Craftsmen in captivity
23 April 24
Changi prison masons - By RW Bro Gary Herrett
With the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese in February 1942, thousands of British and Australian servicemen were captured and imprisoned in the notorious Changi Jail Prison Camp. Among them were masonic brethren.
Sadly, thousands ultimately lost their lives on the notorious Death Railway or in Japanese coal mines. One terrible event occurred when the Montevideo Maru was mistakenly sunk by an American submarine with a loss of over 1,054 Australian lives. Many of those who were thrown into the sea either drowned or died when torn to pieces by sharks.
In the British area of the camp, a meeting of 45 brethren was held on 8 June 1942, presided over by VW Bro H W Wylie from UGLE. VW Bro Wylie was a member of Lodge St George of Singapore. The brethren hoped to hold masonic meetings of some kind, possibly under the Charter of Lodge St George of Singapore.
With the support of the brethren, Wylie and two other POW officers of the Grand Lodge of England approached the British Commandant, Lieutenant General Percival. They assured him that meetings would be confined strictly to masonic business among existing Freemasons. The general, though not a mason, was most sympathetic and helpful and promised to consult other area commanders.
The commanders gave their approval with the proviso that the brethren carry on in a discreet manner and particularly not incur the wrath of the Japanese. Bro Lt Col E Holmes, who succeeded General Percival, gave equal encouragement to the brethren.
While they were anxious not to contravene the UGLE Constitution, VW Bro Wylie decided that, under the patent of his office, he was able to grant authority for meetings for the purpose of practising ritual and delivering lectures but not initiating or progressing candidates.
Meetings were initially held in a room used for educational purposes. Desks and benches were organised along the lines of seating in a regular lodge and then restored to their original position after the meetings.
When that room was later placed out of bounds, meetings were held in the Church of England chapel. Lights were represented by candles or rags soaked in oil stolen from Japanese vehicles. Working Tools were obtained from school boxes of mathematical instruments.
The Selarang Barracks were
a particularly crowded part
of the Changi POW camp.
Skilled artificers in metal later replaced them with professionally made Tools using scrap aluminium. Suitably mounted Wands were also constructed for the Deacons; Tracing Boards were skilfully designed, so that except for the absence of masonic clothing, the lodge could be considered to be reasonably furnished.
Degrees were practised using English, Scottish and Irish ritual. Tylers were placed at strategic points to warn of the approach of (Japanese) cowans. Attendances rose from about 50 to over 100 and included Australian brethren until the Japanese restricted the Australians to their own area.
As prisoners, including masonic brethren, were being moved out of the camp by late 1942, it was realised that meetings would have to end. Minute books, Working Tools and other implements were buried in a tin box but never recovered because the area was later levelled, and a new structure erected on the site.
After the meetings originally held under the auspices of the Lodge of St. George Singapore came to an end, some brethren in another part of the camp called a meeting on 18 December 1942 in an officers’ mess lecture-room in the Roberts Hospital, Changi.
The meeting was chaired by Bro F C Stuart (No 392, Victorian Constitution), and outlined some preliminary proposal for the formation of an Association. With the proposal adopted, Bro Stuart was elected Chairman with an executive committee appointed consisting of members of three masonic constitutions. While really conducted as lodges with officers in place, they were described simply as meetings of the Association.
The Association had earlier contacted and successfully gained the approval of VW Bro Wylie in his capacity as an Officer of both the United Grand Lodge of England and the District of Singapore Grand Lodge.
Meetings were held with the knowledge and approval of the Camp Commander subject to the following conditions:
- That there should be no discussion of political or military matter
- That there be no discussion of the conditions of prisoners of war in the camp.
- That precautions usually observed by Freemasons should be adopted and maintained, to prevent surprise interruption of a meeting.
- That the President of the Association or other authorised officer should be responsible to the Camp Commandant for the fulfilment of these conditions.
The Association was organised under the Constitution of the UGL of Victoria. It had been agreed that regular meetings should be held at which masonic ritual would be carried out where possible in an exemplary style, with correctness in detail, and that rituals of the various Constitutions (represented by members of the Association) would if circumstances permitted, be worked in turn.
With 47 brethren attending the inaugural meeting, membership rapidly increased and later meetings saw attendances of members and visitors numbering 116, 149, 169 and 133.
No candidates could be initiated, but exemplifications of the three degrees and explanations of the Tracing Boards were demonstrated according to the several Constitutions represented. Lectures on a variety of subjects were delivered.
When later asked to comment about the standard of the Association’s labours, the usually reluctant VW Bro Wylie praised the brethren for their efforts and high standard of work.
Brethren claiming to be masons needed to be proven by a PM of his Constitution. If successful, his name was placed on a list. Petitions for membership rapidly grew. As great care had to be taken not to alert the Japanese, meetings were held in several locations. Screens of attap or palm fronds and other methods of security were used and several Tylers were always in place.
The brethren casually drifted into the meetings in ones and twos without attracting too much attention from the Japanese guards. Lights and candlesticks were salvaged from the ruins of a bombed church; rags in tins were again used with oil from Japanese vehicles. Two ashlars were fashioned; as before working tools improvised from school boxes of mathematical instruments, subsequently replaced by excellent pieces of craftmanship from skilled artificers. More Deacons’ Wands were made, each being surmounted by the appropriate emblems made from aluminium taken from a wrecked aircraft.
A First Degree Tracing Board was ‘artistically prepared’ and presented by Captain C Pickersgill No 1230, EC, who was soon sent up country to his death on the horrendous railway. A second Tracing Board was drawn and painted by a skilful artist who also lost his life on the Death Railway. Other than masonic clothing the emblems were all in evidence but were carefully hidden when not used.
Meetings opened and closed with the usual odes. Punctilious behaviour and obedience to the Constitutions was always observed as best they could be. The three degrees were regularly demonstrated in accordance with the several Constitutions represented, or else lectures on a variety of masonic and other subjects were delivered, or the Tracing Boards were explained. Where possible, Officers were changed at each meeting so that members of the different Constitutions each took their turn.
Occasionally, books on ancient Freemasonry and King Solomon’s Temple were received from Freemasons’ Hall, Singapore. By an extraordinary chance a few books on masonic works reached the brethren!
An improvised First Degree Tracing Board
During the Association’s life, an Officer brother was brought into the Camp Hospital in a dreadful condition. He had been sentenced to four years imprisonment in the infamous Outram Road Jail. At the time of his arrest a masonic ritual had been found amongst his effects. This resulted in terrible beatings and torture. VW Bro Wylie stood at his hospital bedside and heard him whisper a warning suggesting the immediate cessation of masonic activities because the Japanese had started an intensive secret investigation. Wylie discussed this with two senior officers of the British and Australian troops. To have continued would have involved too great a risk, and discovery would have caused torture and possible loss of life. The Association reluctantly closed with its last meeting held on 4 May 1944. Over its 17 months, 21 meetings of the Association were held.
The minutes of the last meeting recorded that:
There being no further business, the closing prayer was recited, and the Lodge closed. The brethren departed in Harmony at 6 pm - being sorrowful at the thought that they had, perhaps, attended the last Regular Meeting of the Association yet mindful of the blessing of the G.A.O.T.U. who had allowed them to have, during this period of stress, strain and anxiety, so many happy evenings together, reviving the Spirit of the Craft and sharing mutually in the benefits and joys of its message.
The following epitaph was later written by VW Bro Wylie:
The peace and tranquillity of those meetings stood out in great contrast against the turmoil and irritations of the day. Although it was very hot, and most of the time all of us were in rags, ill, hungry, tired, and dirty, yet it was possible during these meetings almost completely to forget the normal conditions of our lives as prisoners of war. To sit quietly among proven friends and listen to the ceremonies took one’s thought very far from a prison camp and lifted the mind above the reach of petty annoyances, restored one’s balance and demonstrated the possibility of the victory of mind over matter, a very important factor at such a time.
Little help could come to us from outside; many died from malaria and dysentery; many were sick from beriberi. As drugs were not available it was important that mental strength was maintained, and in that sense a great work was done. Indeed, the Craft fully justified its existence thereby and many who survived owed it to the love and care of some brother without discrimination, whether he was a Mason or not.
While Changi was luxurious in comparison with other POW camps it was always very hot, humid and fetid. Certainly, everyone was tired, hungry, dirty and dressed in rags or loin cloths. Everybody appreciated the opportunity to sit quietly with friends and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of those meetings and forget for a short time the turmoil and irritations of life as a prisoner of war.
The masonic ritual briefly took their thoughts away from the prison camp and strengthened their resolve by allowing them to reflect on more pleasant things such as brotherly love, relief and truth.
Newcastle area Mason RW Bro Bart Richardson OAM PAGM was a prisoner of the Japanese for over three and a half years including time on the Thai-Burma railway. Bart was repatriated to Australia on 4 October 1945. He never spoke of his experiences as a captive of the Japanese.