Robert Grey

Robert Grey was the Founding Worshipful Master of the Lodge.

Grey was named after his father and was born on 27 May 1837.

He was a member of both St Andrews Lodge in the East No 222 and the Prince of Wales’s Lodge No 259 and served as Master of both Lodges. He was initiated into St Andrews on 13 February 1860

Being a Red Apron Lodge ‘259’ nominated him as a Grand Steward in 1865. The same year he was appointed to the Board of General Purposes and later the Board of Benevolence. In 1869 he served as a Steward to the Inauguration Festival and in 1874 as Deputy worshipful Master of 259 to the Prince of Wales he assisted the MWGM with the initiation of the Duke of Connaught into the Prince of Wales’s Lodge. He later Raised the Duke of Connaught in a ceremony described by the Freemason as being “most impressive”. The following year he was made a Grand Deacon by Grand Lodge. He became an active Grand Officer and barely a volume of the masonic press was published during the 1880s without a mention of his efforts on behalf of the Craft, whether consecrating Lodges and Chapters or attending to his duties as a representative of his Boards. On retiring from these many posts he was made PGW, but remained it seems as active as ever.

He was a Past First Principal of The Royal York Chapter of Perseverance No 7 in the Royal Arch. He was also in the KT and was installed by his fellow Founder Joseph Forrester at a meeting of the Kemeys Tynte Encampment in 1867.

It is clear that he was very much a central figure in the Foundation of the Lodge, from his deep connections throughout Grand Lodge to his connections to fellow Founders through his other Lodges – Sir Alfred Cooper via 259, Forester via 222 and their shared KT connection.