The Lodge Minchin
No.2710 (Trivandrum)
Date of Warrant: October 20, 1897
In 1897, Seven Master Masons, led by W.Bro. Humphrey Alexander Minchin, then Chief Engineer of the Travancore State PWD & the chief architect of the Pechipara Dam, south of Thiruvananthapuram, conceived the idea of forming a Lodge at Trivandrum to avoid the inconvenience of attending meetings at far off places and applied for a warrant. They were eventually given a provisional warrant on the 20th of October 1897, and Lodge Minchin met for the first time on 6th of November 1897. Fun fact: the first initiate of the Lodge in December 1897 was His Royal Highness Prince Marthanda Varma, Prince of Travancore. Having the patronage of the Travancore Royal Family, the Lodge received from them 1.5 acres land as a gift at Jagathy and the Lodge constructed a temple there. It is at this site that the present DPI office is functioning.
