Our History

Warranted 1925 · Consecrated 1 February 1926 · A century of Freemasonry

At a glance

Warranted
1925, as Lodge No. 4729
Consecrated
Monday 1 February 1926
Where
The Grand Temple, Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London
Named after
Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), foundress of St John's College, Cambridge

Founded by members of St John's College

Lady Margaret Lodge was founded by members of St John’s College, Cambridge, and consecrated on Monday 1 February 1926. By special permission of the Grand Master, the ceremony took place in the Grand Temple at Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street. It was conducted by the Grand Secretary, V.W. Bro. Sir Colville Smith, CVO, assisted by W. Bros W. J. Armitage, Harold Sington, Rev. T. T. Blockley, C. R. I. Nicholl and D. C. L. Fitzwilliams.

Immediately after the consecration, W. Bro. Percy Sargent, PGD, was installed as the first Worshipful Master of the Lodge.

Why two dates? Our warrant was granted by the Grand Master in 1925, which is when the Lodge was legally created and given its number. The consecration on 1 February 1926 was the Lodge’s first meeting. Both dates are correct and mark different milestones.

The Freemasons’ Hall of 1926 is not the building we know today. The present Art Deco hall was built on the same site between 1927 and 1933 as the Masonic Peace Memorial, so the room in which the Lodge was consecrated no longer exists.

Image to be added

Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street, from The Microcosm of London (1808–09), by A. C. Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson. This shows the earlier hall on the site where the Lodge was later consecrated, not the Lodge itself. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.

The earliest printed record of our Lodge is a short notice in The Eagle, the magazine of St John’s College, December 1926, page 299.

Read the original notice (PDF)

Why “Lady Margaret”?

The Lodge takes its name from Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), mother of King Henry VII and foundress of St John’s College, Cambridge, which received its charter in 1511. By the 1920s ‘Lady Margaret’ was already the College’s own shorthand: its rowing club, the Lady Margaret Boat Club, celebrated its centenary in October 1925, just months before our Lodge was consecrated.

Sir Percy Sargent (1873–1933)

Percy Sargent, our first Worshipful Master, was one of the leading surgeons of his generation. Educated at Clifton College and St John’s College, Cambridge, he became surgeon at St Thomas’s Hospital and at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, and was a pioneer of brain surgery.

During the First World War he and Dr Gordon Holmes ran a specialist neurological unit serving the whole British Expeditionary Force in France. He was awarded the DSO in 1917 and the CMG in 1919, and was knighted in 1928.

He was initiated into Freemasonry in the Cheselden Lodge and appointed Senior Grand Deacon of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1915. He died in London on 22 January 1933.

To be confirmed: portrait to be added, awaiting permission

Founders and first officers

The first officers appointed at the consecration, as recorded in The Eagle in December 1926, were:

J. Ratcliffe Cousins
H. H. Adie
J. W. Rob
Rev. Douglas Sargent
Frank Rose
John Matthews
Sydney Macdonald
L. H. Luddington
E. W. Airy
J. J. Gillespie
E. W. R. Peterson
H. N. Matthews

Our first Secretary was Dr John Matthews of 20 Wimpole Street, London.

To be confirmed: the office held by each founding officer

Timeline

1511
St John's College founded
The College receives its charter under the will of Lady Margaret Beaufort.
1925
Warrant granted
The United Grand Lodge of England grants the warrant for Lodge No. 4729.
To be confirmed: exact date of warrant
1 February 1926
Consecration
The Lodge is consecrated in the Grand Temple at Freemasons' Hall, and Percy Sargent is installed as first Master.
May 1926
Links with other college lodges
The Lodge elects the Master and Secretary of Caius Lodge No. 3355 as honorary members, beginning a long friendship among the Cambridge college lodges.
December 1926
Recorded in The Eagle
St John's College magazine publishes a notice of the new Lodge.
1927–1933
A new Freemasons' Hall
The old hall is replaced by the present Art Deco building, the Masonic Peace Memorial.
1933
Death of our first Master
Sir Percy Sargent dies on 22 January.
c. 1949
A lasting tradition
The Oxbridge college lodges begin inviting each other's Masters and Secretaries to their installation meetings each year, a custom that continues today.
1 February 2026
Our centenary
One hundred years since the Lodge's consecration.

Among the university lodges

Lady Margaret Lodge is one of a family of London lodges founded by members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, alongside the Oxford and Cambridge University Lodge No. 1118 (1866), Caius Lodge No. 3355 (1909) and the Lodge of Trinity Cambridge No. 5765. From our earliest months we have exchanged hospitality with these lodges, and the tradition of inviting one another’s Masters and Secretaries to installation meetings continues today.

To be confirmed: today’s membership policy, e.g. whether the Lodge welcomes members beyond St John’s College

Current Cambridge students who are interested in Freemasonry can contact the Isaac Newton University Lodge through the Universities Scheme run by the United Grand Lodge of England.

1926–2026: One Hundred Years

To be confirmed: details of centenary celebrations, date, guests, photographs

Photograph coming soon
Photograph coming soon
Photograph coming soon

Roll of Past Masters

Year	Worshipful Master
1926	W. Bro. Percy Sargent, PGD
To be confirmed: the full roll of Past Masters, to be supplied by the Lodge Secretary

Help us complete our history

Much of our history is still waiting to be found. If you hold old summonses, programmes, menus, photographs, jewels or letters connected with Lady Margaret Lodge, or remember stories from its past, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Get in touch