SILENT
The consecration Ceremony of Silent Temple Lodge was held on
Tuesday January 28, 1908 at Freemason’s Hall,
The first Officers to be invested were all members of Mount
Olive Lodge and W. Bro. John Cheong who had already
twice served as Master of Mount Olive Lodge in 1902 and 1903 was installed as
the first Master of Silent Temple.
Bro. John Cheong WM
Bro. Benjamin
Hunter Ho-A-Hing SW
Bro. John
Augustus Too-Chung JW
Bro. Evan Wong Treasurer
Bro. Job Wong Secretary
Bro. Manuel U
Bro. Joseph
Mason Hunter JD
Six Brethren of Mount Olive Lodge were summoned to a meeting at
the home of John Cheong at
The minutes of the meeting revealed that the necessity was as a
result of:
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the working of the present Lodge is not quite up to mark
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young Masons cannot obtain promotion in the present Lodge owning
to cliques formed to prevent the promotion of deserving young Brethren
The motion ‘to start a Lodge and to apply for a Warrant to work
as early as possible’ moved by John Cheong and
seconded by John Augustus Too-Chung was carried unanimously. John Cheong and JS Barnard were then appointed to:
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interview the District Grand Secretary and Deputy District Grand
Master and obtain all the information they could give on the subject.
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get up an estimate as to the probable cost of furnishing and all
other expenses in connection of the starting of the Lodge
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select a suitable site or building and negotiate for the renting
of same.
Two weeks later on July 16, 1907. John Cheong
chaired the meeting having announced that ‘JS Barnard has on account of
business troubles, withdrawn from the movement’. He reported that the District
did not see any pressing need for a new Lodge but was not averse to
recommending it, provided it used the ‘Emulation’ working. A list for the
furniture and Charter was estimated at $140.00 and the seven members pledged to
pay $20.00 each and further monthly sum of $2.00 for the upkeep of the Lodge in
addition to $1.00 as the monthly subscription. A building at
On July 24, 1907, the Petition, desirous of forming a new Lodge
to be named ‘Silent Temple’ was prepared, sent to the District Grand Secretary,
Dr. WF Law on July 25, 1907, who apparently directed that it be sent to the
Master and Wardens of Mount Olive Lodge for their recommendation.
Since this was the first Petition being processed since the
newly formed District Grand Lodge, the formality and procedures were vague in
that the Minutes of Mount Olive Lodge do not record the receipt nor recommendation
of the Petition. Nevertheless, a letter dated October 18, 1907 from the Grand
Secretary to the District Grand Secretary, forwarded the Warrant dated
September 19, 1907. A request for the payment of 17 Founders Fees at 2/6
totaling 17s/6d was also included in the letter.
In December 1907 Mount Olive Lodge held a special meeting and
approved the application by
The first meeting of
W. Bro Cyril Victor Too-Chung, who was initiated in June 1940,
was appointed Deputy District Grand Master from 1964 until 1980 when he
migrated to
The brevity of the minutes leaves us to surmise that ‘York Rite’
as practiced by
The banner received in October 1909, was replaced by the present
silk banner which first graced the
The Lodge now meets on the second Friday of each month with its
installation meeting in January. For many years, the by-laws remained unamended and the January installation meeting was not
provided for.
The Lodge initially sought membership from suitable persons of
Chinese ancestry many of whom did not have English as their mother tongue. This
has since been changed, although there is nothing in any official document
which restricted membership to those with Chinese ancestry. There are, however,
indications that