Buffaloism was established in Shropshire during the last Quarter of the 19th. Century. See Shrewsbury Chronicle report  of 1897 above By 1926 there were 30 lodges in The County. (see 1926 directory)More than half of them were in The Wrekin Area.  One could assume this was because of it’s Industrial Nature.  Factories, Foundries, Coal mines, Brick and Tile making etc. Thus a more dense population than the remainder of The County 

Largely because of the travelling involved new dispensations were issued in 1926  for ‘’The Wrekin Provincial Grand Lodge’’ ‘’The Oswestry & District Provincial Grand Lodge’’ and The ‘’Shrewsbury & District Provincial Grand Lodge.  

Sixteen lodges were allocated to The Wrekin P G L  and seven to each of The Shrewsbury and Oswestry P G L’s 

 Almost immediately it became obvious that outside of the district many people did not know where The Wrekin was situated so that by the time of the 1927. Directory The Province was being named as The Wrekin (Salop) PGL  and the meeting place was the Station Hotel, Wellington Salop. The  Secretary was A Bridges of Freeston Avenue , St. Georges

BY 1930  Shropshire was being used instead of Salop 

In 1940 there were seventeen lodges within the Province. But the venue had moved to The Fox & Hounds Wellington. The Secretary was  W J Ainge of Watling Street,Wellington                                                                             

 Between 1926 and 1939 the province remained strong but major changes took place in 1939.   

The Central Ordnance depot was built at Donnington and a mass migration of staff were moved from Woolwich to Donnington. Many of these workers were members of the RAOB and although there does not appear to have been many lodges opened at that time the numbers in existing Minor lodges swelled considerably 

 Also, local factories recruited workers from many areas to replace those called to War. They came particularly from South Wales, Ireland and Scotland to work in local factories and Mines All of which were busily engaged in War Work. Mainly Joseph Sankey’s, but in others also. eg. -Sinclair Iron works- Coalbrookdale Foundries, Maddox in Oakengates     C & W Walker Donnington. Audley in Newport and of course The Central Ordnance Depot itself   

Many of the workers brought to the area (particularly from South Wales) were Choristers and instrumentalists of high quality. It was well known that if you could sing or better still play an instrument and were willing to join Sankey's Band or Male Voice Choir you could command a better job.  

Another benefit of the Music that was brought to The Wrekin area was the consequential harmony in many RAOB lodges. Many Lodges would finish their business early and the rest of the time would be a virtual concert. Brothers would travel far to lodges which had gained a reputation for Harmony.  The Sir John Hill Lodge at The Bush Hotel Hadley was outstanding in this respect, having amongst its membership such people as Elved and Gallefren(Gal) Mills (The Mills Brothers) singers and instrumentalists from Merthyr Tydfil, Andrew Corner a Euphonium player from Scotland also with a fine rich baritone voice  Tom Phillips a top class singer, from Woolwich. Also there were  a couple of Local chaps, Don Harris, a pianist of distinction. A young man then, following the family tradition in Buffaloism, and Jack Claybrook another with a rich bass/baritone voice 

Many names come to mind,  stalwarts in The Wrekin Province in the post war years.  Herbert Jones and his brother George, Joe Weaver and his sons Joe and Arthur, Enoch Hyde, Bernard Lees, Pat Travers, Noel Jones, Albert Lewis, Joe Dicken, Gilbert Harris, Jack Harris, George Heineman, Les Alibone, Billy Miller -Eric Howley, Joe Platt. just a few of a few hundred 

Post war The Wrekin Province tended to buck the national  trend and a number of new minor lodges were formed, although many of them did not last long. In the mid 1980’s there was for a short time 25 lodges in The Province.  

On the left there are some interesting names relating to Lodges which have existed within The Province over the years 

 

Additions, Corrections etcetera particularly welcome 

The oldest lodge in The Province still functioning  is the Leonard I Aulton 2897 

The Leonard I Aulton 2897 and The Sir John Hill 2898 were formed at the same time (Circa 1912)?

 The Sir John Hill closed in 1993