It has been a practice world-wide for Freemasons to meet annually to install from their ranks a member elected to take charge of the business of their respective lodges.

In Bermuda the honour and distinction of leading the pecking order in these impressive ceremonies has fallen to the three lodges that come under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

Those lodges are the Lodge St.George, No. 200. founded in the late 1700s which meets in the historic Old State House in the town of St. George's; Civil & Military Lodge No. 726, consecrated in 1896, the Temple of which is on King Street, Hamilton; and Somers Isle Lodge at Hog Bay Level in Sandys Parish, founded 52 years ago.

In keeping with local customs, Somers Isle was first off the mark, installing as its Right Worshipful Master (RWM) educator Bro. Derek Adams The Installing Master was PM Bro. Robert Fox.

Last week Bro. John A. Stevens became Master of Lodge Civil & Military, installed by his immediate predecessor, Bro. Ian Cummings. Next week the ritual falls to Bro. Les Center, the RW Grand Superintendent of local Scottish lodges, to put in place the Master of Lodge St. George, Bro. Ronnie Baptiste.

There is something that has always fascinated this writer about Freemasonry. There's no great mystique about it, dating back most significantly to the building of King Solomon's Temple as recorded in the Holy Writ.

It evolved through construction of the many great buildings erected by masons of the Middle Ages, focused mainly on the great cathedrals of England and Europe. Builders formed guilds concerned not only matters such as working hours and rules for their labour, but also about relief and assistance for workers in distress and for widows and orphans.

The term 'lodge' has two meanings (not unlike what we in modern times ascribe to trade unions), according to a lecture given by R.W. Bro D.H. Finlay of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Firstly, they were temporary buildings erected by Masons alongside their construction projects and used by craftsmen as places to rest, eat, plan the project, receive their wages, and to socialise. And, secondly, the term 'lodge' refers to individual groups of Freemasons, such as the Grand Lodges, Mother Lodges and subordinate lodges.

Studies of the histories of the various lodges, as well as the Friendly Societies in Bermuda, reveal interesting insights into prevailing social climates. Up until the Emancipation of Slavery in 1834, the vast majority of black men in the western world did not qualify for membership in the emerging Masonic Lodges because one of the qualifications for membership was 'one must have been free-born, etc.'

And after Emancipation, there was another bar, the institution or racism and segregation, especially in Bermuda and the Americas. Consequently, blacks such as Prince Hall, Bishop Richard Allen, Justice Thurgood Marshall and businessman Peter Ogden started their own lodges in order to promote the profound principles of brotherly love, relief and truth.

In St. George's, Lodge St. George counted a number of blacks as officers and members in the late 1800s. In fact, in 1848 black Bermudians managed to get a charter from the United States to start Somers Pride of India Lodge of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. It was consecrated under a Pride of India tree in the old town.

Regarding Lodge Civil & Military in Hamilton, John Alexander Campbell, a surgeon with the rank of Major in the British Army, who was stationed at the Military Hospital in Prospect, is credited with being most instrumental in the founding of that lodge. Two eminent members of the lodge, Bro. David Cook, its current secretary, and historian John Amott, filled this writer in on some of the historical facts of the Lodge.

They said Surgeon Major Campbell had served in many parts of the world with the British Army before coming to Bermuda from a base in Jamaica. He affiliated with Lodge St. George, but travel proscriptions and health factors (he was actually on half-pay with the Army) led him to seek a charter for a new Scottish Lodge in Hamilton. Dr. Campbell became the First RW Master of the Lodge in 1866.

The very first Tyler of the lodge was a tall, gangling black man, a picture of whom was lost when fire destroyed some of the artifacts of the lodge. Civil & Military got its first black RW Master in 1916 by the name of Bro. Bridle. He resided in Happy Valley and was personally known to Bro. Amott. And in the late 1800s a Portuguese man residing at Spanish Point became lodge secretary.

Significantly, the first meeting place of Civil & Military was in the black-owned Alexandrina Hall on Court Street, Hamilton, immediately and south of the Bank of Bermuda's drive-in branch. Later the Masons met in facilities above Hinson's Paint Shop opposite the Magistrates' Court, and then at Lily Hall on Church Street. In the late 1970s they purchased their own building on King Street and converted it into a beautiful temple.

Our main picture shows Rt. Wor. Master of Civil & Military Bro. John A. Stevens (tallest in back row, flanked by ranking officers and members of the Lodge including his Installing Master and immediate predecessor Ian Cummings; director of ceremonies, Larry Davis; secretary G. David M. Cook; senior warden Martin Brewer; junior warden Philip J. Seaman; organist Bro. Rev. David Addington. Also shown are Kenneth Daniels, Raynold R. Boorman, Malcolm D. Griffiths, Tennyson W. Bruce, John W. Kempe, John Woolgar, Ian Hunter, Christopher J. Arm, Alan J. Hicks, Ralph Gauntlett, Leon J. Williams, Trevor P. Williams, Stuart L. Pearson and the tyler, Andrew H.Cooper. Inset: Newly-installed Rt. Wor. Master of Somers Isle Lodge No. 1600, Bro. Derik Adams. It is a file photo taken in his Junior Warden's regalia.