St Mark’s Lodge was consecrated on Thursday 21 March 1861 and was originally numbered 1159, this number was subsequently changed to 857 when lodge’s were last re-numbered in 1863. Its first meetings took place at the Horns Tavern, Kennington Park Road. This Tavern was run by William Davis who was a Baker and Prize Fighter and was subsequently initiated in September 1862.
In 1870 it was decided to move the lodge to the Duke of Edinburgh Tavern in Shepherds Lane, Brixton. Less than two years later the Half Moon Tavern in Herne Hill became its home and in 1875 the Lodge moved again to the Surrey Masonic Hall, Camberwell where it continued to meet until 1903. The Lodge then moved into Central London meeting at the Holborn Viaduct Hotel until 1916 after which it moved to Cafe Monaco in Shaftesbury Avenue and then to Freemasons’ Hall in 1941. Finally, on to Mark Masons Hall in date.
It is not known why the Lodge was named St Mark’s, it’s possible that the first meeting place was near St Mark’s Church Kennington. The name originally chosen by the founders was Prince of Wales Lodge, however official approval was denied as the future Grand Master had not then been initiated into Freemasonry. It is also confused as to why the founders adopted as the lodge badge the Lion of St Mark’s at Venice instead of a representation of St Mark.
The Petition to the Grand Master was dated 29 of January 1861 and was sponsored by the Lodge of United Pilgrims No 507 (then No 745), of which the Primus-Master and Senior Deacon of St Mark’s were members.
Then, as now, the lodge was consecrated using Emulation ritual. The founders it at the time were split between Emulation and the rival Stability workings. It is thought at the consecrating officer, W Bro Stephen Barton, Past Junior Grand Deacon, encourage the use of Emulation and this persuaded the founders to adopt this ritual. Before the Lodge could celebrate its Centenary, it would introduce innovations in the form of additional embellishments incorporated in West End workings which it continues to use today.
At the Lodge’s second regular meeting in July 1861, it was agreed to insure the Lodge’s furniture for £100, an extremely large sum of money at the time. It is also the first mention of Firing glasses, which were valued 15 shillings and two pence within the inventory. In 1900 ,it was recorded that W Bro W.J. Lavington presented another set of Firing glasses to Lodge, it is not known what happened to the original set. The 1900 Firing glasses continue to be used by the Lodge at Festive Boards to this day.
In 2021 a small number of brethren led by W Bro Michael Todd PSGD, had come together with the wish of creating a London lodge focused on the sport of Rugby. By this time the members of St Mark’s lodge had been experiencing difficulties and low attendances. On 6 April 2022 at Freemason’s Hall, W Bro Michael Todd and team of 14 other experienced freemason joined St Mark’s Lodge. This team of 15 were immediately put to work within the lodge in various offices and began creating a rugby lodge for London Freemasons’ whilst retaining the history and traditions of St Mark’s. This began with a Festive board in the Grand Officers Robing Room and an instruction in the use of the Lodge’s Firing Glasses.
On 14 December 2022 the MW The Grand Master, HRH the Duke of Kent, acceded to the Lodge’s request that its name be changed to the London Rugby Lodge. Subsequently, W Bro Michael Todd was installed as Master of the Lodge on Tuesday 21 March.
The London rugby Lodge formally relaunched itself at a meeting within the Grand Temple at Freemasons’ Hall on Saturday 2 September 2023, with rugby lodges from all over the country attending. The Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master Jonathan Spence was the Guest of Honour.
