A London Lodge That Found a New Life in Estonia

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By Valter Kaleta, Hackney Brook Lodge No 14

There is a particular kind of Masonic story that resists easy categorisation. Not the founding of a Lodge by prominent men in grand circumstances, but something rarer: the story of personal ambassadorship – of Brethren who decided that something worth preserving should be preserved, even if it meant carrying it across the Baltic Sea.

Hackney Brook Lodge No 7397 was consecrated at Freemasons' Hall in London on 20 June 1955. The music that day came from choristers of Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral, who had sung at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II two years earlier. Over the following half-century, the Lodge initiated more than one hundred Brethren, worked Emulation throughout, and met at nine different venues across the city. By 2008, declining membership had made continuation in England untenable.

But the Lodge did not disappear. It moved – and in doing so, became a prominent part of the history of the Grand Lodge of Estonia.

The Brethren Who Made It Happen

The story of the Lodge's move to Tallinn centres on two Brethren, Jeffrey Harris and Marvyn Ellison, who in 2009 co-founded Hackney Brook Lodge No 14 in Tallinn under the Grand Lodge of Estonia. The consecration was warmly welcomed by the young Grand Lodge, then just a few years old, and by the United Grand Lodge of England, which recognised the significance of a Lodge with such a long English pedigree taking root in the Baltic states.

Marvyn Ellison became the new Lodge's first Worshipful Master, with Jeffrey Harris serving as Director of Ceremonies. In May 2010, the Lodge conducted what is believed to be the first Emulation initiation on Estonian soil, a landmark moment for the young Grand Lodge. “It will go down in the history books and I am very proud of that”, he says. “I did not use the ritual book and did all from memory.”

W Bro Harry Muir, a founding member of the Lodge, went on to serve as Worshipful Master himself, helping to consolidate the Lodge's identity in its new home while keeping faith with its English roots and Emulation working.

“To be on first-name terms with your Grand Master and to know every Brother in the country by sight is something you simply cannot experience in London,” Jeffrey Harris says of the intimacy of Estonian Masonic life.

“Hackney Brook Lodge No 14 is the best thing that has happened to me in my Masonic career”, Marvyn Ellison says. “We took something that might otherwise have been lost, and gave it a new life.”

In October 2024, Jeffrey Harris marked 60 years in the Craft, with a certificate presented to him by RW Bro Sir David Wootton.

A Lodge Built to Last

The Lodge's honorary members today include three British Brethren and two Estonian Grand Masters, Arne Kaasik and Anti Oidsalu. Its August 2011 Consecration and Dedication meeting was attended by seven Grand Masters, including MW Bro Heikki Mäki of Finland – a mark of the standing the young Lodge quickly established across the Nordic and Baltic Masonic community.

Fifteen years on, Hackney Brook Lodge No 14 has grown into one of the largest Lodges in the country. Its 100th anniversary meeting, marking a century since the original consecration in London in 1955, was a significant occasion, and the Lodge's History Book has since been admitted to the libraries of both UGLE and the Grand Lodge of Finland, and was reviewed in Koilliskulma in June 2026.

An Invitation to Brethren

Any Brethren travelling to Tallinn are warmly invited to visit the Lodge and experience Emulation working carried by English tradition into an Estonian home.

The Lodge's History Book, 240 pages and published in Tallinn in 2025, is available to interested Brethren; enquiries can be directed to

Valter Kaleta is a Freemason from Tallinn, Estonia, a member of Hackney Brook Lodge No 14 under the Grand Lodge of Estonia, and the author of the Lodge's History Book (Tallinn 2025).


This article is part of Arena Magazine Issue 61 – Summer 2026.
Arena Magazine is the official online magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in Arena Issue 61 here.

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