A charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of England dated 9^th December 1918 to form a lodge in Sheffield to be named the University Lodge Sheffield and to meet at Freemasons’ Hall, Surrey Street, Sheffield on the second Wednesday in February, March, May, June, October, November and December. The lodge was duly consecrated on Wednesday, 9^th April 1919 in the Firth Hall of the University of Sheffield by the Provincial Grand Master, Rt. W. Bro Sir William Ratson. It then met regularly at Freemasons’ Hall in Surrey Street in the centre of Sheffield until 1966, since when it moved to Tapton Masonic Hall where we have continued to meet ever since. A revision of the by-Laws of the Lodge in 1948 added the months of January and April to the list of regular meetings.

The name of the Lodge – University Lodge, Sheffield – was carefully chosen so as not to limit membership only to graduates and staff of the University of Sheffield. The banner, however, shows the University of Sheffield coat of arms and the motto: Rerum cognoscere causas – “to discover the causes of things”.