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Introduction 

This web site is intended to give a short resume of the Province not the Order, if you require detail on the R.A.O.B. such as what are its foundation principals and how widespread then you need to go to the   home site of the R.A.O.B. Grand Lodge of England.

This site lists those Lodges of this Province that are currently open (see below) and also those which where believed to have come under the control of the Middlesbrough & Cleveland Province during its history. You will  also find a list of those lodge records and other memorabilia which have been found and placed in the Cleveland Archives for the benefit of any historian seeking to search both local and family history.

The dispensation for the Province was granted by the Grand Lodge of England in June 1875 (the original dispensation was lost at some stage) It states that the Province was inaugurated on the 15th June 1875

It is now known that the Province once covered an area from at least as far north as Spennymoor, to Whitby in the south and from Darlington in the west to the Germanic Ocean (North Sea) in the east, now it only covers the town of Middlesbrough and its immediate suburbs.

In 1900 the Province had the privilege of hosting Convention (No.6) when 173 delegates attended from around Great Britain. See extract from a local newspaper of that time

Sometime after 1900 several lodges north of the River Tees which had belonged to South Durham Provincial Grand Lodge transferred to the control of Middlesbrough. In 1923 the lodges in the south of the Province combined to form the East Cleveland PGL. Shortly after this in 1926 those Lodges which were in the Stockton area and had prior to 1902 belonged to South Durham formed their own governing authority called the Stockton & District PGL. The Redcar & District PGL was formed in 1927 with the Lodges from Eston, Redcar, Dormanstown and Saltburn.

The historical information was gathered from old records, family historians and from talking to the older members of this and the surrounding Provinces. Anyone who has any information which can help me (Keith Foreman) in my researches into this Province please contact me.

I should like to thank De Fudge R.A.O.B. (G.L.E.) Historian and Bro. Ed. Keogh for their help in providing me with additional information and their efforts in searching through the old records that they have access to.

De Fudge is collating and collecting any information about the Order, Brother Ed is researching all of the Lodges around the world, that is all of the lodges mentioned in the directories from 1874-1999.Plus stories from any lodge past and present from old journals and stories from present brothers of the order. and I am collecting anything from around the Teesside area. Please feel free to contact us.

At present the Province consists of six lodges, a Knights Chapter and a Roll of Honour Assembly. The Provincial Grand Lodge meets monthly, details can be obtained from the address at the home page.

There is a link from each of the six lodges to a brief history which is in turn linked to any archived records

Year 2008 Officers

NOTE :- Provincial Grand Lodge, Assembly and Chapter meet in the Longlands Working Mens Club and Institute,Marton Rd, Middlesbrough

10/1/2008