The William Fagg Lodge sadly no longer meet having closed the lodge for the last time on the 19th December 2018. The decision to close the lodge was due to the lack of membership, having gone down to just three regular members.
A HISTORY OF THE LODGE
The Hamlin Lodge was the first Lodge at Dungeness but just Prior to the Second World War there was just one lodge open in the area that was a Lodge in near by Lydd, called the Fearnought Lodge, No. 6369. That lodge was kept going all through the war by a few brothers who were in the main fisherman from Lydd and Dungeness, but one other brother was Bro. William (Bill) Fagg. Brother Bill was a printer by trade and ran his business in Lydd called "Lydd Printing Services". It is said that Bill would often register brothers in the lodge who were away fighting on the battle fronts during the war, just to keep the numbers up in the lodge to keep it going. After the war he worked hard to rebuild the Fearnought Lodge to once again being a good strong lodge and his printing service was often used to promote the Order in the area.
In 1970 a second Lodge was opened in Lydd and it was named the Lyddite Lodge 9728. This lodge did very well for a number of years but in 1981 it started to falter and, at the end of 1981, The Lyddite Lodge amalgamated with the Fearnought Lodge and was renamed the Fearnought Lyddite Lodge.
On the 6th May 1973 Brother William Fagg ROH sadly passed away and the stalwart of the area was not around any more, but his memory was. He was one of those brothers who you never ever heard a bad word said about, but every one who knew him, was proud to have been a friend, a mate, a brother.
On the 14th December 1974 the inevitable happened and the William Fagg Lodge No 9986 was born to Bro. Bill Fagg's memory. It was opened in The Sanctuary at Dungeness. A good number of the brothers and the new initiates worked for or were connected to the Dungeness Power Station that was being built at that time and some of the other members were fisherman or lifeboat men. The William Fagg Lodge was to be a good strong Lodge, full of fun and life, a credit to the memory of Bro. William Fagg ROH.
However, in later years the Power station was completed and Brothers moved away. The fishing fleet here has been depleted and sadly some brothers have passed away. The area is not vastly populated and this meant that both the Fearnought Lyddite and the William Fagg Lodges started to struggle. It became evident that amalgamation was the only way to survive and on the 1st September 2000 that amalgamation came about which has seen the Lodge continued to do well ever since.
The late Brother William Fagg ROH name still lives on, he will always be remembered as he was in life, a true Buff who loved the area he lived in, and loved the Order.
However on the 19th December 2018 the William Fagg Lodge met for the last time and closed the lodge. It is always the hope that one day soon the lodge may reform.
R.A.O.B. LIFEBOAT'S AT DUNGENESS
Dungeness Lifeboat Station were the first to receive a Shannon Class Lifeboat which was named " The Morrell" on the 31st May 2014 by HRH The Princess Royal. However two of the early R.N.L.I. Lifeboats at Dungeness were called the R.A.O.B.1 and R.A.O.B.2.
The first was stationed there on the 19th September 1887. The cost of £440 was a gift from the R.A.O.B. and at a ceremony held on the 24th September 1887, Lady Whittaker Ells christened the Boat "RAOB" The boat rowed 10 oars and measured 34 foot x 7 foot 6 inch's.
During a difficult launch through the surf in a storm in November of 1893, the "RAOB" lifeboat capsized and the 2nd Coxswain Mr. J. Jarratt was drowned. The lifeboat was beached and the crew all volunteered to go out again.
A second boat named "RAOB" was sent to Dungeness in November 1894 to replace the old boat. This new lifeboat was designed by Felix Rubie and weighed only 1.75 tons to facilitate launching off a shingle beach, as at Dungeness. The "RAOB 2 " stayed on station until 1912.
The RAOB 1 launched 11 times saving 20 lives. The second lifeboat RAOB 2 launched 53 times saving 35 lives.
One of the interesting facts of The Dungeness Lifeboats is that it was the last R.N.L.I. lifeboat station that used women to haul the lifeboat back up the beach. This work by local ladies only finished in 1952. (Link: The Lady Launchers)
The Ladies that hauled the lifeboats up the beech in 1908 |
The board for RAOB 1 and 2 |
THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OF A HERO & THE BIRTH OF BUFFALOISM AT DUNGENESS
In 1887 the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes donated a lifeboat to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). They placed that lifeboat on a station at Dungeness in Kent. This was to be the first of two Lifeboats at this station bearing the name "R.A.O.B."
On the night of the 6th February 1889, during a furious gale from the Southeast, accompanied by a blinding snow storm, distress signals were seen off No2 Battery, Dungeness, which proved to be from the schooner "Elizabeth Alice" from Barrow-in-Ferness, bound for Maryport with a cargo of copper ore and cement.
The Dungeness Lifeboat "R.A.O.B.", under the command of Coxswain Lucas, was successfully launched and made out to the vessel which had become stranded on the sand bank. Owing to the anchor dragging and unsuccessful attempts to get a line aboard the schooner, the lifeboat was swept past the the stricken vessel. It was impossible in those angry seas to row back again to the schooner and the lifeboat was beached some distance leeward. The master of the "Elizabeth Alice" decided therefore to launch his own lifeboat off of the Elizabeth Alice in the hope of saving his crew, but this boat was quickly overwhelmed by the very heavy seas and the ships mate. Maurice Street was drowned.
Again stress signals from the stricken ship were seen back on the beach and it was soon decided to make another gallant attempt. This time they were to use the coastguard "galley" manned by six coastguards. ( all volunteers ) They were led by the second Coxswain of the "R.A.O.B." Lifeboat , Charles Taylor. Mr. Taylor's five crew members were John Ranson, William Atkins, William Carter, George Hamlin and Samuel Edmonds. Taylor and Hamlin had been members in the crew of the lifeboat "R.A.O.B." used in the first attempt.
It was certainly no easy task for this second attempt, weather conditions were still appalling, an angry sea, with freezing rain and sleet beating down in gusting squalls. Somehow they managed to get afloat and with sub human hard work at the oars , they reached the schooner without mishap. Hearts began to rise as the rescue seemed within reach. With great seamanship they endeavoured to clear the stricken ships lifeboat which obstructed their best course for the rescue. They were almost clear when they were struck by a heavy sea which washed out Coastguard George Laddick Hamlin. While the crew tried to retrieve him, yet another sea bore down upon them, this time washing everything out of the galley with the exception of one oar. ropes were quickly thrown from the "Elizabeth Alice" and the very wet and cold coastguards were pulled aboard the schooner with the exception of the unfortunate Mr. Hamlin and sadly there was no sign of him.
The galley with one remaining oar, unmanageable and helpless, drifted ashore, the wonder being that instead of the one life being lost, the whole of that heroic crew were not drowned as well. Mr. Hamlin's body was recovered and hour or so later, but all efforts to revive him failed. George Laddick Hamlin left a widow and six children to mourn him.
This Tragic event became known Nation Wide and a fund was immediately started for the family of the deceased. Because of the Buffaloes association with Dungeness and the "R.A.O.B" lifeboat there, a great number of R.A.O.B Lodges throughout the British Isles sent in very generous donations. It was soon decided to open a Lodge at Dungeness and call that Lodge the "HAMLIN LODGE"
The day arrived, Whit Monday 1889. A special Train from London brought some two - hundred or more members of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes down to Dungeness. They Initiated ALL the lifeboat crew members into the Order, to form this new Lodge in memory of the late gallant Coastguard George Laddick Hamlin.
The Lifeboat House was used as a temporary Lodge, and it was decorated in true Buffalo style; In all twenty three members were admitted that night and the new HAMLIN LODGE was formed. Buffaloism was born in Dungeness from the Tragic events of the 6th February 1889.
The tribute paid to Mr. Hamlin in Lydd Church (Nr Dungeness) by the Curate of the Coast,. The Rev.' Joseph Castle, was as follows :-
"Mr. Hamlin was one of a lifeboat crew, he was in his place when the first attempt at rescue was made. When the Coastguard Galley was about to be launched Hamlin was among the first to volunteer his services. Not being a strong and having gone through great fatigue in the first attempt at rescue, he was recommended by the Officer to give up his place to another man, but worn out as he was, he refused to do so and so went to his death, as grand and noble a death as a man ever yet died. He was a quiet, unassuming, God-fearing man, always at his post. He was ever ready to do a kind action for anybody. WELL MAY WE HONOUR HIS MEMORY".
The Hamlin Lodge flourished for many years, but sadly it did fold and Mr Hamlin's name is now almost forgotten. The present Lodge at Dungeness has taken another name (W. Fagg of LYDD), but no lodge no matter where, could have taken it's name from a more honourable man.
Written with true respect by:- Mr. Edward Carpenter of Lydd, Kent. (Copyright)