In my last article on Freemasonry in Trinidad and Tobago (FMT Summer 1998) I made reference to the four Prince Hall lodges here in Trinidad. These lodges come under the Free and Accepted Masons, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and they are collectively known as the Eighth Masonic District, Trinidad and Tobago. The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was the first of the Prince Hall Grand Lodges to be recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England (December 1994).
    The history of Prince Hall Masonry is most interesting to students of masonic affairs. It is a matter of record that around 1780 a group of coloured men in Boston, Massachusetts, attempted to form a lodge in that city, under the jurisdiction of the State Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Their application was not granted however, but the group were not so easily to be deterred, as they were led by a coloured Barbadian of determined character named Hall whose first name was Prince. Back in his native island in the Caribbean, Prince Hall was familiar with the harmony and friendship of English Masonry which was very active there. He convinced fourteen others in the group to apply with him for a Charter from the Premier Grand Lodge of England. This was granted in September 1784, forming them into African Lodge No 459 on the English register. African Lodge contributed to the Charity Fund until 1797, and was in regular correspondence with the Grand Secretary in London until the early 19th century.
    The correspondence records of Grand Lodge after this period are sadly incomplete, and it seems that communications on both sides may have gone astray. Assumptions were made that each were ignoring the other and finally, in 1802, all contact with African Lodge No 459 was lost, due in part to the disruption of maritime traffic and communication with North America caused by the Napoleonic War. African Lodge was presumed to have gone out of existence, and was eventually dropped from the register of the Grand Lodge of England.
    However, not only were they alive and well, but they were very active. Contrary to the terms of their warrant, and the English Book of Constitutions by which it was bound, African Lodge gave authority to two groups of other coloured men to meet as lodges. One African Lodge No 459B met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the other, Hiram Lodge, with no number, met in Providence, Rhode Island. Others may have been given such authority after 1808. The Pennsylvanian lodge was instrumental in forming the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1815, and in 1827 - after having been refused recognition by the State Grand Lodge of Massachusetts - African Lodge declared itself to be an independent Grand Lodge called the African Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. African Lodge No 459 was later disbanded.
    Sometime in the mid-1800s the new Grand Lodge and other Grand Lodges (which it had either formed or helped to form) attempted to organise a National African Grand Lodge, but without success. The style ‘Prince Hall Grand Lodge’ became current in the 1840s. Prince Hall Grand Lodges were formed and survive in most of the United States of America, having lodges under their jurisdiction in some overseas areas, especially here in the West Indies. All Prince Hall Grand Lodges are descended from what is now the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

Trinidad and Tobago

The four Prince Hall lodges of the Eighth Masonic District of Trinidad and Tobago are presently under the leadership of a Right Worshipful District Deputy Grand Master, who is currently RW Bro Courtney WT Browne. Each year on S.John’s Day, or the Sunday preceding the 24 June, the four lodges meet in one of their temples. As is their usual custom, they open directly into the Third Degree, after which they adjourn and form a procession which proceeds accompanied by a brass band, usually from the local company of army cadets or some other youth group, to the nearest Anglican church for a religious service.
    In 1998, RW Bro Browne invited the District Grand Master for the English Constitution in Trinidad and Tobago to attend their S.John’s Day Observance, along with any EC Masons and their wives who would care to accompany him. RW Bro JS Graham accepted this kind invitation, but indicated that the EC masons would not be joining the public procession clad in their regalia. At the appointed time, a small contingent of EC masons and their wives witnessed the arrival of the Prince Hall masons, along with the brass band and police on motorcycles as escorts. The EC masons then clothed themselves in their full-dress regalia, and along with their wives joined the brethren from the four Prince Hall lodges and their wives in the church.
    The service was conducted by the Rev Duncan Clarke, a young Englishman serving the Anglican Church in Trinidad whose father was a mason. RW Bro JS Graham gave a scripture reading from S.John I.1-17, and the service concluded with a stirring rendition of Onward Christian Soldiers, which continued outside the church by the brass band. The Prince Hall masons re-formed their procession and marched along the main street of the village to the great delight of the local population.
    The procession made its way back to the Temple, where the lodge was closed in due form. The wives of all the brethren then joined us at the festive board downstairs of the lodge room, and there followed some delicious refreshments, accompanied by 15 items consisting of welcomes, introductions, blessing of the tables by the Rev Clarke, toasts, replies and a final vote of thanks. A good time was had by all, and I for one requested RW Bro Browne to invite us again for the next S.John’s Day Observance by the Prince Hall masons of Trinidad, which he promised so to do.
    This was not the first masonic contact the EC masons in Trinidad have had with the Prince Hall brethren. In March 1998 RW Bro Browne, accompanied by one Ruling Master of a Prince Hall lodge, attended the Annual Communication of the District Grand Lodge of Trinidad and Tobago by invitation of our District Grand Master. In turn, RW Bro Browne invited the District Grand Master to a meeting of Cosmopolitan Lodge No 21 to witness a First Degree in May 1998. The District Grand Master of the Scottish Constitution in Trinidad and Tobago was also invited. And so for the first time the three constitutions of Masonry in Trinidad and Tobago sat in lodge together.
    The Prince Hall brethren were then invited to visit Naparima Lodge No 7108 EC in June 1998 to see how we performed the First Degree ceremony, which they accepted. These inter-visits might possibly qualify as being the first between English masons and Prince Hall masons anywhere in the world, with the exception of course of the visit by a delegation led by the Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to the United Grand Lodge of England on 12 June 1996.
    It would be most interesting to hear from any lodge under the English Constitution of any other such visiting. I have a feeling that I read somewhere that a lodge or lodges in Bermuda may have had similar contacts last year sometime.

John Wheatley may be contacted c/o: The Cumana Postal Agency, Toco Main Rd. Cumana, Trinidad, West Indies.