Eaton Lodge No. 777 (now 533) was granted its warrant from the Grand Lodge of England on 27 August 1846 and held its inaugural meeting on 4 November that year. Like many other newly formed lodges, Eaton purchased surplus regalia from other lodges or from those that were defunct.
    Eaton purchased regalia from Harmony Lodge No.705 of Knutsford in Cheshire, which had its first meeting in 1818 and its last in 1839. Apparently, in 1822 Harmony Lodge had purchased jewels and paraphernalia from the moribund Beneficent Lodge No.513 of Macclesfield in Cheshire.
    Among the articles was a tyler’s coat. Whether this was purchased by Harmony Lodge or bought by them from Beneficent Lodge is not known, but it must have been nearly 30 years old when it was passed into the safe keeping of the brethren of Eaton Lodge.
    It was certainly used by one, if not two lodges before Eaton, and may have been used earlier than 1822. The coat was used regularly by the Eaton tylers up to 1878, and the last one used it for 30 years. There is no evidence that it was used by tylers after that date.
    Fashions change, and tylers’ coats were the accepted dress during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th, as implied by Bernard Jones in his Freemasons Guide and Compendium in 1950.
    Numerous references have been made to the Eaton Lodge tyler’s coat. On page 390 in the Freemasons’ Guide and Compendium in the section headed “The Eighteenth Century Tyler’s Dress” the Eaton coat is described as of “black serge, lined, faced and edged with red; the collar cape and cuffs are edged with light blue flannel. On the front are a dozen buttons (wooden), one and a quarter inches in diameter, covered with white linen. At the back, from the waistline down, are six more buttons, three on each tail.”
    The tyler was usually provided with a hat, but there is no evidence that one was worn by the Eaton Lodge tyler. His sword, however, is still used by the present Lodge tylers.
    There is also an extract in the transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge in the AQC, Vol V1, page 163, where there is reference to a plate which shows the front and back views of the Eaton Lodge tyler’s coat. The description repeats that given by Bernard Jones
    The description of the coat in both documents is not strictly accurate, as there are actually 14 buttons, not 12 as recorded in the Prestonian Lecture of 1977 delivered by Bro. R.A. Wills entitled “The Tyler or Outer Guard”. There is no mention made of the Eaton Lodge coat.
    From 1878, the coat was stored in a chest in the Lodge for more than 60 years, but in the late 1940s it was rescued by a Past Master and placed in his wardrobe, suitably protected.
    In May 1991 the Lodge museum was opened, and the tyler’s coat, now on a tailor’s dummy, holds pride of place in a glass cabinet protected from the light by roller blinds.
    This coat is probably not unique, but the lodge would be interested to learn how many more tylers coats from the early 19th century are preserved by private lodges.

Peter Boon is secretary of Eaton Lodge No. 533