Lodge of St John 115

The Lodge of St. John was first warranted by the Atholl or Antient Grand Lodge on the 5th of September 1767, at Perth, Scotland, as a military travelling Lodge No. 148 in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Artillery. The Battalion was moved shortly after to Mahon, Minorca, Balearic Islands, then a British possession and in 1772 was posted to Gibraltar bringing with it its ‘Antient’ warrant No. 148.

The venerable Lodge of St. John of Jerusalem lapsed sometime after 1800 and by 1813 No. 148 adopted the name of St. John to assert its prestige and honourable standing as the oldest surviving lodge in the Garrison.

Renamed as St John

The Regiment served during the Great Siege (1779-1789) and it is recorded that when the first cannonade was fired, the lodge was at ‘labour’. The Brethren, mostly artillery-men, were called to ‘Refreshment’ to man the guns and it was not until early in 1783, when the siege had been successfully withstood, that the Brethren again assembled and were called from ‘Refreshment’ to ‘Labour’, the Lodge being then closed ‘in due from’ after a lapse of over three and a-half years! It is also recorded that the Brethren were afterwards ‘regaled’ with bread, cheese and beer, which, following a long harrowing siege on short commons, must have seemed quite a banquet!

Ritual In Spanish

In 1826, when the 2nd Battalion, Royal Artillery, left Gibraltar, the civilian members, with the consent of the artillerymen remaining in the Lodge, petitioned Grand Lodge for an exchange of the military Warrant for a civilian Warrant. This was granted and a new civilian ‘renewal’ warrant was issued as No. 132. The Warrant of Confirmation was dated to the 2nd of December 1826, and signed by the Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex with WBro. Nicolas Traverso nominated as Master.

Two years later the lodge took up the ritual in the Spanish language. It is noteworthy that despite carrying out the ritual in Spanish as from 1828 the minutes up to 1831 were still recorded in English. In 1967 the Lodge celebrated its 200th Centenary year with the then D.G.M Anthony Mena in the Chair. In May 2017, the Lodge celebrated its 250th Anniversary at Grand Battery where the members of the 2nd Bn Royal Artillery served with distinction during the famous Great Siege of Gibraltar.