Lodges, Masonic, I.O.O.F., Buffaloes

Lot 1491    Day 2    Lodges, Masonic, I.O.O.F., Buffaloes

Estimate $3,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au

MASONIC, ARA Lodge No.1, Founder jewel, handcrafted in gold (15ct, tot wt 33.85g, 50x68mm), no maker, with ring top with fern leaf suspender bar 'Founder' and stick-pin, with gold No.1 leaf emblem on ribbon, reverse inscribed 'Presented/To/R.W.Bro.G.H.Powley P.D.G.M./By The Bretheren of the/ARA Lodge No 1/On his completing his 50th Year/In Freemasonry/March 1874-1924'; Rose Croix 18th Degree jewel, struck in gold (15ct, tot wt 30.13g,40x66mm), by J.Bros (Jones Bros, Auckland), with ring top with suspender '1881-1931' and stick-pin bar 'FOUNDER', with gold '88' emblem on ribbon, reverse inscribed 'Presented to/W.Bro.G.H.Powley/surviving founder/as a mark of esteem/for valued services/During/Half Century/12.Dec 1931'. The second in a Jones Bros case, nearly uncirculated. (2)

The funeral of R.Wor.Bro. George Henry Powley P.D.G.M. was held at Waikumete Cemetery on Saturday 8 May 1937.^^The following courtesy National Library of New Zealand - Papers Past, from New Zealand Herald, 7 May 1937.^^DEATH AT 91^MR. GEORGE H. POWLEY VETERAN AUCKLANDER^VARIED AND ACTIVE CAREER^^An Auckland resident who had known the city since the first decade of its existence, Mr. George Henry Powley, died at his home in Hamilton Road, Herne Bay, yesterday, aged 91.^^Born on the Tasman Peninsula, near Hobart, in 1815, Mr. Powlev had a varied and active career. When his father, Sergeant Thomas Powlev, of the 96th Foot, retired, he brought his family to Auckland in 1848. As a boy of 15, Mr. Powley joined the Navy with 11 others and became one of the crew of the H.M.S. Niger, a vessel which saw much service in the Maori War. One of his early memories was that soon after his enlistment he formed one of a delegation of youths from the ship who presented to the then Governor, Colonel Gore Brown, several Maori flags captured by their comrades at the taking of Waireka Pa, Taranaki.^^Hunting African Slavers^Going to England in the Niger, Mr. Powley was drafted to the ill-fated H.M.S. Orpheus, then fitting out for New Zealand, but she was ordered to North America, and he was put ashore. The next few years he spent in various naval craft engaged in combating the West African slave trade, then being carried on by semi-piratical vessels of many nations. Life off an unhealthy tropic coast eventually proved too much for him, and he was invalided out of the service in 1865.^^After a short period in the employ of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, he married in London at the end of 1860 and embarked with his bride for Auckland. Here he followed a variety of occupations, including those of gold digger at Thames, coastal seaman, warehouseman, clerk and storekeeper in the Northern Wairoa district.^^In 1880 he bought a small clothing factory in Shortland Street, occupying part of the site of the present Auckland Club. He removed it to Victoria Street West 12 years later, and when he sold out in 1902 to Macky, Logan, Caldwell and Company he had a modern plant and employed 200 hands. In the late sixties Mr. Powlev joined the Naval Volunteer Artillery, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant. During Te Kooti's rising he helped to garrison the redoubt at Tauranga for several months, the armament consisting of one muzzle-loading field gun.^^High Rank in Freemasonry^A Freemason since the early seventies, Mr. Powley resigned from the Irish Constitution with the rank of senior grand warden in 1890 on the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, and was one of the founders of Lodge Ara, No. 1, N.Z.C. He held many high offices, including those of senior grand warden in 1891, deputy grand master in 1897, and first grand principal of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New Zealand from 1897 to 1898. In the Manchester Unity Oddfellows he was provincial grand master of Auckland in 1873 and kept an active connection with the order for half a century. For 12 years he was president of the Auckland Masonic Institute and Club. Mr. Powley is survived by his wife, who is 90. The couple celebrated their diamond wedding in 1926.