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Our
First Worshipful Master
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Dr. C. R. Sinclair did accept the honour of being the first Worshipful
Master of Mozart Lodge, and he donated a case of silver compasses and a
square.
W.Bro.E. Larkham presented the Wands, and the Working Tools were presented by
Bro. H. Groves and Bro.G. Fortey. The Brethren, not in Office, presented a
set of Tracing Boards.
George Robertson Sinclair Mus.D. was born in Croydon on October 28th. 1863.
of Irish parentage, whilst his parents were on the way home to Ireland
from Bombay. His father was the
Director of Education out there.
From an early age he had shown an outstanding musical talent, and by the age
of eight he was a pupil at the Academy
of Music in Dublin,
and afterwards at St. Michael’s College, Tenbury Wells. Although this
was the direction his life took, it had been his early intention to ‘go
into the church’, but the death of his father altered the course of
things.
When only 17 years old he was appointed organist for the newly founded
cathedral at Truro and remained
there for some 9 years. At the age of 26, in 1889, he became organist of
Hereford Cathedral, at a salary of £215 per annum with a house, which seems
to have been a well paid appointment in its day. Records show that coal
miners in the Black County
in that year were paid 3 shillings (15p) per day. That is £39 per annum,
which puts the appointment into some perspective.
Part of his duty, as organist, was to teach piano to the two senior
choristers, and some musical instrument to the other members of the choir.
Amongst the choir boys trained by Dr. Sinclair were Herbert Howells, the
foremost of English composers of music for the church in the 20th.
Century, Ivor Gurney poet and songwriter and Ivor Novello.
His great love appears to have been choral work, of which he did a
considerable amount, conducting the Three Choirs Festivals (Hereford,
Worcester and Gloucester) for a
number of years. He also gave much assistance to lesser known choirs in the
area.
Dr. Sinclair was a man of excellence, but quickly lost his temper when
standards fell below the level he set.
Lady Molly Hull, who was married to Dr. Sinclair’s successor at
Hereford Cathedral, Sir Percy Hull, remembers him as a strict teacher when
she received piano lessons from him as a girl. In fact she was the last pupil
to receive a lesson from the great man before he left on his last journey to Birmingham
in February1917.
Edward Elgar became a very close friend of his, and a room was reserved at
Sinclair house in Hereford, to
accommodate him on his visits to that city.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations No.11 (GRS) immortalises Dr. Sinclair. The
first few bars refer to Dr. Sinclair’s great bulldog Dan, falling down
the bank into the River Wye, his paddling upstream, and his rejoicing bark on
landing.
Their friendship was again demonstrated in 1907 when Elgar’s
“Pomp and Circumstance” March No.4, contained the note, “To
my friend Dr. C. Robertson Sinclair. Hereford”.
When invited to be our first Worshipful Master, he had already been Master of
Palladian Lodge No.120, and Vaga Lodge No.3146, both in Hereford.
He was also a member of Lodge of Fortitude No.131, in Truro.
His honours were listed as Past Grand Organist of England and Past Provincial
Grand Warden, Hereford.
He was of course at that time the organist at Hereford Cathedral.
On Wednesday February 7th. 1917, he was staying at the Midland Hotel in
Birmingham, where he had gone for a rehearsal of the Birmingham Festival
Choir, of which he had been the conductor for some 17 years.
After the rehearsal he returned to his hotel room, where just before midnight he was discovered in a state of
collapse, and died before help could arrive.
His grave is to be found in the churchyard of St. John
the Baptist, in Hereford.
Being unmarried, his sisters offered his masonic jewels to the Lodge and at a
meeting on April 4th. 1917, it was decided that his Founders Jewel would be
worn by each Master during his term of office, and would be presented to him
at his Installation. Unfortunately the jewel was mislaid in 1998 and now the
second Founders Jewel has been substituted until time or circumstance shall
restore the genuine one.
It was also decided at that meeting in April, that his Past Master’s
Jewel be presented to the then Worshipful Master, W. Bro. Larkham, as his
sole property.
Our first Master was indeed a great man, and it was very fitting that a Lodge
which had come into existence mainly at the instigation of musicians should
commence its life under such a talent. We were indeed fortunate.
(Written by W.Bro. Arthur Aston.)
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