Extract from the History of Amity Lodge No.283 1791 to 1920 compiled by Bro R.V.S.Houghton, PM, PPGSD East Lancs.
17 October 1918:
"The WM moved and the Rev. Bro. Capt. T. Miller Johnson, Chaplain, seconded, that we place a record on the Minutes of our appreciation of Bro. Gabriel Bullock, who gave his life in action in the Great War, at Rowel (possibly Roisel), in France, on September 15th 1918, and who was buried at Vincent Military Cemetery, near Peronne, France. Also that a Photo of the deceased be procured, framed and hung on the wall of the Lodge."
We could not find a place called Rowel and suspect it is Roisel
From the Lodge archives
Copy of entry in the Book of Declarations Click on image to enlarge
Copy of an entry in the Lodge Minute Book Click on image to enlarge
We do not know when Bro Bullock was "called up" or even if he volunteered to serve, but from the speed of getting him through to the Degree of a Master Mason, it would suggests that it was probably imminent.
Initiated: 6 August 1914 - Aged 26 years
Passed to the Second-Degree: 3 September 1914
Raised to the Third-Degree: 1 October 1914
Killed in action: 15 September 1918 - Aged 30 years
There are some discrepancies in the recording of Bro Gabriel Bullock's death:
Lodge records list him as being 30 years old and buried at Vincent Military Cemetery near Peronne, France.
The Local Press list him as 29 years old and buried at Tincourt New British Cemetery, whilst in the same article his Officer indicates that he is buried at Trucourt Military Cemetery.
The confusion over his resting place could be that during the chaos of War those fallen soldiers very often remained on the Battlefield and were buried where they fell, or sometimes buried in a burial plot nearby. They would have been transferred and re-interred later in an Official Military Cemetery. However, what ever the confusion, the Commonwealth War Grave Commission do have his final resting place listed. RIP
Extract from the UGLE Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 Images courtesy of WBro Dennis Heskett