Lodge Meat Buffet

This image arrived in the recent collection of photos mostly connected with the Cooper family of Market Lavington.

But first we are looking at the message on the back of the photo.

Believed to be a meeting of the RAOB

This clearly says ‘Lodge meat buffet Tuesday’.

We think this refers to the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes who met at the former pub, The Kings Arms. What we do not know is whether the photo of three men has anything to do with that message.

Three men on the front of the card

This is one of our regular appeals for help. Can anybody name the men? It’s possible that the man on the right is sitting on the balustrade we now have in the museum. That man is also holding a very cute kitten.

One holds a kitten

We look forward to hearing from you.

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RAOB medal

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes was quite a big group in Market Lavington. The Enterprise Lodge used to meet in the Kings Arms where, no doubt, the men had a good time as they decided how to spend such money as there was on worthy causes. The Buffs, as they called themselves, had been founded in 1822 so it was a fraternal society of long standing.

In 1935, Reginald Chapman acquired a Silver Jubilee medal.

Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes medallion from 1935

We know nothing about this medal. It may have been something purchased as a show of royal loyalty but it is engraved on the reverse.

It belonged to Reginald Alfred Chapman of Market Lavington

There we have Brother R A Chapman of Enterprise Lodge, number 3599. Brother Reginald Alfred Chapman lived at 21 Spin Hill. We have documentary evidence for him being there between 1939 and the early 1960s.

We THINK Reginald may have been born in Cheverell in 1905 but by 1911 his widowed mother was in the London area. He may have died in 1991.