John Yarker – In Memoriam

IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT MAN- CHESTER, WITH Α ΝΟΤΕ ΟΝ ΤΗΕ CIRCUM- STANCES WHICH LED UP ΤΟ ΤΗΕΜ ALTHOUGH the Sovereign Grand Master General departed this life on March 20, 1913, no official notice of the fact was sent out by the senior active officer, the Grand Chancellor General; but a few days after he had received the summons issued in default of such action by the Acting Sovereign Grand Master General, he sent another summons couched in similar terms, calling a special Convocation at Manchester fer 4 p.m., June 28, 1913. This was illegal for two reasons : First, because Article XI of the Constitution provides that twenty days’ notice must be given ; secondly, because by Article II the Grand Administrator General or his substitute had not fulfilled the conditions there imposed upon him, and because notices were not issued to all the Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators of the Rite. Brother Crowley, however, attended in order to protest against the illegalities. He further found a person claiming admission whose status he knew to be doubtful. The proceedings therefore began and ended with the following Speech: Very Illustrious Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Antient and Primitive Rite, Although I rise to protest against the illegality of the present Convocation, it is not in order to quibble over the letter of our Constitution that I have left my peaceful encampment in the Valley of Paris. When I see illegality, I ask myself, What has prompted it? I I