Provincial Grand Lodge
of Yorkshire
West Riding

Leodiensis Lodge 4029 was formed out of the second oldest lodge in Leeds Philanthropic Lodge No 304. In 1919 certain influential members of Philanthropic came together due to there being well over a 100 members, and progression for the junior members was very slow indeed causing a discussion to take place with regard to forming a new lodge. There were eleven past masters and nine brethren, and after consideration it was decided to request that Philanthropic support a Petition to Grand Lodge that a daughter Lodge be consecrated and it was decided that the new lodge name should be Leodiensis, the Master designate should be W Bro Fred J Allen and Bro Herbert J Jackson should be Secretary Designate.

Shortly after this was agreed W Bro Allen left Leeds and Bro Harry Stancliff Junior Warden for Philanthropic was nominated as Master Designate, by the founding members. The petition was duly accepted on the 10 of November 1919. The provincial Grand Secretary stated the warrant had been signed. The last Lodge to be given a Warrant was Allerton Lodge in 1904. The consecration of the Lodge took place on Thursday the 22nd of January 1920. The consecration ceremony was conducted by the Provincial Grand Master Sir William Raynor JP PGD. After the consecration, the installation of Bro Harry Stancliff took place as the first Worshipful Master of the Lodge. Worshipful Bro Stancliff lived for many years, and was the preceptor of the Lodge for many years.

The first regular meeting of the lodge took place on the 17th of February 1920 at the Masonic Hall Great George Street. There were two candidates at the meeting, Mr George Elliot Martin, and Mr Arthur Jackson, also on the night there where three joining members. The lodge remained at Great George Street for over 30 years and in that period after the second world war it had a membership of 90 members, at this time there was an upsurge in membership in this period, after all those terrible war years there was an attraction to join a organising which promoted brotherly love, and friendship, and which shared experiences helped one another come together. Sadly since that time memberships have dropped off, through out the country as a whole, and for some time now our membership has remained around the fifty mark.

In the 1970s doubts began to arise about the future of Great George Street premises and the members of Leodiensis began to consider the possibility of moving away from the city centre. In 1975 it was decided to accept an offer by the Otley Lodges to move to the newly acquired Westbourne House, Otley. Many of the older Brethren where not happy with the move, and sad to leave the George Street Premises. Since that time the Lodge has prospered, and many new members have joined the Lodge.

We have had a succession of excellent Masters, with each one bringing his own personality to our Lodge. The first master to be installed at Otley was W Bro Bill Gower, he had been one of the first advocates of moving to Otley, and he is greatly missed.

Over the years we have had some distinguished members, but it is only relatively recently that the Lodge has been honoured by having one of its members appointed to Grand Lodge Rank. In 1983 W Bro J Mitchell was appointed to the rank of Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies. Happily, at the age of 92 W Bro Jack still attends the Lodge on a regular basis, and is still very active in masonry in general. In 2003 W Bro Jack retired from the office of Treasurer after 27 years.

Leodiensis Lodge views the future with great optimism, with new members joining, and the brethren working towards the greater benefit of the Lodge and Masonry in general.

Great George Street.
Photo courtesy of Mrs Heather Simpson.

Some interesting facts about Leodiensis Lodge and its members.

Don Revie the Leeds United, and ex England manager was a member of the Lodge, during the period when he was managing the England team, and on his death his apron was given to the lodge by his wife Elsie.

Leodiensis Lodge is a Halstone lodge , during the Second World War those lodges that donated monies to the war effort where given a Halstone jewel by Grand Lodge, and it is each master's duty to wear the jewel at every regular meeting during his year in office.

In 2007 Leodiensis Lodge hosted the first piece of Scottish Ritual to be delivered at Westbourne House by the Lodge of Livingstone St Andrew from Motherwell. The Lodge demonstrated their first degree which was a great success.

The Lodge has three sets of fathers and sons, who regularly attend the regular meetings.