At the Annual 151st Communication, held on Wednesday, July 19, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario, the following amendments to the Constitution, pertaining to the Lewis Jewel, were approved.

Section 384 amended by adding a new paragraph (a) – to read as follows:

384. (a) The Grand Lodge recognizes and adopts the usage of the Lewis Jewel in our jurisdiction.

The current first paragraph renumbered 384(b) and amended to read as follows:

384. (b) No jewels shall be worn in a lodge other than those specified for the officers, except the jewel of a Past Master, a representative of another Grand Lodge, a Royal Arch Mason, a Lewis Jewel, the Veteran Jubilee Medal, the Maple Leaf pin with the square and compasses, the Grand Master’s Meritorious Award, and any other jewel, button, or medal specially designed and/or authorized by Grand Lodge, and any lodge insignia approved by the Grand Master.

The GLCPOO Lewis Jewel rules and regulations:

In our jurisdiction the Lewis is the son of a Mason.
His initiation age is 21
No difference whether his father was a Mason before he was born or not.
Applies to any son, not just the first born son.
A Lewis may wear the Jewel received from another Jurisdiction, in our Jurisdiction.

The following comments are for clarification:

The Lewis Jewel may be worn by a Mason, if at the time of his Initiation, his father was a Mason in good standing (the initiate of a deceased father–in good standing at the time of his demise–would also qualify).

The Lewis Jewel consists of two bars connected by chains –
The upper bar contains the name of the father and date of his Initiation.
The lower bar, the name of the son and date of his Initiation.
An Initiate must still be 21 years old at the time of his application – Section 309.

The Lewis Explained:

What is a Lewis ?

At the 151st Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge 2006, Section 384 of the Book of Constitution was amended to recognize and authorize the wearing of a Lewis Jewel in our Grand Jurisdiction.

If you examine the ornamental engraving on your Master Mason’s Certificate issued by Grand Lodge, you will find the Perfect Ashlar fitted with the Lewis resting at the foot of the Doric Column, the symbol of strength. It is also one of the symbols depicted on the Junior Warden’s Tracing Board of the first degree, probably an indication that it was once included in the Lecture. There are a few lodges in our jurisdiction where one finds the Perfect Ashlar placed at the south-east angle with a Lewis inserted.
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A LEWIS is a simple but ingenious device employed by operative Masons to raise heavy blocks of dressed stone into place. It consists of three metal parts: two wedge-shaped side pieces, and a straight centre piece, that fit together (tenon). A dovetailed recess is cut into the top of the stone block (mortise). The two outer pieces are inserted first and then spread by the insertion of the centrepiece. The three parts are then bolted together, a metal ring or shackle is attached and the block is hoisted by hook, rope and pulley. By this means, the block is gripped securely. Once set in its place in the structure, the lewis is removed leaving the upper surface smooth with no clamp or chains on the outside to interfere with the laying of the next course. Our ancient operative brethren used this tool as early as the Roman era. Stones with the mortised cavity for the insertion of a lewis have been found in Hadrian’s Wall built c. 121-127 CE. Archaeologists have found further evidence of its use by the Saxons in England in buildings constructed in the 7th century. The origin of the term ‘lewis’ for this device is uncertain. Some authorities trace its etymology to the French levis from lever – to lift, hoist, raise; and louve – a sling, grip or claw for lifting stones.

Whence is the word derived?
Q. What’s a Mason’s Sons Name
A. Lewis
The Wilkinson MS – c 1730 / 1740

Masonic historians conclude that the term came into use in the 18th century. The Lecture in the Second Degree published by William Preston in the 1780s contains a lengthy discourse on the Lewis.

WM – Brother J.W., How were the sons of craftsmen named?
JW – To the son on whom these honours were bequeathed, the appellation of Lewis was given, that from henceforth he might be entitled to all the privileges which that honour conferred, W. Sir.

A doggerel verse in ‘The Deputy Grand Master’s Song’ printed in the second edition of Anderson’s Constitutions published in 1738, written as a sort of ‘loyal toast’ to be sung by the brethren around the festive board:

“Again let it pass to the ROYAL lov’d NAME,
Whose glorious Admission has crown’d all our Fame:
May a LEWIS be born, whom the World shall admire,
Serene as his MOTHER, August as his SIRE.”

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and Augusta, his wife, were about to produce an heir to the throne of England. On 4 June 1738 a grandson of King George II was born amid general rejoicing. His father, Prince Frederick had been made a Freemason in the previous year, 5 November 1737. The boy would reign as King George III (1760-1820), and although he would not fulfill the wish expressed in the song and follow his father into the Craft and therefore become a ‘Lewis’, three of his younger brothers, the Dukes of York, Gloucester, and Cumberland would be Initiated. Indeed, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland, Initiated in 1767, would serve as the Grand Master of England, 1782-1790.

A paragraph in a version of the Junior Warden’s Lecture used in the Grand Lodge of England dating from 1801 gives this instructive explanation: “The word Lewis denotes strength, and is here depicted by certain pieces of metal dovetailed into a stone, which forms a cramp, and enables the operative Mason to raise great weights to certain heights with little encumbrance, and to fix them in their proper bases. Lewis, likewise denotes the son of a Mason; his duty is to bear the heat and burden of the day, from which his parents, by reason of their age, ought to be exempt; to help them in time of need, and thereby render the close of their days happy and comfortable; his privilege for so doing is to be made a Mason before any other person however dignified.”

In a statement issued in 1989 by M.W. Bro. The Duke of Kent, the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, the current use of the term is defined: “A Lewis is the uninitiated son of a Mason and it does not matter whether the son was born before or after his father became a Mason. When a Lewis is one of two candidates being initiated on the same day he would be the senior for the purpose of the ceremony. Being a Lewis is not grounds for dispensation to enable him to be initiated under the age of 21.” (Proceedings 1989, Fraternal Correspondence, p. 237)

Honour thy father …
In the days of operative Masonry, it was a great source of pride when a son followed in his father’s footsteps and was Entered as an Apprentice, his name ‘entered’ on the roll, and thereby admitted to the lodge. To study his father’s skills and learn to use his father’s tools were manifest expressions of the greatest honour and esteem a son could pay. It was common to carry on the tradition through several generations in the same family.

It is a heart-warming day when a young man first shows interest in Freemasonry and asks his father how he might become a Mason, and it is a proud day when that son, in the fullness of time, is admitted a member of his father’s lodge by Initiation.

To moralize on …
On the day that King Solomon laid the foundation stone of the Temple, beginning the construction of the great building project conceived by his father David, but given to his son to complete, the last words of King David may have come to his mind.
When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave his last charge to his son Solomon: I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man. (1 Kings 2: 1)

When a son of a Mason proudly wears the Lewis Jewel, it ought to impress upon all this same moral. It personifies the final words of the General Charge – From generation to generation.