Quarterly Communication

11 June 2014
Order of Service of Masonry citation for W Bro Richard Leonard Ellis

Bro Len Ellis was made a mason in March, 1962, at the age of 30, in Old Castles Lodge, No. 5773, in Hawarden, North Wales, serving as its Master in 1978. In 1982 he joined Clwyd Lodge of lnstalled Masters, No. 8676 and in 1987 he joined Pen-y-Ddraig Lodge, No. 8163, serving as its Secretary from then until 2008. He was exalted into the Royal Arch in Pen-ar-lag Chapter, No. 3273 in 1964, becoming its First Principal in 1981.

After a year as Provincial Assistant Grand Secretary of North Wales in 1977, Bro Ellis became, in short order, Provincial Senior Grand Deacon, Provincial Grand Sword Bearer and, in 1985, Provincial Senior Grand Warden. In 1987 he was appointed Provincial Grand Secretary (and Provincial Grand Scribe Ezra), and received the rank of Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in the Craft, receiving that of Past Grand Standard Bearer in the Royal Arch the following year. In due course he was promoted to his present ranks of Past Junior Grand Deacon and Past Assistant Grand Sojourner. 

Bro Ellis was one of the last long-serving Provincial Grand Secretaries, a breed that is all but extinct in an age when that office is perceived as a burden that should only rarely be shouldered by any individual for much more than five years. He held that office with distinction under four Provincial Grand Masters, from 1987 until 2008, one of whom, the late Bro Ian Mackeson-Sandbach, knew he had one of the best Provincial Grand Secretaries in the Constitution and treated him accordingly. The wealth of knowledge and experience which he accumulated during his period in office stood him, his successive Provincial Grand Masters and, above all, his Province in good stead. His later years in office were marred by severe arthritis, but he never lost his sense of humour and remained unfailingly courteous as well as a great source of advice and information to his neighbouring Provincial Grand Secretaries and even senior staff at Freemasons' Hall.