On a beautiful sunny evening the members of Lodge of Israel
No 1502 together with their guests were delighted to mark the diamond jubilee
of Hershel Eric Leon Levinson who has been a steadfast contributor of both his
time and skill to the lodge in the execution of his many offices over the last
60 years. The principal guest for the evening, Assistant Provincial Grand
Master Derek Parkinson, was on this celebratory occasion, accompanied by grand
officers Barry Elman and Andrew Ross, along with Bob Povall Liverpool Group
Chairman. Ensuring the smooth running of the festivities and leading this grand
array of officers into the lodge room was Provincial Deputy Grand Director of
Ceremonies Mark Barton.
The master of the lodge Paul Rattigan welcomed Derek
Parkinson to the lodge, which was meeting for this evening in the large
Corinthian room of Liverpool Masonic Hall. Paul remarked to Derek that the
lodge was very honoured to receive him this evening for such an exceptional
occasion. On accepting the gavel, Derek replied: “Normally this gavel is
quickly returned, but on this special evening I will retain it for a while”.
Before beginning the main body of his address, Derek began by stating that:
“The brethren here today belong to a unique organisation in which men of any
race or religion can come together in a belief in brotherly love, relief and
truth. To live by these standards for 60 years speaks volumes of the Mason that
we are here to recognise this evening and it is therefore right to congratulate
him on the very auspicious occasion of his diamond jubilee.”
Derek began by recalling the memorable events of 1928, the
year of Hershel’s birth. On the day of the birth Italian pilot Mario de
Barnardi set a new air speed record of 336.6 miles per hour, the first person
to fly at over 300 miles an hour. Also on the day that Hershel was born, the
Grand National was run at Aintree, a day full of mist, with the ground wet and
heavy. It was at the notorious Canal Turn, that one of the horses fell bringing
down most of the others. Tipperary Tim who went on to win, coming in at 100/1.
One other horse actually finished the race, Billy Barton, who had fallen but
his jockey remounted and came in second.
At the time of Hershel’s birth the family lived in Kelvin
Grove, a small cul-de-sac near Princes Park Gates. Derek explained that
Hershel’s father, Maxwell had been born in Belarus, but his family had to flee
the persecution then rife in that area and arrived in Liverpool. Maxwell
obtained employment with the Ingersoll watch company in Argentina. He was then
promoted and moved to the New York office. Before heading for New York, he
returned to Liverpool to see his family and while there met a young lady, Minnie
Glynn, and fell immediately in love. He never did make New York. Taken into the
family business of Minnie’s father, Maxwell married Minnie in 1922.
Hershel was the third of four children born to the couple
and was educated at Morrison Elementary School on Greenbank Road and as this
school was near to the Synagogue in Greenbank Drive they gave Hebrew lessons
for the Jewish children. When he was 11 he won a scholarship to the Liverpool
Institute and was due to start there in September 1939. However, by then the
school had closed and all the pupils had been evacuated to Bangor in North
Wales, so Hershel went to live there with Mr and Mrs Emrys Jones and their
daughters. When he arrived he was the only other male in the house and so got
on very well with Mr Jones and got good support from him.
As there hadn’t been any bombing of Liverpool during the
early part of the war Hershel and the other Liverpudlians all returned home,
but the following year Hershel’s family decided to self-evacuate to Llandudno
until 1943. After the war, he continued his education at the Institute and took
‘A’ Level exams but then at 18 he was conscripted into the services and joined
the Royal Air Force. Having been in the Air Training Cadets whilst at school
the RAF was a logical choice and Hershel became a radio operator in
communications and served for almost three years.
The stay in Liverpool was very short lived, for Hershel
embarked on the Empress of Scotland for a six-week all-inclusive cruise to
Singapore. Once there he was transferred by land to Johore in Malay for three
months and then on to Kai Tak Airbase in Hong Kong which at that time was a
combined civilian and military airport and had been Hong Kong’s only
international airport since 1925. Hershel was associated with the 88th Squadron
Coastal Command that had Sunderland Flying Boats to provide courier services between
bases in the Far East, and was eventually disbanded in 1954.
After his time in Hong Kong he returned to the UK being
demobbed with back pay and a new demob suit. At the end of 1945 about 75,000
suits were being made each week and one of the principle suppliers was Burtons,
founded by Montague Burton, himself a Lithuanian Russian migrant. It is thought
that Montague Burton’s name is probably the most likely origin of the phrase
‘the full monty’ meaning ‘the works’ or everything.
Having arrived back in Liverpool, Hershel’s father informed
him that his partner in the company had died and so there was an opening. That
meant starting straight away but Hershel signed up for the Business
Administration course at the local College of Commerce and got the training and
qualifications to help in managing the company, originally called Erskine
clothing. In 1952, his father bought a warehouse in the Isle of Man and started
a company called IOMA Clothing and incorporated all the business under that
name. The company supplies custom made clothing and uniforms, but Derek said
that Hershel had told him he found some other areas of the work especially
interesting, particularly the contracts to make theatre and film costumes. They
made some of the bespoke clothes for ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the James Bond
film ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and has worked on almost 40 films, as well as a
number of stage musicals. There was a lot of competition over who was going to
make Brad Pitt’s trousers for one film. Hershel has been a director of the
company ever since it’s early days and is still Chairman of the Board.
Hershel met his first wife in the 1950’s, an Israeli girl
named Lea, who had come over to gain further experience as a midwife at the
Oxford Street Maternity Hospital. They married in Israel, returning to
Liverpool and had one son, David. David returned to Israel with his mother and
has himself had one son and two daughters, which Hershel still sees. In 1969
Hershel married again, to Maureen, and the couple have had two sons, one is
involved with the family business while the other followed an academic route
and is a college lecturer by profession. Sadly, Maureen died 15 years ago.
Apart from keeping up his interest in the family business, Hershel is also
Chairman of the Residents Organisation where he now lives and previously he was
Chairman of the Reformed Synagogue in Church Road North.
Moving on to his Masonic career, Derek added that this was
the reason why all had come here on the evening, and that Hershel had been
introduced into Freemasonry by his father and grandfather. His father was the
proposer while his mother’s cousin, Mark Levin seconded him, with Hershel
initiated into Lodge of Israel No 1502 on the 13 May 1957. He progressed
through the various offices and eventually became WM, he was installed in
November 1973, 16 years after initiation. By good fortune however that did mean
that he was the WM for the lodge centenary celebrations the following year and
that was a very proud moment for him and a very memorable year when Sir Knowles
Edge presided over the lodge centenary celebrations held here at Hope Street.
In 1975 Hershel was a Founder member of Masada Lodge No.
8638, which became amalgamated into Lodge of Israel in 2002. In 1995, the
Provincial Grand Master appointed Hershel to Past Provincial Senior Grand
Deacon with a further promotion eight years later to the rank he holds today,
Past Provincial Junior Grand Warden. Hershel was also a member of Menorah
Chapter No 4513 for 33 years.
At this point in the procedure Derek requested the Liverpool
Group Chairman, Bob Povall to read the diamond jubilee certificate issued by
command of the Provincial Grand Master Tony Harrison. Derek then concluded by
saying directly: “Hershel, you have done a lot in your life and contributed to
society and Freemasonry in many ways during your 89 years, serving your faith
and community, and contributing to the business life of this city and it is a
fitting tribute to you and indeed a pleasure for me personally and for all your
friends and colleagues here this evening to be able to celebrate with you the
significant milestone of achieving 60 years as a member of Craft Freemasonry.”
The formal element of the evening having come to a close,
the gathering retired to the dining suite to continue the celebrations in true
Lodge of Israel style. Tribute after tribute to Hershel floated around the room
during the course of the meal but the main ones were reserved for the more
formal session of speeches. There was, of course, that from Derek Parkinson and
the primary one from Barry Elman, a long-term friend and member of the lodge
In response, Hershel entertained his audience with humorous
anecdotes and tributes of his own. It was a gem of a moment from a pure diamond
in Freemasonry. The occasion had been a wonderful diamond jubilee for Hershel
and a memorable occasion for all who had been privileged to be in attendance.
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Maureen listed in the Liverpool Allerton Cemetery register of burials
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