Historical information

Richard Hartley Smith Abbott, company director, was born, probably in Bendigo, Victoria, around 1859, the son of Richard Hartley Abbott, also a company director, and Ann, née Smith. The young Richard was educated at Bendigo High School and then at St Andrews, Scotland. Returning to Australia, he became proprietor of the Abbott Supply Company, a director of the Sandhurst Building Society, the Bendigo Gas Company, and several local mining enterprises. He owned farms at Lyell, Mandurang and Eppalock, and was a pioneer of lucerne cultivation and tanning. In 1887, Abbott became a councillor for Strathfieldsaye Shire, a position he held for fifteen years. He was shire president (1901–02) and a Bendigo City councillor (1904–09; 1913–19), serving as mayor of Bendigo between 1917 and 1918

Physical description

Off-white coloured cardboard with black printing
GOLDEN & CORINTHIAN LODGE OF BENDIGO
(An image of the Masonic Lodge Symbol - Square, Compass and Eye)
Masonic Hall View Street May 2nd, 1904
Dear Sir and Brother
I have to request your attendance at a Monthly Meeting of the above Lodge, on Tuesday the 10th, May 1904 at 7.30 o'clock
I am, dear Sir and Brother, Yours fraternally W. C. VAHLAND
BUSSINESS
there is a list of names and addresses for balloting for and if elected, initiation
Handwritten R H Abbott