The History of Wythall Lodge

Wythall Lodge No. 5665 has been meeting for the better part of ninety years, and a surprising amount of its early life survives—in the Provincial museum, in the Lodge’s own treasures, and in the remarkable sketch reproduced below. This page gathers what is known, states where each fact comes from, and leaves out what cannot be verified. If you can add to it—especially if one of the men pictured here was your father, grandfather or great-grandfather—the Secretary would be delighted to hear from you.

Consecrated in Coronation Year, 1937

Wythall Lodge was consecrated on 9 September 1937—as the Lodge banner proudly records, “the coronation year of King George VI,” who had been crowned at Westminster Abbey that May. The printed Order of Procedure for the consecration ceremony survives in the Worcestershire Masonic Library and Museum, together with the jewels worn by the consecrating officers and a founders’ jewel.

The new Lodge took its name from Wythall, the village on the southern edge of Birmingham that then lay in Worcestershire—which is why, to this day, the Lodge belongs to the Province of Worcestershire although it now meets at Knowle in the Solihull district. Its first home was the Masonic Hall at Kings Heath (the Moseley Masonic Hall), which had itself opened its doors that same year.

Wythall — the Village Behind the Name

A brother might fairly ask: why is a lodge that met at Kings Heath, and meets today at Knowle, called Wythall at all? The answer lies in the old map. For centuries Wythall belonged to the great Worcestershire parish of King’s Norton; when King’s Norton and its surrounds were absorbed into the City of Birmingham in 1911, Wythall was left behind—created a civil parish of its own that year, and remaining in Worcestershire, in the north-eastern corner of the county, where it sits today within Bromsgrove District. So when our founders chose the name in 1937, they were planting their new Lodge’s flag firmly on the Worcestershire side of the boundary—the same boundary the Masonic Provinces still follow, and the reason a lodge serving the Birmingham fringe is warranted in the Province of Worcestershire. The village has grown greatly since their day: at the 2021 census its parish counted some 12,269 souls.

St Mary’s — the church on the sketch

The church the artist chose to crown the 1938 portrait sheet has its own story. St Mary’s, Wythall was built in 1862 by the Worcester architect Frederick Preedy—the only brick-built church he ever designed—and in 1908 the Birmingham architect William Bidlake added the immense openwork tower, the gift of the Misses Mynors in memory of their parents, which became the landmark of the district. The building is Grade II listed. It closed for worship in the late 1980s and was declared redundant in 1991; the building survives in commercial hands, its great tower still standing over the village. The congregation, meanwhile, carried on—and since 2014 St Mary’s Church, Wythall has met at the heart of the village once more. When our founders’ artist drew that tower in 1938, the church was in its prime—and the brethren who dined beneath the sketch would have known it as the unmissable landmark on the road from Birmingham.

The Lodge Banner

Every lodge treasures its banner, and ours is a fine one: embroidered in the Lodge colours of blue and gold, it shows the temple portico of our crest above the chequered pavement, framed by the words that fix the Lodge in its moment of history. It was presented by Bro Joseph Payton—and the observant reader will find J. Payton himself among the faces in the sketch below, drawn only months after the consecration.

The Brethren of 1938 — a Remarkable Sketch

On Thursday 10 March 1938, six months into the Lodge’s first full year, Wythall Lodge held a Ladies Evening—and someone had the happy idea of commissioning a pen-and-ink portrait sheet of the brethren for the occasion. The original survives, and it is the earliest picture we have of the men who made the Lodge.

The sheet is crowned by a drawing of a country church with a great tower, and comparison with photographs confirms it: this is St Mary’s, Wythall—the parish church of the village the Lodge is named after. The identification is not in doubt, for the tower is architecturally unmistakable: where most parish towers finish flat with battlements, St Mary’s carries a steep gabled cap with circular openings in its face, a slender spirelet at the apex, and an unusually tall openwork belfry of paired traceried lancets—every one of which the artist faithfully drew. The church was built in 1862 by Frederick Preedy (his only brick church), and its landmark tower was added in 1908 by William Bidlake, the gift of the Misses Mynors in memory of their parents; for years it was the landmark of the flat country around Wythall. The drawing is signed by the artist, G. W. N. Legg.

Note, too, the day: a Thursday—the Lodge met on Thursdays at Kings Heath for decades, and installation meetings were held in October from at least 1946, a rhythm it kept until recent times.

Where was the Ladies Evening held?

Honesty compels us to say: we do not yet know. The portrait sheet names no venue, and no public record of the evening has been found online. A record very likely survives, however, in one of three places: the Worcestershire Masonic Library and Museum holds a box of “Papers relating to Wythall Lodge No 5665” (accession 1952/5) that may well contain the printed programme this sheet belonged to; the Lodge’s minute books for 1937–38 would record the arrangements; and the Birmingham newspapers of the day—the Daily Gazette, Evening Despatch and Mail—routinely reported masonic ladies’ nights with their venues, and their archives await a search. If the answer is found, it will be added here.

The Worshipful Master, E. J. Bryant

At the head of the sheet sits E. J. Bryant, Worshipful Master. His year in the chair is independently confirmed by a small survival in the Provincial museum: an ash tray inscribed “Wythall Lodge No. 5665, E J Bryant PPGW WM, 1938”—the letters PPGW recording that he was, or became, a Past Provincial Grand Warden of the Province. Flanking him are R. Buchanan, Senior Warden and J. D. Erskine, Junior Warden.

The roll of the sketch

Twenty-two brethren appear, their names lettered beneath each portrait. We give them exactly as the artist wrote them:

A note on accuracy: the names above are transcribed from the sketch itself. Beyond what is written on the sheet and corroborated by the museum’s holdings, we have not been able to verify biographical details of these brethren from public records, and we prefer to state nothing we cannot support. The Lodge would warmly welcome family memories, photographs or records—write to the Secretary if you can help complete their stories.

Milestones

• 9 September 1937 — Wythall Lodge No. 5665 consecrated, in the coronation year of King George VI. First home: the Masonic Hall, Kings Heath (Moseley Masonic Hall), opened the same year.
• 10 March 1938 — Ladies Evening in the Lodge’s first year; the portrait sheet above is drawn, with E. J. Bryant WM.
• From at least 1946 — installation meetings held in October, as surviving summonses in the Provincial museum show (1946, 1958, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2011).
• 20 March 1952 — the Lodge’s 100th meeting, celebrated with a dinner whose menu and toast list survive in the museum.
• 10 September 2012 — the Lodge hosts a celebration of 75 years of Freemasonry at the Moseley Masonic Hall.
• Today — the Lodge meets at Knowle Masonic Centre, Solihull, on the third Monday of the month, October to April, and continues to welcome new members from Birmingham, Solihull and north Worcestershire.

Sources & References

Everything stated on this page traces to one of the following.

• The Lodge banner — primary source for the consecration year, its description as the coronation year of King George VI, and the presentation by Bro Joseph Payton.
• The Ladies Evening portrait sheet, 10 March 1938 — primary source for the names, offices and likenesses of the brethren listed above; signed G. W. N. Legg.
• Worcestershire Masonic Library & Museum — Wythall Lodge No. 5665 — catalogue of some twenty items: the consecration Order of Procedure (9/9/1937), consecrating officers’ jewels, a founders’ jewel, the E J Bryant ash tray (1938), the 100th-meeting menu (1952), installation summonses from 1946, and the 75-years celebration booklet (2012).
• Worcestershire Masonic Library & Museum — Kings Heath, Moseley Masonic Hall — the Lodge’s first meeting place.
• St Mary’s Church, Wythall and its Grade II listing — the church whose landmark tower appears at the head of the 1938 sketch; Preedy 1862, Bidlake tower 1908.
• Wythall — village history: the 1911 creation of the civil parish when King’s Norton was absorbed into Birmingham; Bromsgrove District; 2021 census population.
• Worcestershire & Dudley Historic Churches Trust — Wythall — the church’s closure and the congregation’s continuing life, meeting in the village since 2014.
• United Grand Lodge of England and the Province of Worcestershire — the Lodge’s governing bodies.