The Loyal Duchess of Kent Lodge
The Oddfellows was established in 1810, although some dispute that date and suggest that it was earlier.
I have been unable to trace exactly when a London District was established but we know that in 1838 it split into North and South London Districts.
The Good Samaritan Lodge was established in 1837, the year before the split and the Duchess of Kent Lodge was established in 1839, a year later. Those are the only two Lodges from that time, which remain on the books.
The Unity publishes directories of Lodges and the first one appears to have been published in 1841. There were eleven lodges in the North London District and they had a combined membership of 645.
The largest and oldest Lodge in the District at that time was the St Thomas Lodge, which by a process of amalgamations is now part of the Duchess of Kent lodge. In 1841 The St Thomas Lodge had 270 members; the Good Samaritan Lodge had 90 members whilst the new Duchess of Kent Lodge had just 20 members.
In 1845 the largest Lodge in North London, by far, remained St Thomas Lodge with 400 members but the Duchess of Kent Lodge now had 194 members.
The Directory records that there were 564 members of the Duchess of Kent Lodge at the end of 1912, with 125 admitted that year. The average age of the members was 39. What a difference to today, when I guess the average age is likely to be around 70
During the first 75 years of its existence, the Duchess of Kent Lodge met in Public Houses. I have found records that suggest that the Lodge used eight different establishments between its formation in 1838 and 1929.
In 1927 the Lodge Committee of Management decided that they should have a permanent home and at the 1929 Annual Summoned Meeting it was reported that they had purchased a number of cottages and other buildings located at 18 and 19 Warren Street and 20, 22 and 22A Grafton Mews, London. At first, they could not develop the whole site. Apparently there was a Rent Restriction Act Order in place which prevented them obtaining possession so that the entire site could be cleared.
On 3 September 1929, it was reported to the Lodge that the committee were still trying to get possession of 19 Warren Street and had called upon the Sanitary Inspector to assist.
The report states that there were stables at the rear of the site, which would allow the erection of a Lodge Room. In due course, builders moved in and the first part of the construction was a Lodge Room on the ground floor, with toilets and a strong room in the basement, a committee room and secretary’s office on the first floor and the caretaker’s flat on the second floor.
It was some years before they were able to gain possession of the entire site and arrange for a four storey commercial property to be built alongside the Lodge room area. The fact that the building was apparently constructed in two phases probably accounts for the fact that the entrance was in Grafton Mews and that the floor levels in what was the older part of the building differed to that in the rest of the building.
I have found a printed report of the opening on Monday 30 September 1929. I have copied and abridged this to form a little memento booklet. I hope that you will find it of interest.
In 1929, Brother Robert Annis, the Lodge Secretary, indicated that he wished to stand down at the Half Yearly meeting. He was elected Deputy Grand Master of the Order at the AMC that year and obviously felt that his Unity duties would prevent him carrying out his secretarial duties.
The post was advertised and there were 12 applicants. 7 from the Lodge, 1 from another Lodge and 4 from non Oddfellows.
It was stated that when the new building was opened, the secretary would be required to be there at least three hours a day, five days a week for the princely sum of £3 a week or £156 a year.
Reading through the minutes at that time, throws up some other interesting facts, not least that comments were made about the amount of business being discussed and the lack of a social programme. - Nothing changes.
Although I have not been able to establish exactly when building took place, many of you will know that the original Lodge Room with Committee Room and caretakers flat above was expanded to make a commercial property. There have been diverse tenants over the years but it was becoming increasingly complex to manage a commercial building with a number of tenants.
In 2001, the major tenant on the lower floors went into liquidation. This gave the Lodge Committee the opportunity to refurbish those floors and create a new access from Warren Street.
However, in 2004 the Commercial Board was putting pressure upon us to sell. With a dwindling and aging membership it did seem that it might be a solution. The Trustees were spending a great deal of time on matters relating to the building. Thus on 1 September 2005 the freehold was sold but we retained the Lodge Room on a peppercorn rent for 125 years, with provision for access to toilets facilities and a storage area.
We knew that the new owners would wish to re-develop the building and we also knew that Camden Council had zoned the area for residential use. In due course, plans were submitted to Camden Council and the other tenants were persuaded to leave. However, before any work took place, the new owners sold the building.
In accordance with an arrangement, which we had agreed when we originally sold the building, we were to move out of the building for a maximum of ten months whilst any redevelopment took place and the next owners provided us with alternative accommodation from January 2008.
We should have returned to the Lodge Room no later than November 2008 but it was clear that the work was not going to be completed. Then, at the beginning of June 2009, a water pipe joint burst in the ceiling of the third floor and water had cascade through the building during a weekend, destroying much of the work.
Fifteen months passed and the property was sold again to the University College London Hospital Charities. There further delays and the Lodge Committee was beginning to feel that they might never return. However, the Charity agreed that they would create a self contained unit for the Lodge, which was not part of the original proposals.
This meant that on 9 August 2011, after an absence of 3 1/2 years, the Lodge was able to return home to Duchess House. Meanwhile new contractors work on the rest of the building to provide upmarket flats.
Keith B Potter 9 December 2011