Masonry Universal - St Elli Lodge - June 15

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 By W Bro Roger Robinson

We often get the chance to help someone in our local community but someone 10,700 miles away is a rare occurrence but earlier this year that’s exactly the opportunity we were given. Thanks to the power of the internet and St. Elli’s website, www.stelli3942.org, we were contacted by a lady in Australia who was looking for a photograph of a long deceased relative, W Bro The Rev. Canon David Bowen, to complete her family tree. The only information she had was that during her research she had discovered that he had been Master of Lodge no.3667 in 1914.
That number of course belongs to the Kensington Lodge of Installed Masters which was consecrated in 1913 with Lord Kensington as the First Master of the Lodge and W Bro The Rev. Canon David Bowen as the Senior Warden.

The initial research in the records of the Kensington Lodge for a photograph proved fruitless but by further investigations I discovered that W. Bro Rev. Canon David Bowen had been a Master of the Castlemartin Lodge No 1748 and that there was a photograph of him in the Lodge. 


Having contacted the secretary of Castlemartin Lodge and with the assistance of W Bro Mike Bradney and W Bro Clive Pitten who located the photos and made digital copies I was then able to reply to the lady in Australia that at last she would able to see what her relative looked like. In her words…

“I could hardly believe your e-mail that at last I shall be able to see the Rev. Canon David Bowen , I have been looking for him for so long and could not believe that there was not a photograph somewhere seeing that he had been involved in so many organisations. It was not until one person said she thought he had been a Mason that I used my very basic computer skills and found some mention of him on your web sites. I cannot thank you enough for your time and patience in finding him. I have been to Pembrokeshire twice but was not looking for him then and now being in my 80's I doubt if I shall get there again so Thank You so very much”

As masons we always try our best to help others and that help does not always need to be in monetary form. A simple photograph has brought a smile to the face of an elderly lady 10,000 miles away proving that masonry is truly universal.

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