De Mandeville Preceptory - 0261

This Preceptory was constituted in 1930

The Preceptory meets at;
            The Square at Upminster,
            Deyncourt Gardens,
            Upminster, Essex.
            RM14 1DF.
Meeting on;
            2nd Monday in March (Installation)
            4th Friday in June
            4th Tuesday in October
Registrar
            E.Kt Ron Greenslade
            Reg261@essexkt.org
History
            The second oldest Preceptory in the Province and Consecrated in February 1930. One of the three
             ''Grand Originals'' that enabled Essex to become a sovereign body as a Province in the following
            September. Takes its name from the de Mandeville family. Geoffrey de Mandeville II (1092 - 1144) was
            the first Earl of Essex and a prominent figure during the reign of King Stephen (1092 - 1154) of
            England. Geoffrey was described as ''the most perfect and typical presentment of the feudal and
            anarchic spirit that stamps the reign of Stephen''. Made Earl of Essex in 1140, Geoffrey founded a
            Benedictine Prioy (later Walden Abbey) at Walden, Essex. Appointed Sheriff of Essex, Hertfordshire,
            Middlesex and London which included being Custodian of the Tower of London. In those troublesome
            times Geoffrey, often changed his allegiances, and finally displeased King Stephen and became a rebel
            and bandit hiding around the Isle of Ely in the Fens, before finally being captured. The Preceptory
            logo incorporates part of the de Mandeville crest - a ''spoke wheel of eight arrows'' (with the
            arrowheads pointing outwards ).