About Campbell Lodge 3643
Campbell Lodge 3643 was Consecrated on Monday 17th March 1913 at the Moseley and Balsall Heath institute, Moseley
The brethren numbering about 140 assembled in the lodge room, a procession was formed and the R.W. Provincial GM General Sir William Campbell Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, One of his majesties Justices for the commissioning of the piece, ADC to Queen Victoria and King Edward the 7th was escorted to the chair.
During his opening remarks the R.W.P.G.M. expressed his appreciation of the fact that the Founders has asked him to allow them to use his name and his crest he continued by saying “this being a Temperance Lodge I am very glad to welcome such into the province, as many outsiders thought that masonry consisted mainly of eating and drinking, particularly the latter, and the formation of this Lodge was a definite answer to this charge”
Which was thankfully rescinded in our 276th meeting on Oct 1944
We were awarded the Hall Stone Jewel in 1932 raising £500 which is the equivalent to £44,000 in todays money. We remained at the institute until 1937 when we moved to Moseley Masonic Hall
The origins of our banner and what it represents.
The left facing Boars head is the heraldic symbol of Clan Campbell.
The boar’s head is an emblem of hospitality and is symbolic of courage and
ferocity. A champion amongst beasts, a boar encounters enemies with
with nobility and courage, and thus has come to signify the traits of bravery and perseverance.
The Boar is a fierce combatant when at bay and never ceases to resist, even when
cornered. The device was given only to those considered fierce warriors.
The banner also depicts the famous Worcestershire Black Pear. Pears formed part
of the provisions of the troops at Agincourt in 1415, where Worcestershire
bowmen carried banners depicting a pear tree laden with fruit. There are three
Black Pears, the number three having some Masonic significance, and, in this
case, may refer to the three grand principles on which the Order is founded
namely, brotherly love, relief and truth.
The motto on the banner is “Pro Domino Et Veritate’. There is no verb here, so the precise meaning is unclear. “‘Domino” comes from the Latin word “dominus”, meaning master, teacher or lord, that is, a person in authority. “Et” simply means “and”. “Veritate” comes from the noun veritas, which means “truth”. The pronoun “pro” found at the beginning of the motto means “on behalf of” or “in favour of”, It takes the ablative part of the noun, which is why the words to which it refers in the motto are “domino” and “veritate”, both ablatives. The “et”, coupled with the use of the ablative form of both dominus and veritas indicates that the word “pro” applies to both nouns, Veritas is a noun and not an adjective and is not used, therefore, to describe the master.
A likely translation, having regard to the context, is “For God and for the Truth”.
Or the designer may just have liked fruit with his pork scratchings
