Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes in Benfleet

They held their meetings at The Anchor

In the 1950s the Benfleet Lodge of the Buffaloes (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) used to meet at The Anchor Public House.

In the first picture members can be seen waiting to board the bus which would take them on an outing.  Most of the faces are unknown but with the help of Alice Chafer, who kindly supplied these photos, we know that her father, John Wade, is standing in the back row, second from left and is wearing spectacles.

In the picture below, Alice’s husband, Harry, is in the front row second from right and wearing a chain. Harry joined the Buffaloes after he married Alice in 1951. Alice is fairly sure that her father in the second row from front, second from left, wearing spectacles.  She thinks the man in front and to the left of him was called Terry and at the time he worked for Essex Carriers at Tarpots.

The group is at the R101 Memorial in Cardington, Bedfordshire paying its respects to those that died in the R101 airship disaster in 1930. Of the forty-eight that died, twenty-four or twenty-eight (reports vary) were members of the Order of Buffaloes.

 

The Buffaloes before boarding a coach behind The Anchor
Alice Chafer
The Buffaloes at Cardington R101 Memorial
Alice Chafer

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  • I found certificate of membership amongst my fathers Harry H.Kersey photos, lodge 6009 East Africa dated 2nd June 1952. My father rarely spoke of his time in the army in Kenya. I have Photos but nothing else, my mother also rarely spoke of their time there. Do you have any information of this lodge at that time.
    Regards Linda De Villiers (nee Kersey)

    By Linda De Villiers (27/08/2021)
  • My late Father in Law was a member of the Benfleet lodge from late 60’s through 70’s – still got his regalia if of any interest to anyone?

    By Jon Layton (10/02/2021)
  • I have been a member of the Buffaloes since February 1968, when I joined the Albert Landgraff Lodge that met in Southend although Albert lived in Benfleet and is buried in St Mary’s. Sadly, the Buffs are now well down in numbers but I am still involved with the Victory and Whitfield Lodges in Leigh. Lovely to see the old photos at the memorial centre. I noticed all the regalia they are wearing. Does anyone know the names of the old guys in the photos? I know there was a Hoy Lodge that met at the Anchor and I attended a meeting or two there.

    By Patrick Benson (wife Wendy is the gardener) (30/03/2020)
  • I think that there was still a Buffaloes Lodge at the Anchor Pub in 1970s as I think the Landlord used to let a room upstairs one night a week.

    By Brian Bellamy (28/04/2016)

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