ZETLAND LODGE
No. 24
Shediac Cape
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Established in 1861 and reborn as Zetland Lodge No. 24, under the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick in 1868
Originally No. 1188, on the Registry of England; changed to No. 88 in A.D. 1862.
Zetland Lodge was first set to work on 29th January 1861, by virtue of a dispensation issued by R. W. Bro. Alexander Balloch, P.G.M., and formally constituted on 20th March 1862 by R. W. Bro. Douglas B. Stevens, Provincial S.G.W., under a warrant granted on 30th October 1861 by the sanction and authority of the United Grand Lodge of England. The Rt. Hon. Earl of Zetland, G.M., the Rt. Hon. Earl de Grey and Ripon, D.G.M., and Wm. Gray Clarke, G.S., constituted the right trusty and well-beloved brethren: Thomas Irving, Samuel McKean, Henry W. Baldwin, Frederick W. Miles, James Robertson, Daniel P. McLaren, and Daniel B. Campbell, into a lodge of F. & A. M. under the title of “Zetland Lodge, No. 1188,” to be held at Shediac, New Brunswick, on the third Wednesday of every month. Thomas Irving was appointed as the first master, Samuel McKean as the first S.W., and Henry W. Baldwin as the first J.W.
This lodge initially declined to separate from the mother Grand Lodge and join in the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick; however, after considerable negotiation, it was persuaded to reconsider its earlier decision. On 16th September 1868, the lodge surrendered its warrant, being the last lodge in the province working under the Grand Lodge of England to do so.
Under the authority and sanction of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, a new warrant was granted on 16th September 1868 by M.W. Bro. B. L. Peters, G.M., constituting the lodge as “Zetland Lodge, No. 24,” on the roll of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. The right trusty and well-beloved brethren, Alexander Stronach as W.M., Chipman W. Smith as S.W., and William Bannister Deacon as J.W., continued with their rights and privileges as a lodge of F. & A. M., meeting at Shediac, in the county of Westmorland, on the third Wednesday of every month. The warrant was countersigned by R.W. Bro. William Wedderburn, D.G.M., and V.W. Bro. W. F. Bunting, G.S., and was committed to the charge of the lodge on 18th November 1868.
The latter warrant was destroyed, along with the hall and other property of the lodge, by fire on 13th October 1879. A duplicate of the warrant was issued on 5th January 1880.