
- 2nd Tuesday, October to May
- Installation
- March
History
The lodge first met at the Crown and Thistle, High Street, Chatham. In 1824 it united with the Royal Marine Lodge No. 328 and the Lodge of Harmony No. 403 of Old Brompton. It has been known as the Royal Marine Lodge (1819), Globe Lodge (1820), United Globe Lodge (1824), United Chatham Lodge (1825) and United Chatham Lodge of Benevolence (1845), taking its present name in the early 1900s. It has also carried the numbers 243, 306 and 216, becoming No. 184 in 1863.
Over the years it met in Chatham, at the City Coffee House in Rochester (from 1837), at the Golden Lion in Old Brompton (from 1856) and at the Masonic Temple, Park Street, New Brompton, before coming to Franklin Road in 1924. Its early annual returns (1793–1813) survive at the Museum of Freemasonry. A history, ‘A Record of the Gillingham Lodge of Benevolence No. 184, 1787–1987’, was published for its bicentenary.
Companion bodies
- Triangle Chapter No. 184 (Royal Arch)