A Brief History
On 24 June 1822, which is commemorated as St.John The Baptist’s day, an application was made in a simple and informal letter to the Provincial Grand Master by 17 military men* seeking permission to form themselves into a Masonic Lodge and work as such in their station, Secunderabad. The name ‘St.John’s Lodge’ was approved and numbered 13 in the Provincial Grand Registry. The approval was communicated to the applicants vide a letter dated 16 August 1822, granting them all the constitutional privileges of a Lodge on the usual conditions. They were charged to consider the said letter as a Voucher, pending engrossment of a Warrant in proper form after procurement of necessary materials. Thus St.John’s Lodge is perhaps the only Lodge brought into existence without the formality of submitting a petition to the Grand Master.
The Warrant per se was, however, issued to the Lodge only in 1836, some 14 years after its constitution, and the Lodge was numbered 628 in the Registry of the Grand Lodge of England in London. By a general alteration of numbers in 1863 the said number 628 was changed to 434, which is what the Lodge bears to this day. In 2006 the Lodge has thus completed 170 years from 1836, the year of issuance of the Warrant, although it has actually been in existence for 184 years since 1822. The Lodge thus also has the unique distinction of having met without a Warrant for 14 years!
The aforesaid Warrant appears to have got lost some years after its issuance. A ‘Warrant of Confirmation’ was issued as a replacement by the Grand Lodge on 19 May 1868 against an application from the Brethren of St.John’s Lodge. This is the instrument under the authority of which the Lodge has been functioning since then to this day.
On 16 April 1823 Bro Macintosh sent 300 hundred Pounds for the construction of a Lodge Hall, which contribution was highly appreciated and duly recorded. On 7 November 1823 the then Worshipful Master of the Lodge W.Bro.Robertson proposed that the Lodge Hall be built on an open ground to the east of his own house. His proposal was unanimously approved because of the merits of the suggested location. On 19 January a plan of the Lodge proposed by W. Bro. George Meikel was approved. A committee of Officers of the Lodge was appointed to oversee the construction. Bro.Tray was appointed as Superintendent, assisted by another officer, for erection of the new building. The foundation stone was laid on 21 February 1824 by W. Bro. George Meikel, by then the Worshipful Master of the Lodge, and Bro. Lenny. The new Lodge Hall was opened, as proposed by W. Bro. Meikel on 24 October 1824 as Lodge No.13 in accordance with the Voucher mentioned earlier. A subsequent generous contribution of Rs.6289 Hali (the currency of the Nizam) saw the completion of remainder of the building as per the plan. This generosity, without which the building could not have been completed, was highly appreciated and recorded. A room for Lodge meetings was added to the original building in 1832/33.
The Lodge building was designed as a small church. There were two pillars, one in the north and the other in the south (at the entrance to the Lodge room in the west) with a small dome, half embedded into the verandah wall in front. It appears that the military men tied their horses in the stable in the western side of the Lodge and entered the Lodge through the pillars at the entrance. These pillars are now practically buried in the southern wall of the Lodge. Over the years more rooms were added to the main Lodge Hall, consisting of a storeroom in the north, a small room for the Tyler and a sufficiently large dressing room with toilets. To the west of the drawing room is a sufficiently large room serving as a dining room with three entrances and a large verandah on top of a large number of steps. Interestingly, all the walls are built of mud except the north room in the Lodge which is built of bricks.
The 17 founding members were : W. Bros. / Bros. J. F. Kingsley, McDonald Robertson, George Meikel, B. Williams, H.E. Downes, J. Wriget, W. Atkinson, H.Ht.Wray. J.Morton, W.M.Milne, J.Sinclair, Samuel Fox, James Nesbitt, G.L.Blakehouse, G.Lambe, J.Skirrow, and Tongue.