Rose of Wessex Conclave No. 236

In March 1965, nine Illustrious Knights met to consider forming a new Conclave in the Gosport and Fareham area. Six other Knights, not present at the time, had expressed their wish to aid and help in the formation of the proposed Conclave; fifteen being the number required to make up the Founders of a new Conclave.

It was eventually agreed that there was sufficient support to approach V.III.Kt. L.E. Peckover, the then Intendant-General for what was, at that time, the Division of Hampshire and Sussex, to obtain permission to form the new Conclave. It was also agreed that the meetings would be held in October, December, February and April and that they would meet at The Fareham Masonic Centre. It was decided that P.Kt. Chandos Washington would be the first Sovereign and that W.Kt. Stanley Thompson would be the first Conclave Recorder.

At a second meeting, held on the 29th April 1965, it was proposed to name the Conclave “The Rose of Wessex Conclave” and subsequently Grand Imperial Conclave gave it the number 236. The Conclave Petitioners agreed that they would provide as much of the necessary furniture as possible but they had been assured that they would be able to borrow any additional furniture from Portsmouth’s “Naval & Military Conclave No 35”.

The Consecration Team consisted of:

• Sovereign V.Ill.Kt. L.E.C. Peckover (Intendant-General)
• Eusebius Ill.Kt. D.A. Parker
• Senior General P.Kt. W.J. Jones
• Junior General P.Kt. R.L. Cummins
• High Prelate Ill.Kt. Capt. O Anderson (Deputy Intendant-General)
• Recorder V.Ill.Kt. P.G.L. Strong
• Marshal Ill.Kt. Major A.F. Smith

together with seven other members of the Divisional Team.

The Inauguration team confirmed that the first Officers (Founders) of the Conclave would be:

• Sovereign P.Kt. C. J. Washington
• Viceroy P.Kt. A.G. Coote
• Senior General W.Kt. J. Banting B.E.M
• Junior General W.Kt. J.R. Elgie
• High Prelate Ill.Kt. F. Wade Cooper
• Recorder W.Kt. S.Thompson
• Treasurer P.Kt. S.C Farmer
• Marshal Ill.Kt. Cdr. T.R. Smart O.B.E., R.N.
• Orator P.Kt. L.H. Wilson
• Std B (C) W.Kt. G. Nichols
• Prefect W.Kt. P.W. Russell
• Herald W.Kt. E.E. Hambley
• Sentinel W.Kt. W.G.T. Adey

Stanley Thompson              George Nichols           The Founders                      Ernie Humbley                         Len Wilson
Tommy Smart         Jack Banting        Arthur Coote    Chandos Washington    Freddie Wade Cooper   Jack Elgie   Sidney Farmer

<p>The Consecration took place at the Masonic Hall, Commercial Road, Portsmouth on 12th February 1966. After quite a few years it was decided to move the meetings to the Masonic Hall, Clarence Road, Gosport. The first meeting at this new location was held on the 14th February 1985 and the Appendant Orders Ceremony would be held in the St. Swithuns Sanctuary and Commandery in the April. The Sovereign at that time was M.P. Sovereign William Earnest Casson with Eminent Knight Paul Elgie as the Viceroy.

The first five Candidates were:
W.Bro. William Thomas Granville Adey, W.Bro. Lionel Frazer, W.Bro. Frederick Bartlett Jarvis, Bro. Victor Kenneth Hewell and W.Bro. Victor John Jenner J.P. all of whom were welcomed into the Conclave in March 1966.

In more recent times, we have a number of senior members who have had senior positions within the now Division of Hampshire and Isle of Wight:
Most Ill.Kt. Ronald Champion, a Past Grand Sovereign who always referred to the members of the Conclave as his “boys”, a Past Intendant-General, Right Ill.Kt. Chandos Washington, several Deputy Intendants-General including V.Ill.Kt. Jack Elgie, V.Ill.Kt. Tommy Smart, V.Ill. Kt. George Nichols, V.Ill.Kt. Jim Beaney and V. Ill.Kt. Larry Peer. We also have the current Deputy Intendant-General V.Ill.Kt. Kevin Todd MBE. We have also had the pleasure of two Past Divisional Eusebius, V.Ill.Kt. Fred Blowman and V.Ill.Kt. Kevin Todd MBE and Past Divisional Marshals V.Ill.Kt. Richard Dunleavy and V.Ill.Kt. Kevin Todd MBE together with past members of the Grand and Divisional Sepulchre Guards.

Until recent years we were extremely fortunate and grateful to have had one of our original Founders still very much involved within the Conclave. Very Illustrious Knight George Nichols was born on the 30th September 1930 but passed to the Grand Conclave above on Sunday 14th May 2017, aged 87. George was a Past Grand Junior General and Past Deputy Intendant-General (twice) under the leadership of the then Intendant-General, Right Illustrious Knight Gerald Southwell. George joined the Red Cross of Constantine in 1964 in the Naval and Military Conclave No 35 and after only two and a half years as a Worthy Knight was to become one of the Founder Members of the Rose of Wessex. George took a very keen, active and interested role within the Conclave, even though he was undergoing long bouts of hospital treatment. Very Illustrious Knight George became Viceroy on the 8th October 1970, and attained the Sovereign’s Chair of Rose of Wessex Conclave on the 14th October 1971, and after only eight years George became the Deputy Intendant-General for the Division of Hampshire, Wiltshire & Isle of Wight in 1979 and again in 1992. The one thing you knew about George was the fact that, although he could be quite severe with some of his comments, you knew exactly where you stood with him. He was a great no nonsense ritualist and although he was not able to be a regular attender in later years due to his ailment, his departure is, and always will be, a great loss.

2014 V.Ill.Kt. George Nichols, P.G.J.Gen, receiving congratulations from Rt.Ill.Kt. Peter Hawken, Deputy Grand Sovereign on 50 years in Red Cross Masonry.

Past Sovereigns of the Conclave include: (F) = Founder
1966 Chandos Washington (F)
1967 Arthur Coote (F)
1968 Jack Banting
1969 Stanley Thompson (F)
1970 Jack Elgie
1971 George Nichols
1972 Frederick Jarvis
1973 William Adey (F)
1974 William Last
1975 Lionel Frazer
1976 Charles Farmer(F)
1977 Aubrey Peek
1978 Benjamin Baddock
1979 John White
1980 Ronald Morrison
1981 Raymond Harvey
1982 William Williams
1983 Horace Ring
1984 William Cassons
1985 Paul Elgie
1986 Peter Thompson
1987 Dennis Callaway
1988 Leslie Aylett
1989 Peter Gibson
1990 David King
1991 Donald Hardwick
1992 Donald Hardwick
1993 Kenneth Prestidge
1994 David King
1995 William Williams
1996 Alan Jones
1997 David Pickering
1998 Jamieson Beaney
1999 Frederick Blowman
2000 Chiz Bishop
2001 Richard Dunleavy
2002 Duncan Bell
2003 Roy Rudling
2004 Antony Cooper
2005 Antony Cooper
2006 Stuart Wooldridge
2007 Robert Roberts
2008 Frederick Blowman
2009 Lt.Cdr. Kevin Todd M.B.E., R.N.
2010 Lt.Cdr. Kevin Todd M.B.E., R.N.
2011 Robert Earl (F)
2012 Ian Noden (F)
2013 Brian Noden
2014 Lt.Cdr. Kevin Todd M.B.E., R.N.
2015 Geoffrey Tett
2016 Robert Warwick
2017 Stuart Wooldridge
2018 Ian Chase
2019 Mark Denton
2020 Mark Denton

One of the most lasting impressions in recent years was that of Ill.Kt. Tony Cooper being given a “Field Promotion” by the then Grand Sovereign, Most Illustrious Knight Richard Victor Wallis, during his visit to our Divisional Meeting at Botley in June 2011. Tony was promoted to Past Grand High Chancellor, which made him a Very Illustrious Knight. This promotion was for all his work within Rose of Wessex where he had held several offices and also for his devotion to the Division as well as being a long-standing member of the Grand Sepulchre Guard at Grand Imperial Conclave. Tony was at the time, in his wheel-chair after spending seven and a half months in Queen Alexandra Hospital. Sadly, he only enjoyed the title V.Ill.Kt. for a few months before he was unfortunately taken from us all on 18th July 2011.

Over the past few years, we have sadly lost some well-known Knights:-
V.Ill.Kt. Bill Williams, Ill.Kt. Den Callaway, V.Ill.Kt. Ron Morrison, P.Kt. Chiz Bishop, V.Ill.Kt. Tony Cooper, V.Ill.Kt. Jack Elgie, V.Ill.Kt. Jim Beaney, V.Ill.Kt. George Nichols and V.Ill.Kt. Fred Blowman. Sadly we lost P.Kt. Chiz Bishop only weeks after he was installed as Sovereign and he never had the opportunity to take the chair, which left the burden of responsibility to the then Immediate Past Sovereign P.Kt. Fred Blowman. All these Knights command our utmost respect and gratitude as without their leadership and enthusiasm the Rose of Wessex would not be the Conclave we all enjoy today!

V.Ill.Kt. Jim Beaney proved to be a popular Deputy Intendant-General. Indeed, “Uncle Jim”, as he was affectionately known by some, almost turned down the position of Deputy Intendant-General, for two reasons. First, his wife Pearl was house bound and obviously things had to be done with Pearl’s permission! The other reason was that Jim did not have a computer as he was not au fait with computers, e-mails and the like, and so he was reluctant to have to do all the required Divisional correspondence and paperwork by normal post and hand-written correspondence etc. However, V.Ill. Kt. Fred Blowman volunteered to be his “go-between”, and with the approval of the Intendant-General, Fred did all of the required paper work on Jim’s behalf. Jim also got around the difficulty of not having Pearl at Ladies Nights by calling on his daughter, Susan, to be his “Lady” for the evening. As Susan didn’t want that to be the reason for Jim not taking the post, she was only too pleased to help.

Some years ago, due to a falling membership, the Conclave did suffer a short period of austerity and we did find ourselves in a slight predicament, that is to say, we found that the books didn’t quite balance, and we were, for a few years, in the “red”. However, being the Conclave that we are, two or three members for several years undertook to do all the printing, phone work and all the post and correspondence. All this happened at a time when we had to send out up to 30 or 50 Agenda’s by post to both members of the Conclave and all the Divisional Officers. Only one or two lucky people within the Division were fortunate enough to be on e-mail at this time and so “snail-mail” was, for the most part, the only option. Those members also donated several pieces of equipment to the Conclave, and still do, even to this day. For instance the Conclave itself has not bought a candle for almost 20 years as this has been done by a couple of Knights purely out of a sense of willingness to help. With this type of support, we have survived and are now as solvent as we need to be. That being so, the Conclave is always conscious of what is owed to those Worthy Knights, and that this kind of support continues to this day.

As you will see from the consecration date, in 2016 we enjoyed our 50th Anniversary and our Intendant-General Rt.Ill.Kt. Roger Bricknell also made this his Official Visit, with 50 sitting down to dinner. After several presentations of various mementos to several dignitaries, including one to our Founder member George Nichols, a special gift was presented to Most Illustrious Knight Ronald Champion our Past Grand Sovereign a past member of the Conclave, and who afterwards expressed his utter delight at being able to attend on such an auspicious occasion. Those who knew “Ron”, all admit, they had never seen him looking as relaxed as he was that evening, probably as he was not attending in any Official capacity but just there to enjoy himself and to be able to savour the event. Needless to say, a most enjoyable evening was had by all with members and non-members of the Conclave present at dinner receiving a commemoratively engraved “Shot glass” to round off, what was, a superb evening.

Unfortunately, as Rose of Wessex is situated on the Gosport peninsula, we have difficulty in attracting possible candidates, as it seems to be out of everyone’s way. It therefore always seems to our members that we have to try harder than other Conclaves in attracting people to join us. Although this is somewhat of a continual struggle, over the years we have been successful in having some one hundred and thirty people become members of Rose of Wessex, which have included five Past Sovereigns of other Conclaves.

Currently, we have 14 members and are fortunate to note that we have one candidate “waiting in the wings” to join us. We continue to remain positive and optimistic that we can, with perhaps a struggle or two, attract more members to our Conclave.