05/14/2024
At the Installation meeting of the Lodge of St. Cuthberga No. 622 in Wimborne on Tuesday, Barry Hobbs was presented with a Distinguished Past Master's jewel from the Lodges Distinguished Past Masters committee.
The jewel is made of 18-carat gold and has a fine ceramic depiction of St. Cuthberga. It was originally purchased by the Lodge and presented to Robert Gordon Cave in 1901. The engraving on the reverse of the attached Square reads, 'Presented to Lieut Robert G. Cave PM 622, PPGDC Dorset, by the Members of his Mother and Neighbouring Lodges as a mark of their esteem and in Admiration of his conduct as a Man, a Mason & a Soldier. June 3rd 1901'.
Robert Cave was initiated into the Lodge of St. Cuthberga in 1885 and became Master in 1895. He had a distinguished career with the Dorset Imperial Yeomanry, fighting in South Africa during the Boar War, which earned him a Commission awarded by Queen Victoria.
Robert Cave unfortunately passed away on 5th December 1926, and his beautiful jewel was never returned to the Lodge. It remained lost for 93 years until, remarkably, in September 2019, one of the members, David Sims, saw it for sale in a Wimborne jeweller's window. The jeweller, Roger Bently, a member of the Fernhill Lodge No. 7707, agreed to return it to the Lodge and came to present it back in January 2020.
The history of the Distinguished Past Masters jewels
The present tradition of awarding a Past Masters Jewel to the Master after he has completed his year in office is a relatively new tradition adopted by the Lodge of St Cuthberga. Until this change was made a jewel was only awarded to Past Masters many years after they had vacated the Chair and after they had continued to give outstanding service to the lodge. In the first 100 years of the Lodge of St Cuthberga's existence, only 12 jewels were awarded and 4 of them including Lord Shaftesbury who was also the Provincial Grand Master each had to wait over 50 years for their jewel.
It was considered in those days a truly great honour and it constituted a Roll of Honour. The original jewels were of gold but later ones were of gilt and it was hoped that the jewels would be returned to the lodge after the recipient had passed to G.L.A.
In 1980 there was only one member who had the privilege of having been presented with a jewel and it was realised that with the changing circumstances of that period it was unlikely any future brother would have the opportunity of rendering the length of service that in the past might merit a P.M’s Jewel. In June of that year the P.G.M. attended the lodge and presented jewels to those brothers who had been accorded that honour – with somewhat reduced criteria. (Hannays words).
It was decided also that the original PM jewels were still to be awarded when appropriate and that the recipients would be selected by a sub committee of three – each one of whom would be the holder of the jewel. The jewel would be known by the new name of Distinguished Past Masters Jewel.
This jewel is no doubt the highest honour that a past master of the Lodge of St Cuthberga can receive. The new Past Master Jewel introduced in 1992 has been awarded to every PM of the lodge
• The majority of this article has been reproduced from articles published in The History of the Lodge of St Cuthberga by Dr J Hannay and Bridging the Centuries by David Owen both of whom were distinguished past members of our lodge.
David Lake and David Smith
Lodge of St Cuthberga No. 622
https://wimbornefreemasons.co.uk
