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History of Lodge 512 Warrant

This warrant was first issued in the year 1774,to be worked by the 63rd Regiment then stationed in Ireland. The 63rd Regiment previous to 1758 was the 2nd Battalion of the 8th (Wolves) Foot, but in that year it was constituted a separate Battalion. The 8th Foot was raised by Lord Ferrars of Chartley, and played an important part in the Irish Campaign of William III.

In 1775, the year after the Warrant was issued, the war of American Independence began. The inhabitants of America who being dissatisfied for a considerable time with the British Rule, broke into open hostility. In this year the 63rd was drafted to the seat of trouble and served for six years as Mounted Infantry.

It gained renown at the great battles of Bunker Hill and Brandywine, was at the storming of Port Clinton and captured the works of Stoneypoint on the Hudson. It took part in the fall of Charleston, the battles of Camden and Hobkirks Hill. The last great fight of the 63rd in America was at Eataw Spring. The Regiment performed many gallant deeds, but all hopes of reducing the Country under subjection of Britain were abandon and in 1783 the Independence of America was recognised.

In 1794 the Regiment was fighting on the plains of Flanders, and two years afterwards we read of it upholding Britain’s honour in the West Indies. In 1798 it was dispatched to the British Settlement of Honduras, where, for its services, it received special mention from the Commander-in-Chief.

We afterwards find the 63rd engaged in its Country’s service in different parts of the Globe, the most notable engagements being the Battle of Alexandria and the Expedition to Madeira.

The 2nd Battalion of the Regiment was disbanded in the year 1814, when the warrant was surrendered. The 63rd Regiment along with the 96th was afterwards formed into the Manchester Regiment.

The warrant remained dormant until 1921, when it was again issued to a number of brethren in the Whiteabbey neighbourhood. It is now worked as the Andrew Henderson Masonic Lodge, as a Memorial to the memory of the late Bro Andrew Henderson, JP. Parkville Whiteabbey, and of Whiteabbey Bleaching Co. Ltd.

The Lodge was dedicated on 21st June 1921, by the late R.W. Provincial Grand Master of Antrim R.W. Bro J.H. Sterling.

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