Thomas Trollope

Dr Thomas Trollope was the Founding Junior Warden of the Lodge.

Thomas Trollope was born on 12 August 1830.  He was the son of Thomas Trollope and  surgeon, of Wethersfield Hall, Braintree, Essex, by his 2nd wife, Anne, daughter of John Sewell and Mary Canning. He was born at Halstead, Essex.

He married Esther Sarah Huffam, daughter of Captain J A Huffam, on 13 February 1858.

He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ before winning the Stuart’s Exhibition to Pembroke College Cambridge in 1849. He took a first in Natural Sciences in 1853 before training as a doctor.

He took his MB the following year and was made MRCS in 1856. He practiced in St Leonards on Sea and was Physician to the East Sussex Infirmary. He was Joint Honorary Secretary of the East Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society from 1864.

He was an initiate of the ancient and illustrious Derwent Lodge No 40 in Sussex where he also served as Provincial Senior Grand Warden. He was the Founding IPM of Rahere Lodge, the Lodge associated with Barts Hospital.

Trollope died on 21 April 1905 at age 74

 He bequeathed £1000 to Christ Church, St Leonards for benefit of the sick and poor;  the income from this in 1931 was £40.16s.2d.  There was also £300 from his legacy used in 1907 to replace the font, in his memory,  the new one being designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield (the original architect).  Dr Trollope was an unofficial churchwarden for Christ Church, St Leonards pre-1884; appointed for 1885-93.  He also bequeathed £500 to St Paul’s church for curates’ stipend; with a further £500 for general church purposes; income for the two charities, £33 in 1937

From the Hastings & St Leonards ObserverFreemason’s Funeral” 22 April 1905:

“Death of Dr T Trollope at his residence, 9 Maze Hill, on 21 April.  He was a highly rated physician, aged almost 80, who came to Hastings in the early 1860s and was lately the chief honorary surgeon at Hastings Hospital.  He had a stroke a few months before.  He was said to be the best friend of the poor.  He was also a senior Freemason, having been a past Grand Deacon of England and holder of many other top posts.  His imposing funeral on the 27th was masonic, with 40 carriages following the hearse along the seafront to the cemetery.  There was a very large turnout of masons.”

His diaries are held at the Bodleian.