Circuit of Service Lodges Travels to Mark 110th Anniversary of the Somme Battlefield
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Over the last weekend of May, a party of military veterans, members of the Circuit of Service Lodges (COSL), embarked to Albert, near the Somme Battlefields to lay wreaths in memory of military Masons who gave the ultimate sacrifice in 1916. Though the battle began on the 1st July, preparations were being made for many months; and the battle lasted nearly 6 months.
Victoria Rifles Lodge No 822 is the Past Masters Lodge of the Circuit. The Queen Victoria’s Rifles were the 9th Battalion of the London Regiment. Other London Lodges represent the Rifle Brigade, the Bloomsbury Rifles, London Scottish Rifles and London Irish Rifles, all WW1 battalions in the London Regiment. They all served together as part of 56 (London) Infantry Division.
We began our tour at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at Hébuterne, situated just some 20 metres from the starting trenches of the Victoria’s and London Scottish Regiments. Therein are the bodies of many soldiers of each regiment, including 2Lt Francis Willoughby Fielding, a VR Mason and known as Jack.
He was 23 years old and was initiated into Victoria Rifles Lodge whilst on invalid leave in January 1916. Lt Col Paul Chambers RE and Cpl Tony Robinson laid a wreath on his headstone.
We then moved to Beaumont Hamel, the site of one of the big mines which heralded the start of the offensive. We followed the steps of the 1st Batt the Lancashire Fusiliers, who had previously won 6 VCs before breakfast at
Gallipoli.
As we had two Sappers in the party (Lt Cols Chambers and Braden), it is no surprise that our next stop was at the L’Îlot de la Boisselle at the invitation of its historical society secretary, Madame Claudie Llewellyn. We were privileged, after agreeing health and safety waivers, to be invited into the underground passageways in the area of Y Sap mine near another of the big mines at Lochnagar.
Our trip would not have been complete without laying a wreath at the Thiepval Memorial. On 9th September, at the Battle of Ginchy, the Division attacked through Furze Wood. Just a few weeks earlier, Captain Robert Ffinden-Davies, a 40-year-old, who had represented Britain in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, had joined the 1st Battalion of the VRs in France, having been part of the 3rd (training) battalion in London.
He was Worshipful Master of VRs from 1910-1911. He commanded D Company, one of the leading troops entering the wood. Within a few yards, he and many of his men were blown apart by enemy artillery. They are all commemorated on Thiepval’s walls as their bodies were never identified. Lt Col Stephen Braden RE and Major George Wady RAMC laid a wreath in memory of all Masons who fell.
Finally we moved a kilometre south to the Ulster Division Memorial at Ulster Tower, where Tony Robinson of the Irish Rifles gave a briefing on the battles of 36 (Ulster) Division.
Breaking the journey home, we visited the Vimy Ridge preserved trenches and the Canadian Memorial.
We will remember them.
This article is part of Arena Magazine Issue 61 – Summer 2026.
Arena Magazine is the official online magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.
Read more articles in Arena Issue 61 here.
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