Wellington Lodge No. 271

Some will argue that the history of Wellington Lodge No. 271 must begin with a study of the name. Located in a community with an Irish name and established in 1872, how came this Lodge in Rural Ontario to be named Wellington lodge? The members of the Lodge have studied this question, and the obvious and simple answer of course is to say that Lodge was named Wellington Lodge because it is located in Wellington County. Lodge historians however prefer to look for the source of the name in early nineteenth century Europe, where a young Irishman named Arthur Wellesley, who was Initiated into Masonry in the Grand Lodge of Ireland, became a famous British military figure and eventually became the Prime Minister of England.

Arthur Wellesley led a British Army expeditionary force of 25,000 or so crack British troops to Portugal and Spain in the early 1800’s to do battle with Napoleon’s Grand Army. Out numbered and out gunned,
Wellesley fought with daring and zeal, and eventually, with much help from the Portuguese and Spanish Troops and civilians, was able to win back the country, pushing the Grand Army back to France.

Later of course, in Belgium in 1815, Arthur Wellesley, who had become the Earl of Wellington commanded the combined forces which won the day at the famous Battle of Waterloo. Historians claim that Wellington (The Iron Duke), sat astride his horse on a hilltop next to an elm tree and directed his forces at that decisive battle. Napoleon of course after this battle retreated to Paris to face his parliament and was soon thereafter sentenced to exile. And so The Duke of Wellington became a hero and received worldwide acclaim for his skill as a military leader.

Just as the events and the heroes of World War Two are still fresh in our minds 55 years after the fact in 1997, so were the Napoleonic wars still fresh in the minds of the men who came together in 1872, 55 year after those great European land and sea battles, to create Wellington Lodge in Erin Township.

To the soldier-immigrants from overseas who served in the military in Europe during the period 1800-1815 And also to the Veterans of the war of 1812 who fought under the Union Jack, and who may have sat in Lodge in Georgetown and Orangeville while the discussion was taking place about a Lodge for Hillsburgh, Erin and Belfountain, the name Wellington Lodge would have been especially significant. And so it came to Be that the little Lodge in Erin Township was named after an Irishman, Arthur Wellesley, The Duke Of Wellington.

The History of Wellington Lodge begins of course with a look at the History of Freemasonry in Ontario In general. The national body of Freemasonry is called a Grand Lodge. These Grand Lodges have Jurisdictions. The Canada’s came under the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodge of Ireland At different geographical areas. Clarified in 1857, the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario Became the governing body for Freemasonry in this province. The Grand Lodge office is situated in Hamilton to this day.

The first Lodge meeting in Ontario was probably held by a military lodge somewhere on the Niagara Frontier in the late eighteenth century. This Lodge would have been continually on the move, as were Most military lodges. Lodges are numbered in sequence for the most part according to their date of Constitution. Wellington Lodge is numbered 271 on the roll of Grand Lodge. The immediate preceding Numbered five lodges are located in Oshawa, Claremont, Bobcaygeon, Chatham and Stayer. The five Lodge. The five lodges number im