Provincial History & Succession of Priors/Sub-Priors

 

Province

 

Provincial history and sucession of Priors/Sub-Priors

 

Provincial Officers

 

Provincial Priors Bodyguard

 

Provincial Prior’s Certificate of Service

 

Charities

 

Toast List – KT

 

Toast List – KM

 

Regalia

 

Glossary of Offices

 

HantsKnight Templar Encampments are reported by various sources as occurring from 1750 onwards The earliest surviving English records of the Knights Templar degree are to be found in Hampshire, in the minutes of the ‘Chapter of Friendship’ now No.257, meeting in Portsmouth, which are dated 21st. October 1778. Commander Dunckerley had written giving the Chapter permission to make Knight Templars and it was resolved to do so.
The Chapter’s first Minute Book was written in code as this quote from their founding meeting illustrates:
“At a Royal Arch Chapter held in the George Tavern in Portsmouth on First Septr. Seventeen hundred and sixty nie = present Thomas Dunckerley Esq., William Cook ‘Z’, Samuel Palmer ‘H’, Thomas Scanville ‘J’, Henry Dean, Philip Joyes and Thomas Webb. The ‘Pro. G.M.’ Thomas Dunckerley bro’t the warrant of the Chapter and having lately erc’d the Mark he made the bre’n ‘Mark Masons’ and Mark Masters and each chuse their Mark… He also told us this manner of writing …”
This simple quotation not only records their foundation but is also the earliest known reference to the Mark Degree and of course includes the most famous Masonic name – Thomas Dunckerley. Their minutes prove the inter-relationship of the Chapter and our Order and they also show the Chapter’s influence in the development of our Order.
“Royal Arch Chapter III twenny first October Seventeen hundred and seventy eight. Com. Palmer read a letter from Com. Dunckerley that we might make Knight Templars and it was resolved to.”
and just two days later:
“At a meeting of the Friendship Chapter III Portsmo. Twenty third of October Seventeen hundred and eighty five. Com. Marks was installed Knight Templar. Com. Palmer appointed ‘Z’.”
HantsThese events were taking place in ‘free standing’ units in relatively uncontrolled circumstances. The name of Thomas Dunckerley is significant and appropriate for the founding of what is now “Royal Naval Preceptory and Priory No.2”. A free standing Warrant for the creation of the Encampment of Royal Naval No. 2, is dated 11th. March 1791.
A short lived Southampton Encampment Royal Gloucester No.14 followed in 1792 which closed in 1805, but forty years later a new Royal Gloucester No. 32 was created so possessing a very unique warrant. Two attempts to establish working in Winchester failed to come to reality, but slowly the order did arrive in Alton, Bournemouth, Ryde, a second Preceptory in Portsmouth (now meeting at Havant), Basingstoke later to move to Andover, Petersfield, Botley, Freshwater and most recently a ‘daylight’ Preceptory at Chandler’s Ford. Additionally the Sepulchre Preceptory No, 27, founded in 1840, in Calcutta, relocated to Hampshire and now meets at Mudeford.
The Province was created in 1848 but did not include the Isle of Wight at that time. Vectis Preceptory No. 237 was warranted in March 1925, being of ‘free standing’ and it was not until 1945 that we were united. To celebrate the ‘union’ the Annual Provincial meeting was held in Ryde in 1946. This ‘moveable feast’ was again scheduled for the Island in 1965. The Minute Book sadly records that “the meeting was held under exceptional difficulty due to the dense fog in the Solent”. Strangely there has never been an Annual Provincial Meeting called on the island since, despite the great improvement in radar systems in the ensuing years! Annual meetings came to a more settled existence in Bournemouth for many years but more recently have taken place at Botley.
Since the formation of the Province in 1848 we have had a remarkable range of men as Provincial Priors (see below), ranging through an Admiral, an M.P., other Naval and Army Officers, the clergy and a couple of engineers. This is a true reflection of the eclectic mix of our membership which is totally applicable to a truly Christian Order.
A further example of the enduring nature of this Order and the early influence of Royal Naval No.2 is the fact that the ritual used today throughout our Great Priory (with the exception of Bristol) is virtually the same as that in use in No.2 in 1851.
A very comprehensive account of our History was written by E.Kt. Peter F. Wyles J.P., P.Gt.W.of R. in 2002; Copies of which are available from the Provincial Vice-Chancellor 

Provincial Commanders and Priors

1848 – Major Ferris Charles Robb
1855 – Rt. Hon. William Wither Bramston Hicks-Beach, MP
1901 – Sir Richard Loveland Loveland, QC
1913 – Sir Augustus Frederick Walpole Webster Bart
1924 – Cdr. Hubert Giles, RN
1940 – Canon Charles Robert Stewart, MA
1944 – Col. George Nowers Dyer CBE., DSO
1955 – Lt. Col. Walter Kennedy Pearce
1960 – Brigadier Eric Stuart White, DSO
1965 – Col. Reginald (Rex) Thomas Slator Kitwood
1990 – Revd. Dr. Michael Morgan
1997 – Victor Phillip Cooper
2000 – Trevor Charles Gulliver
2013 – David Frederick Coombes
2017 – Charles Jonathan Aspinell

Provincial Deputy Commanders and Sub-Priors

1856 – Charles Ewens Deacon
1880 – William Hickman
1884 – Thomas Best
1886 – Sir Richard Loveland Loveland
1894 – Francis Newman
1904 – Cdr. Hubert Garvey Giles, RN
1920 – Cdr. Hubert Garvey Giles K.C.T., RN
1924 – Percy Beer
1926 – Alfred M. Miller
1929 – Revd. Charles Robert Stewart, MA
1940 – Col. Ernest F. Hall
1942 – Major Francis Harrison Trent
1951 – Malcolm James Osborne
1953 – Walter Kennedy Pearce, T.D.
1956 – Brigadier Eric Stuart White, DSO
1960 – Col. Reginald Thomas Slator Kitwood
1965 – Charles Arthur Frederick Ross
1982 – Surg.Capt. Gerard Sutherland Irvine
1992 – Victor Phillip Cooper
1997 – Malcolm Ernest Slater
2002 – Walter John Wild
2009 – Jonathan Charles Whitaker, J.P.
2011 – David Frederick Coombes
2013 – Anthony Lawrence Bargrove
2014 – James Alan Kerr Colville

2019 – Julian Mitchell