Wednesday 18 July 1883 and York was en fête. The Prince of Wales, Grand Master, was to lay the foundation stone of the new Mechanics Institute with masonic honours after a procession through the streets of York in full masonic regalia. Thousands of visitors flocked into York : 45,000 by special excursion trains and 20,000 by ordinary trains. The newspapers waxed lyrical about the pending masonic event. As one paper reported, “Next to the Holy City itself there is no place whose traditions are so closely mixed up with those of Freemasonry as the ancient capital of the North. Foreign members of the venerable craft look towards York in much the same spirit as the pious mussulman gazes in the direction of Mecca and a Masonic pilgrimage to York is regarded as a sine qua non of every active American mason who visits the Mother Country”.
    The city fathers were determined their city should look its best for the visit and voted “a sum not exceeding £500 [£25,000 in modern currency] to be placed at the disposal” of the city officials responsible for the public decorations. The correspondent of the Yorkshire Gazette reported that “to create a Summer arbour, merchants and businesses had vied with each other to decorate their businesses with handsome trophies of shields, flags and mottoes”.
    Members of United Grand Lodge had been summoned to attend on the Special Grand Lodge to be opened in the Guildhall at York at 10.00am on the day. Interestingly, both that event and the parallel special Provincial Grand Lodge had been well advertised in the local newspapers and the summonses to both reproduced. Dress was very formal. In the program issued by the Grand Director of Ceremonies is the instruction “N.B. All Brethren to appear at the Ceremony in black frock coats, trousers and ties, and white gloves, high hat, with full Masonic Craft clothing”. A charge was levied on Past Grand Officers for accommodation in the stand specially erected in Clifford Street and this clearly provoked some resentment. One member of Grand Lodge wrote to the Freemason Magazine, “I do not profess to understand why any Past Grand Officer who complies with the Grand Master’s summons to attend is to be mulcted five shillings for obedience to orders. It seems to me altogether infra-dig to Grand Lodge and utterly unworthy of the known hospitality and large heartedness of our good brethren in York. It is evidently one of those little unfortunate specimens of red tape which lingers amongst the authorities and committees of our benevolent old order”.
    Members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Yorkshire, North and East Ridings and the members of the lodges in the Province had been summoned to attend a Special Provincial Grand Lodge to be opened by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Dr. Bell acting as PGM, in the Assembly Rooms also at ten o’clock. Grand Lodge was opened in the Guildhall at precisely 10.00am by the Earl of Zetland acting as Grand Master. The Guildhall “was extensively decorated in Masonic style; the pillars of the ancient hall were covered at the bases with crimson cloth and midway up each one there was a splendid arrangement of flags and shields bearing Masonic devices. The muskets of the old Trained Bands formed an important item in the decoration. They had been most tastefully arranged on the spaces between the stained windows in Masonic devices of stars, triangles etc.”
    At 10.30 the Grand Master entered an open carriage and drove from the Yorkshire Club Chambers to the Guildhall. He arrived a few minutes after 10.30 amid the cheers of an enormous crowd. Guards of Honour were provided by the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 1st West Yorkshire Rifle Volunteers in St. Helen’s Square. The Grand Master was received by the Lord Mayor and by the Grand Director of Ceremonies, Garter King at Arms; he was escorted to the reception room where he signed the attendance record and “was attired in the Grand Master’s Regalia”. Provincial Grand Lodge was closed and in full masonic dress the procession of the Assistant Provincial Grand Master left the Assembly Rooms headed by a band and two Tylers with drawn swords. The lodges of the Province walked in reverse order of seniority, led by the junior Lodge Agricola No. 1991 with Humber Lodge No. 57 at the rear. Acting and Past Officers of the Province in 27 ranks formed the procession of the Assistant Provincial Grand Master.
    As the Provincial procession entered St. Helen’s Square, the procession of Grand Lodge emerged from the Guildhall and, the Grand Master having taken his place, “the whole moved through the avenue of brethren”. The combined procession of Provincial Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge must have been spectacularly colourful. After walking through the streets of York the procession reached Clifford Street, the site of the new Institute and the specially built enclosure. Freemason Magazine described the scene. “On reaching the entrance to the castellated walls of the enclosure... the Tylers halted, while the brethren divided and formed an avenue facing inwards, between whom passed the Grand Master preceded by the Grand Sword Bearer and followed by the Grand Officers”. The dais, covered by a white canvas awning, was raised four or five feet above the ground. On the arrival of the Grand Master on the dais, the band of the 3rd Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment played the National Anthem. The Grand Master was greeted by the Dean of York, Provincial Grand Chaplain and President of the Institute, together with the Organising Committee. WB Sykes-Rymer, Sheriff of York, made a short address and asked the Grand Master to lay the memorial stone. The officials assisting the Grand Master prepared the corn, wine and oil. The upper stone was raised and the Grand Master addressed the assembly using phrases which echo down to this day.
    “Men and Brethren, here assembled to behold this ceremony be it known unto you that we, being lawful masons, true and faithful to the laws of our country, are engaged by solemn obligations... We have amongst us, concealed from the eyes of man, secrets which may not be revealed... But these secrets are lawful and honourable and not repugnant to the laws of God or man. They have been entrusted in peace and honour to Masons of ancient times; and having been faithfully transmitted to us it is our duty to convey them unimpaired to the latest posterity... Unless our Craft were good and our calling honourable we should not have lasted for so many centuries... We are here assembled in the presence of you all to erect this building to the Honour and Glory of the Most High...” His speech was followed by a prayer from the Grand Chaplain and the Grand Secretary then read the inscription on the stone. A glass phial, specially made and decorated by the York Glassworks Company, was then placed in a space behind the stone which was duly laid by the Grand Master in traditional masonic form.
    After completion of the stone laying “purses containing not less than £5 each [c.£250 at present values] were received from 28 children in aid of the building fund”. The “little girls in light dresses and little boys in dark suits trooped one after the other up the steps, and with a bow or a curtsey to His Royal Highness laid purses of money upon the newly laid memorial stone. Each played his or her part to perfection from the oldest to the tiny creature who had to be helped up the steps and gazed about her with evident curiosity and in admiration at the brilliant regalia which the Prince wore.” They were escorted onto the dais by officers of the Provincial Grand Lodge and “much amusement was caused by the efforts of the little children to make obeisance to the Grand Master. But to walk backwards along an unfamiliar surface, with the knowledge that a flight of stairs is in the rear and a Prince of Royal blood in front, is a feat... difficult to achieve. A kindly steward saved the equilibrium of several who attempted the feat and only one - a little fellow in court costume - was at all successful. The Prince joined heartily in the laughter which constantly broke upon the formality of the scene.” Finally Bro Varey, Lord Mayor of York, thanked the Grand Master “on behalf of Freemasonry and the Citizens of York” for his attendance. The Grand Master replied and thanked the Lord Mayor for his words. He expressed his pleasure that he had been able to lay the memorial stone with Masonic honours in the presence of so many people and he wished the new Institute all success. Thus the stone laying ceremony came to an end.
    The Grand Master returned to York Station where a special train of the Great Northern Railway was waiting to take him to London for an evening engagement. Members of Grand Lodge returned to the Guildhall where the Grand Lodge was closed. The members of Provincial Grand Lodge returned to the Assembly Rooms. The event ended with a civic banquet which brought to a close a great masonic day in York.
    • In the early 1980s, the York Mechanics Institute in Clifford St. was sold for conversion into a tourist attraction and it was necessary to move the commemorative foundation stone in order to form a new entrance. In the process of moving that stone, a blue glass bottle or phial some twenty four inches high, which had been placed behind the stone at the time of the stone laying in 1883, was broken. Fortunately, most of the shards of glass and the contents were collected and saved and came into the hands of a Past Master of the Agricola Lodge 1991 who, through a connection with the York Archaeological Trust, was able to arrange for the reconstruction of the phial and the conservation of the contents. Those contents, a handful of used coins and some newspapers are, however, of great interest in the context of a major masonic event of July 18 1883 and are held now in the Library of Castlegate House, York.