About Us

Lodge History

We’re happy to let you discover a little bit about us and our lodge, Domus Dei No. 5151.

Over these next few sections, we’ll give you a brief history of our founding, our name and lodge crest from the wonderful church we take our name from and is a stone’s throw away from our lodge meeting rooms.

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01 FOUNDING

The Founding of the Lodge:

Our Founders met on six occasions prior to the Consecration Ceremony and, among the many decisions made, one of the earliest concerned the name of the Lodge. According to the Founders’ Minutes, Grand Lodge did not agree to the first proposal, which was to name the Lodge “Hubert Giles Lodge” after the then, Deputy Provincial Grand Master. W.Bro. A.H. Stripe, in a moment of inspiration, proposed that, as the Lodge meetings would take place in Old Portsmouth and near to the Garrison Church, a most appropriate name would be “Domus Dei”. The Founders agreed, Grand Lodge approved and this is the name we now proudly bear. Grand Lodge also agreed that the Lodge could use as its crest, the seal of the old Domus Dei. The Provincial Grand Secretary, in a letter to W.Bro. Stripe (the Secretary to our Founders) indicated that “…as a rule, a cross is not allowed in a Masonic design but, having regard to the name of the Lodge, the Grand Secretary does not think the usual objections would hold and he returns it to me with the information that the design is approved.” It may well be that our Lodge is unique in bearing a cross in its crest.
The motto, “Docendo Discimus”, which may be freely translated “Through teaching we learn”, is particularly indicative of our hopes and aspirations.

The Consecration Ceremony:

‘Domus Dei Lodge No. 5151

The above Lodge was consecrated with all solemnity and dignity at the Masonic Hall, Highbury Street, Portsmouth on Wednesday, February 12th, 1930.
The ceremony was performed by the R.W. Prov. G.M., the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Malmesbury, P.G.W. (Eng.), who was attended by the Deputy P.G.M., W.Bro. Comdr. Hubert G. Giles, R.N., P.G.P. (Eng.); the A.P.G.M., W.Bro. Sir Thomas A. Bramsdon, J.P., P.G.D. (Eng.); the Prov. G. Treas., W.Bro. W.A. Rowe, J.P., P.A.G.D.C. (Eng.); the Prov. G. Sec., W.Bro. Rear-Admiral C. Stevens, C.B.E., R.N., P.A.G. Supt. Wks. (Eng.); the Prov. G.D.C., W.Bro. G. Wright, P.Dep.G.Swd.Br. (Eng.); and the rest of the reigning Provincial Officers.

The Lodge takes its name from the old Portsmouth Domus Dei or Hospital of St. Nicholas, which was founded by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1212, and for more than three centuries ministered, not merely to the bodily, but also to the spiritual needs of the sick, suffering and the poor. All that remains of this ancient Institution is the present Garrison Church, in and around which, such memories linger as should hallow the spot for all time.

The government of the old Domus Dei was vested in a Master; brethren aided by sisters, carried on the duties of nursing, prescribing for the sick, cooking etc; while the spiritual care of the hospital was entrusted to the priests. The ancient seal of the Hospital attached to the surrender in the Record Office is the usual monastic shape surrounded by the words: “Sigillum Commune De Domus Dei de Portesmuth.” (The common seal of the Domus Dei of Portsmouth). The Lodge Jewel is a replica of the old seal of the historic Hospital.

Among the visitors were the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Bro. J.E. Smith, J.P.; the Mayor of Southampton, W.Bro. H. Young; representatives of Grand and Provincial Grand Lodges and the reigning Masters of practically the whole of the local Lodges. After the Consecration the D.P.G.M., W.Bro. Comdr. H.G. Giles, impressively performed the ceremony of installation of the first W.M., W.Bro. P.H. Childs, J.P., P.P.S.G.W., who had been nominated for the position by the 22 Founders. The Asst.P.G.M., W.Bro. Sir Thomas A. Bramsdon, impressively delivered the addresses to the W.M., Wardens and Brethren.

W.Bro. P.H. Childs subsequently appointed and invested his officers for the year as follows: W.Bro. J.L. Dyer, M.B.E., I.P.M.; Bros. E.A.G. Wright, S.W.; W.I. Finemore, J.W.; the Rev. J.A. Moore, Chaplain;W.H.P. Ward, J.P., Treas.; H.C. Hurst, Sec; W.Bro. Dr. T.A. Monro Forde, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., P.P.S.G.W., D.C.; Bros. C.J. Emery, S.D.; F. Funnell, J.D.; W.Bro. F.O. Goodman, P.P.S.G.D., A.D.C.; Bros. A.E. Price, Almoner; G.E. Rourke, Orgt.; W.E. Lakin, I.G.; S.M. Moseley, E.W. Williams, C.C. Coles, Stewards; F.C. Havers, P.G.T., Tyler.

The ceremony was followed by a Banquet at which upwards of 160 Brethren were present. The usual loyal and Masonic toasts were honoured and the R.W. Prov. G.M., the Earl of Malmesbury, wished the new Lodge a long career of usefulness and prosperity. The W.M., W.Bro. Childs, in acknowledging the compliment, referred to the spade work leading up to the formation of the Lodge, and paid a warm tribute to W.Bro. A.H. Stripe, who was practically responsible for its inception, and as secretary to the Founders, had been most enthusiastic and energetic.”

02 CONSECRATION

03 MEMBERSHIP

Membership

There was general agreement among the Founders that the membership should be drawn from the professions and that, in particular, a candidate for initiation should be “A man who would be acceptable at the proposer’s home.” This latter condition has had a most interesting sequel in that no less than twenty sons of members of the Lodge have, themselves, become members of Domus Dei! This figure includes Bro. Ernest Wright who, in 1931 had the singular honour of being installed into the Chair of the Lodge by his father, who was not only a Grand Officer, but also an Honorary member of the Lodge.

In 1993, Bro. J. Morris was initiated into the Lodge by his son, W.Bro. D.B. Morris, the then W. Master; and in 2010 Jordan Fretter was initiated by his father Adrian who took the chair especially for the occasion. A dispensation was needed, as Jordan, the first initiate under the University Lodge Scheme was not 21 years of age. The first person requiring a dispensation for this reason, was W.Bro. Julian Linington, who was 20 when he was initiated in 1939. The Cocks, Christopher, Wilson and Stone families alone have honoured the Lodge with a father and two sons. A Secretary of the Lodge, W.Bro. M.J. Coles was delighted to discover that his great uncle, W.Bro. C.C. Coles was a founder of the Lodge.

To ensure that every member who so wished (and had the qualifications) could attain the Chair, the Founders also agreed that the Lodge should only admit one joining member each year, and that the total membership should not exceed 60. Once the Lodge had become established, the latter rules were relaxed. In fact, in 1935 the membership attained 60, when 2 joining members were admitted, and has rarely fallen below that figure since.

The present membership is over 60 members but, there have been over 150 candidates for Initiation and about 90 joining members and although many members are no longer with us, remarkably, the Lodge only lost one brother as a result of the Second World War, when Bro. J.E.C. Merrifield was killed through enemy action. A particularly sad occasion was the meeting held on 5th October 1966 when W.Bro. J.W. Briggs, having given the Traditional History of the Third Degree, was taken ill and died in the Temple.
Without doubt the most distinguished member of the Lodge is V.W.Bro. Rev. Dr. Michael Morgan who was Grand Chaplain 2 years running, Asst. Prov. Grand Master Hants & IOW, Prov. Grand Chaplain Hants & IOW, Royal Arch Grand Supt. Hants & IOW, Past Prov. Grand Master Prov. Grand Lodge of MMM Hants & IOW, Grand Prelate Supreme Council 33 degrees, Grand Imperial Viceroy Grand Imperial Conclave RCC, Prov. Prior K. T. Hants & IOW, etc,…..

U.G.L.E. University Lodge Scheme

In November 2008, the Lodge was granted approval by RW Bro. David Williamson, Assistant Grand Master to participate in the United Grand Lodge of England University Lodge Scheme. This participation enables the Lodge to Initiate University Graduates and Undergraduates into Freemasonry who would otherwise be barred from membership due to having not reached 21 years of age. The success of this scheme has necessitated the re-introduction of multiple ceremonies to accommodate new members, over 15 Brethren having been admitted under the scheme to date.

Meetings

The Lodge began its meetings at the Masonic Hall, in Highbury Street, and the Consecration Ceremony was made possible through the kindness of St Georges Lodge No.1958, who changed the date of their regular meeting for the occasion.

In 1937, W.Bro. Finemore gave a Notice of Motion “That this Lodge shall remove to the Masonic Hall, Albert Road, Cosham.” His objective was to endeavour to make such a saving in the annual rent, as would enable the Lodge to purchase its own accommodation within a decade. In fact, the motion was subsequently lost (by two votes) and the Lodge was destined to remain at Highbury Street for twenty more years, save for the War period, when meetings were held at the Masonic Hall, Derby Road. In 1956, Domus Dei Lodge, with others, was required to vacate the premises at Highbury St. Our sponsors, Phoenix Lodge No.257, kindly invited us to use the Phoenix Rooms at 110 High Street for our meetings. Our first meeting there took place in October 1956 and now, almost half a century later, none would wish to give up this special privilege.

Until 1965, our Lodge meetings were held from October to June in each year, the War years being exceptional, when the members agreed to meet from January to September (to save fuel). Thereafter, the June meeting was discontinued, so that now, we meet from October to May. April is reserved for the Installation Ceremony and only twice has it been necessary to request the reigning Master to continue in office for a further year. This happened in 1941 (JGF Winter) and 2004 (AC Fretter) when the agendas for those meetings carried the unusual heading: “To Appoint and Invest Officers.” (W.Bro. Paul Christopher, W.Bro. Charles Macrae, W.Bro. Chris Harvey, W.Bro. Derek Stone and W.Bro. Dr Bryan Olive have also occupied the Chair twice, but their terms of office were not continuous).

In the formative years, as well as the years immediately following the War, it was occasionally necessary to conduct “double” ceremonies. The last recorded instance was in 1947; since that date, it had been the practice to devote the evening’s ceremony exclusively to one candidate until the introduction of the University Lodge Scheme in 2009. In addition to the regular ceremonies, the Brethren have received a large number of lectures and addresses on Masonic themes as well as illustrative organ recitals.

The average attendance at Lodge meetings over the past 70 years has been about 30 members. Pre-War, the figure was about 29 and, understandably, during the War, the number fell to about 22. Since moving to the Phoenix Rooms in 1956, attendance increased to about 36 members, but has levelled off again more recently to around 40. The largest attendance of members ever recorded was 51 (at the 1960 Installation); the lowest was 7 in January 2010 due to bad weather.

Visiting is, of course, an essential feature of our Masonic way of life and, over the years, Domus Dei has welcomed many visitors to its meetings. The largest number of visitors ever recorded was the 142 who attended the Consecration ceremony. It would not be possible to receive this number of visitors in the Phoenix Rooms, as the accommodation there is now limited to about 80 people in the Temple and 65 dining.

04 MEETINGS

Into the Space Age

In 1995, the SOHO(Solar Heliospheric Observatory) was launched as part of the ESA Horizon 2000 programme. This spacecraft, while being assembled at Matra Marconi Portsmouth, had etched onto one of its earth straps and framed by two “Square & Compasses” the names of three Portsmouth Lodges: Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar No. 1903, Prudence Lodge No. 7183, and Domus Dei Lodge No. 5151. The SOHO spacecraft orbits at the L1 Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point (gravitationally half way between the sun and the earth). It could be argued that now, Freemasonry is always at its meridian with respect to the sun!

The Artwork Etched Onto Part of The SOHO Spacecraft

The Lodge Crest

Domus Dei Lodge Past Masters’ Breast Jewel

The Lodge Crest

The Lodge enjoys the unique privilege of using as its crest the “Sigillum Commune”, the Common Seal of the old Domus Dei. At the top of this monastic –style emblem is a hand projecting from a cloud, symbolising the First Person of the Holy Trinity. Below this the Sun and the Crescent Moon enclosing a profile of the human face, between them in the centre of the Seal is a double Cross with worshiping angels, signifying the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Below the double Cross at the bottom is a roll of vellum representing the Holy Scripture inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.

A likeness of the Chancel of the Royal Garrison Church also appears on our Past Masters’ Breast Jewels. It is interesting to note that the Bible is opened to Ecclesiastes 12 in our meetings. This tradition heralds from the occasion when a very able Past Chaplain was “lost for words” during a ceremony and it was decided to open the Bible at future meetings to the passage from which this particular text was taken, to enable a prompt to be made, if necessary. The Bible remains open at that passage to this day.

A Final Thought

The R.W. Prov. G.M. the Earl of Malmesbury, at our Consecration, wished the Lodge a long career of usefulness and prosperity; may that wish continue to be the basis for our future.