Private Henry Osborne Lodge

 

Henry Osborne Lodge was a Freemason and member of Lodge Temperance 2557 which during the Great War was meeting at the Royal Assembly Rooms, Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The hand written entry in the Roll of Honor at the end of the Lodge Temperance 2557 Minute Book reads “Private Henry Osborne Lodge, No 020784, M.T.A.S.C.  Le Havre France”.

It has proved impossible to identify a convincing service or pension record for Henry so perhaps they are among the 60% of the soldiers’ Service Records irretrievably damaged or lost completely as a result of enemy bombing in 1940. His WW1 index medal Roll shows he was Private No. m2/020784 with the Royal Army Service Corps and entered service in France on  the 10th December 1914. He  was awarded the British War Medal, Victory Medal and 15 Star. The British War Medal was issued to personnel for leaving their native shore for service overseas while the Victory medal was issued to those who entered a theatre of war. The 15 Star was issued for service in a theatre of war before 31st December 1915. The combination of a Star, Victory Medal and War Medal was fairly commonplace and earned itself the nickname “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”.

The Census taken in April 1911 records that Henry Osborne Lodge was boarding at 39, Salters Road, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. He was 26 years old, single, a Mechanical Engineer born in the Strand, London. He later married Dorothy Gamblin on the 27th June 1920 at St Nicholas Church, Tooting Graveney in South West London. They had a least one son:

  • ·         Gerald Henry Lodge (b 1921)

Henry’s parents and siblings have proved difficult to identify. The available records indicate he was born Henry Osborne in the fourth quarter of 1884 in the Strand, London and it’s not until the 1901 census that he begins to add Lodge as his surname when he is living in the household of Ernest and Catherine Lodge (nee Lee). Ernest and Catherine claim to be childless in the 1911 census and we know that Catherine’s mother, also Catherine, remarried in 1870 to Joseph Osborne so perhaps Catherine is a relation of his mother and they are caring for him.  Only his birth certificate can resolve the mystery.

Henry was proposed at the Lodge Temperance meeting held on Monday 19th June 1911 by Bro. E. M. Watson and seconded by Bro J. Hope as a fit and proper person to be made a Freemason. He was 26 years old, an Electical Engineer, living at 39, Salters Road, Gosforth.  At the meeting of the 17th July 1911 a successful ballot was held and he was initiated into the Mysteries and Privileges of Ancient Freemasonry. He was passed to the second or Fellowcraft degree on the 21st August and raised to the Sublime degree of a Master Mason on the 18th September. He signed his Grand Lodge certificate on Monday 20th November 1911. His membership with Lodge Temperance was to be short lived as at the meeting held on February 21st 1916, the Treasurer announced that Henry Osborne Lodge had ceased to be a member.

Henry was 68 years old when he died on the 20th August 1953 at the Sutton and Cheam Hospital, Sutton, Surrey. His widow Dorothy, who was living at 19, Robin Hood Lane, Sutton, was left £1570 13s 3d in his will.

Henry  is commemorated in Newcastle on the Roll of Honour 1914-18 Lodge Temperance 2557 (NUT254).