The Masonic Million Memorial Fund - Revision history

User: Expand appeal participation, Olympia lunch, commemorative jewels and Roll of Honour with museum sources

2026-10-02T13:34:20Z

Expand appeal participation, Olympia lunch, commemorative jewels and Roll of Honour with museum sources

User: Add the buildings and memorials category

2026-09-30T15:31:37Z

Add the buildings and memorials category

User: Prevent image float from squeezing the lead on narrow screens

2026-09-30T14:31:07Z

Prevent image float from squeezing the lead on narrow screens

User: Add sourced account of the memorial appeal, Hall Stone awards and construction

2026-09-30T14:27:05Z

Add sourced account of the memorial appeal, Hall Stone awards and construction

New page

[[File:Freemasons Hall London exterior Ethan Doyle White 2016.jpg|thumb|right|230px|alt=The stone entrance tower of Freemasons' Hall in London.|The appeal financed the Masonic Peace Memorial Building, now Freemasons' Hall. Photograph by Ethan Doyle White, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0.]]
'''The Masonic Million Memorial Fund''' was the appeal that financed the present [[Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, London|Freemasons' Hall]] in London. Its initial target was £1 million. The building combined a headquarters for the United Grand Lodge of England with a memorial to Freemasons who died in the First World War.<ref name="million">Museum of Freemasonry, [https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/node/836 One in a million].</ref>

== Appeal and construction ==
Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the Grand Master, proposed a memorial hall at a special Grand Lodge meeting in 1919. A letter circulated to lodges in January 1920 announced the appeal under its formal name.<ref name="million" />

Ashley and Newman won the architectural competition in 1926. Work on the new building continued from 1927 to 1933; it was dedicated on 19 July 1933. Its contemporary name, the Masonic Peace Memorial Building, expressed the commemorative purpose of the project.<ref name="story">Museum of Freemasonry, [https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/stories/hall-stone-story The Hall Stone story].</ref><ref>United Grand Lodge of England, [https://www.ugle.org.uk/freemasons-hall/history-freemasons-hall History of Freemasons' Hall].</ref>

Fundraising included a large lunch at Kensington Olympia on 8 August 1925. The appeal continued after the building opened: its final report in 1938 recorded receipts of almost £1.4 million.<ref name="million" />

== Hall Stone jewels and lodges ==
Cyril Saunders Spackman's winning design for the appeal's jewel combined a cross, an angel of peace and a model temple. Different versions recognised contributions by individuals, lodges, and provinces or districts. A separate Special Collector's jewel recognised members who assembled substantial lists of contributions.<ref name="story" />

A lodge qualified as a ''Hall Stone Lodge'' by contributing an average of ten guineas per member. The Museum of Freemasonry records 1,321 qualifying lodges. Their names were inscribed in the new building. Provincial or district awards went to Buckinghamshire, Burma and Japan.<ref name="million" /> The Hall Stone designation records participation in this building appeal; it is not a Masonic degree.

The appeal's imagery also appears in the Memorial Window outside the Grand Temple, where the angel holds a model of the completed hall.<ref name="story" />

== Related articles ==
* [[Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, London|Freemasons' Hall, London]]
* [[Masonic charity jewels]]
* [[History of Masonic regalia]]

== References ==
<references />

{{Topic navigation}}

[[Category:Craft Freemasonry]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:34, 2 October 2026
Line 8:		Line 8:

	Fundraising included a large lunch at Kensington Olympia on 8 August 1925. The appeal continued after the building opened: its final report in 1938 recorded receipts of almost £1.4 million.<ref name="million" />		Fundraising included a large lunch at Kensington Olympia on 8 August 1925. The appeal continued after the building opened: its final report in 1938 recorded receipts of almost £1.4 million.<ref name="million" />
		+
		+	== Participation and commemoration ==
		+	The appeal addressed individual members through their lodges. Each received the Grand Master's letter, details of the scheme and a subscription form. The Olympia lunch was a substantial organisational undertaking: the Museum of Freemasonry records additional trains for the guests, a five-course meal for 7,000 members and 1,250 waitresses.<ref name="million" />
		+
		+	The appeal produced several distinct commemorative objects. The Peace Jewel marked attendance at the special Grand Lodge meeting of 1919; the later Hall Stone design resulted from a competition offering a prize of 75 guineas. The Olympia lunch of 1925 had its own jewel, with a design differing from the standard Hall Stone badge.<ref name="story" />
		+
		+	The memorial also drew on a Roll of Honour assembled during and after the war. The Museum dates its final version to 1921. It recorded the names and lodges of members killed in the war.<ref name="story" />

	== Hall Stone jewels and lodges ==		== Hall Stone jewels and lodges ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:31, 30 September 2026
Line 27:		Line 27:

	[[Category:Craft Freemasonry]]		[[Category:Craft Freemasonry]]
		+	[[Category:Masonic buildings and memorials]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:31, 30 September 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	[[File:Freemasons Hall London exterior Ethan Doyle White 2016.jpg\|thumb\|~~right~~\|230px\|alt=The stone entrance tower of Freemasons' Hall in London.\|The appeal financed the Masonic Peace Memorial Building, now Freemasons' Hall. Photograph by Ethan Doyle White, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0.]]	+	[[File:Freemasons Hall London exterior Ethan Doyle White 2016.jpg\|thumb\|center\|230px\|alt=The stone entrance tower of Freemasons' Hall in London.\|The appeal financed the Masonic Peace Memorial Building, now Freemasons' Hall. Photograph by Ethan Doyle White, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0.]]
	'''The Masonic Million Memorial Fund''' was the appeal that financed the present [[Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, London\|Freemasons' Hall]] in London. Its initial target was £1 million. The building combined a headquarters for the United Grand Lodge of England with a memorial to Freemasons who died in the First World War.<ref name="million">Museum of Freemasonry, [https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/node/836 One in a million].</ref>		'''The Masonic Million Memorial Fund''' was the appeal that financed the present [[Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, London\|Freemasons' Hall]] in London. Its initial target was £1 million. The building combined a headquarters for the United Grand Lodge of England with a memorial to Freemasons who died in the First World War.<ref name="million">Museum of Freemasonry, [https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/node/836 One in a million].</ref>