On the 6th of November 1889, United Lodge No. 697 submitted a petition to the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master, Lord Brook MP on behalf of 14 brethren to found a Masonic Lodge in Manningtree, Essex. 

Permission for the Lodge to be formed was granted by the Most Worshipful Grand Master, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and a warrant was issued dated 5th December 1889. This warrant still hangs on display in the Lodge today.

The consecration of the Lodge took place in the Manningtree Public Hall  on Wednesday the 12th of March 1890. Great interest was shown by the inhabitants of Manningtree, who displayed flags and bunting in Manningtree, and the Public Hall itself was elaborately decorated. They assembled in large numbers to watch the ceremony, which was conducted by The Deputy Provincial Grand Master Brother Frederick A Philbrick QC, who was Grand Registrar.

The Lodge meetings were held in the White Hart Hotel in Manningtree (pictured below), and this extract from the bye-laws is interesting: -

"The Lodge shall be held as the White Hart Hotel, Manningtree on the Tuesday after the Full Moon in the months of January, February, March, April, May, June, October, November, December at half past six o'clock in the evening unless the Master deems it advisable to call the Lodge at an Earlier Hour."

It is reasonable to assume that the meetings being held near the full moon was for the brethren to be able to get home safely! The annual subscription was twenty-one shillings, which was due at the regular meeting. An initiation fee was seven guineas, and the joining fee one guinea. The member who proposed a candidate to the Lodge was responsible for all fees payable on account of the Initiation.

Our founder brothers ate well, as you can see form the menu from 1892 reproduced below.

This information as taken from "Mistley Lodge No. 2339 - History of the First Hundred Years 1890-1990"