In 1710 Port Royal in Nova Scotia capitulated to the New England forces under Colonel Francis Nicholson and French Port Royal became Annapolis Royal and ever since has remained a British possession.

From the year 1710 until the American Revolution in 1776 there was the closest sort of intercourse, military, civil, commercial and social, between Annapolis royal and Boston.

Col. Richard Philipps and his Regiment

In 1717 col. Richard Philipps of South Wales was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia and of Placenta in Newfoundland, continuing to hold office until 1749. For most of that period, he resided out of the Province governing the country by means of Lieutenant-Governors.

At the time of Philipps' appointment in 1717, Annapolis Royal was garrisoned by four independent companies of Foot. These companies with four others at Placenta, and two additional companies, were in that year organized as one regiment under the command of Col. Philipps, the first of several British regiments organized in Canada. This regiment continued in the service in Nova Scotia until 1758 and garrisoned Annapolis Royal, Canso and Placentia.

In 1751 Philipps' Regiment was designated as the 40th Foot and was familiarly known as the "Fighting Fortieth." Detachments from the Regiment served at capture of Fort Beausejour near Amherst in 1755 and in London's abortive expedition against Louisbourg in 1757.

The 40th marched to Halifax in 1758 and proceeded under the command of Major-General P.T. Hopson with the expedition to Louisbourg under Boscawen and Amherst. After the capture of that fortress, the Regiment wintered there; and in 1759 the grenadier company participated along with similar companies from other regiments in the garrison, in the siege of Quebec.

After service in the West Indies, the Regiment served from 1755 to 1778 in the American War when it was transferred to the West Indies, returning to Halifax in 1782.

In 1811 the Regiment then known as the 2nd Somerset shire Regiment was amalgamated with the 72nd Prince of Wales Volunteers, as the line battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment.

In 1720 Col. Philipps organized the first Council for the Province of Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal at that time being the capital, This Council was composed almost entirely of Boston men closely identified with the King's Chapel there. There is every reason to believe that there was a Masonic Lodge, or at least Masonic activity at Annapolis Royal between 1721 and 1727, owing its origin to such men as John Adams, Paul Mascarene, Edward How, Arthur Savage, Captain Cyprian Southack and Hibbert Newton who along with Rev. John Harrison and his successor, Rev. Robert Cuthbert, were all to some degree, and some very intimately, associated with King's Chapel, where according to an early tradition a Masonic lodge was held in 1720-21.

Erasmus James Philipps and His Lodge

Among the officers of col. Philipps' 40th Regiment at Annapolis Royal in 1726 was Ensign Erasmus James Philipps (Born April 23rd, 1705) a nephew of Col. Richard Philipps and a son of Col. Philipps' brother Erasmus.

After acting in several civil capacities, he was appointed a member of the council in 1730 and became the associate of Edward Amherst, Paul Mascarene afterwards Lieutenant-Governor, John Handfield who superintended the embarkation of the exiled French inhabitants in 1755 and William Winniett, then the leading merchant of Annapolis Royal, and his son Joseph Winniett.

In August 1737, Philipps was a Commissioner along with Dr. William Skene and Otho Hamilton of H.M. Council of Nova Scotia, and four others from Rhode Island to mark out and settle the boundaries between the Province of Massachusetts Bay and the Colony of Rhode Island.

He was in Boston as a member of this Commission from August 1737 to June 1738 and the records of the First Lodge in Boston show that on November 14th, 1737, he was made a Mason in that Lodge. Accompanying him was William sheriff who affiliated with the First Lodge on this occasion. As Sheriff had been a continuous resident of Annapolis Royal from 1716 until 1737, it is evident that he must have been made a Mason in Annapolis Royal.

In the Boston Gazette of March 13th, 1738, we find the following paragraph:

"We are informed that Major Philipps is appointed Provincial Grand Master over the Free and Accepted Masons of Nova Scotia and that a deputation is getting ready for that purpose."

On returning to Annapolis Royal in June 1738, Phillips took with him a deputation from Henry Price to form a lodge at Annapolis Royal with himself designated as the first Master. The record reads that "Mr. Price granted a Deputation at Ye Petition of sundry brethren at Annapolis Nova Scotia to hold a Lodge there." This petition was undoubtedly signed not only by Philipps and Sheriff but by Col. Otho Hamilton and Dr. Wm. Skene, both residents of Annapolis Royal for many years.

The Lodge established in 1738 was the first Lodge established in what is now the Dominion of Canada and was fifth in order of precedence of lodges chartered in Massachusetts.

Brief mention of some of the associates of Philipps should be made:

William Sheriff, already mentioned. He was an officer in the garrison previous to 1715.

His son, Capt. Thomas Sheriff, of the 47th Regiment, later Deputy Quarter Master General in North America.

Lt. Col. Otho Hamilton of Philipps Regiment.

His son, Capt. Otho Hamilton, Jr.

Dr. William Skene, Garrison Surgeon.

Lieut. George and Samuel Cottnam.

Hibbert Newton, son of Thomas Newton, Attorney General of Massachusetts.

Charles Morris, First Surveyor General of Nova Scotia and afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court.

John Adams, Resident Councillor from 1720-1740.

Major-General Paul Mascarene, Lieut. Governor of Nova Scotia.

Col. John Gorham of Gorham's Indian Rangers.

William Winiett, "the most considerable merchant and one of the first inhabitants of this place and eminent in his zeal for His Majesty's service."

Sergt. John Dyson, his daughter, Ann married Erasmus James Philipps in 1738.

Edward How, a member of the Council at Annapolis Royal in 1736.

Edward Amherst, an officer in the Regiment, afterwards Governor at Placentia, Newfoundland.

Major Alex Cosby,

Lieutenant John Bradstreet, later promoted to Major General.

John Easson, Master Artificer. He is said to have built the original officers' quarters in the Fort at Annapolis Royal.

Isaac De Coster, first Master of St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston

Francis Barclay LeCain, also a Master Artificer.

As the Lodge was practically a regimental lodge, it is not surprising to find the brethren of Philipps' Regiment applying to the Grand Lodge of England ("Ancients") in 1755 for a warrant which was issued November 19th, 1755 and numbered 42. Apart from this fact, however, no other information is obtainable from the English Grand records, but it would seem clear that the warrant of 1755 was merely a re-chartering of the old lodge which had been established in 1738 by Philipps and which was undoubtedly being carried on under his watchful eye. The Lodge continued to be mentioned in the minutes of St. John's Grand Lodge, Boston between 1738 and 1767.

The Lodge apparently became dormant before 1810 for in that year we find the brethren (engaged at that time in the Peninsular war in Spain) applying for an Irish Warrant No. 204.

On his return to Annapolis in 1738, the records show that Philipps married Ann Dyson by whom he had four children; Ann, who married Col Robert Fenwick, R.A.; John Erasmus, Capt. 35th Regiment; Elizabeth, who married Capt. Horatio Gates, later the distinguished General of the American Revolutionary Army who defeated the British at the Battle of Brandywine, and was in turn defeated by Lord Cornwallis at Camden; and Dorothy, unmarried.

In 1746 Philipps and Col. Arthur Nobel were in command of the New England forces which suffered a severe defeat at Grand Pre in a night attack, at the hands of the French and Indians under Coulon de Villiers.

On June 12th, 1750, the Hon. Edward Cornwallis and others at Halifax petitioned Philipps and received a deputation (dispensation) for a lodge at Halifax which was organized July 19th, 1750 as the First Lodge, now St. Andrew's Lodge No. 1, the oldest Lodge in the overseas Empire.

On December 27th, 1757, a warrant for a Provincial Grand Lodge signed by the Earl of Blesington, G.M., of the "Ancients" was issued to Philipps, constituting him "Provincial Grand Master of Nova Scotia and the territories there unto belonging."

In 1759 Major Philipps was chosen a representative in the House of Assembly for Annapolis County, Col Jonathan Hoar being his colleague, but his legislative career was of short duration as he died suddenly of apoplexy at Halifax, Sept. 26th, 1769, while on a visit to that Town and was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery, Halifax, where a beautiful granite monument the gift of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1938 marks the last resting place of the Founder of Freemasonry in Canada.

By the death of Major Philipps, Nova Scotia Freemasonry lost its founder and first great figure. While Masonry cannot be said to have flourished under his regime we must remember the period and times in which he lived, days when the Province was struggling into existence as a British Colony. When the difficulties of these early pioneer times are considered we may wonder that Masonry was ever thought of at all. The flame lighted during the twenty or more years of his Provincial Grand Mastership has never since gone out.

The Erasmus James Philipps Bronze Medallion was instituted by the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia in 1921.

Regulations were adopted providing for its award by Grand Lodge for noteworthy services rendered the Craft by Grand Masters, Past Grand Masters and Grand Historians of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, and to distinguished brethren of their jurisdictions who have contributed materially to the Masonic history, literature or jurisprudence of British North America and in special cases to those of other jurisdictions.

A long list of distinguished brethren to whom the Medallion has since been awarded will be found in the Annual Proceedings of this Grand Lodge.

Reginald V. Harris P. G. M.