Our name and our story

Sir William Harpur (c.1496–1574)

William Harpur was born in Bedford and educated at the town's school while it was run by the Augustinian canons of Newnham Priory. He went to London, was admitted to the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1533 and prospered as a merchant.

He served as Lord Mayor of London in 1561 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I the following year. In 1566 he and his wife Alice gave land in Holborn to the Corporation of Bedford to support the town's grammar school, marriage portions for poor maidens, the education of poor children and relief for the poor. That endowment grew into the Harpur Trust, which still runs independent schools in Bedford and supports the town's community.

Sir William died in 1574 and, as he asked, was buried in St Paul's Church, Bedford, where a brass commissioned by his widow remembers him.

The Lodge

After more than forty successful years of Freemasonry in Bedford, members of The Stuart Lodge decided the time was right to form a second Lodge in the town, and the sixth in the county. They named it after Bedford's most notable benefactor. Sir William Harpur Lodge was consecrated in February 1890 at the Assembly Rooms in Harpur Street North, a building that still stands today.

The first year was a busy one: nine meetings, with fifteen initiations, thirteen passings and ten raisings. In 1891 our first Master, W Bro Prior, was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master, no doubt to give him a rest. To mark the end of his year he presented the Lodge with a banner, and its tassels still decorate our banner today.

The Lodge met at the Assembly Rooms until 1902, then at the Swan Hotel, and from 1910 at the Newnham Rooms in St Cuthbert Street. Today we meet at The Keep in Kempston.

Printed summonses from 1952 and 1958 survive in Masonic library collections, and the menu from our Ladies' Festival at the Dujon Restaurant in Bedford on 26 November 1953 still turns up among collectors. The Centenary Meeting in February 1990 was a grand occasion: the records show 151 sat down to dine.

Over the years the Lodge has sponsored five daughter Lodges. Gilbert Inglefield Lodge No. 8009 followed in 1965, named after the Provincial Grand Master who later became Lord Mayor of London, an echo of our own namesake. Our fifth daughter, Britalia Garibaldi Lodge No. 10020, was formed in 2023.