On 21 February 1776 he was in Durham, where he attended the meeting of the city's masonic lodge at the "Marquis of Granby" tavern. The lodge Minutes indicate that he was by this date already a member of the "St. John's" lodge in Newcastle. He later also became a member of the Sunderland "Phoenix" lodge. Details of the frequency of Shield's attendance at these north-east lodges is not yet clear, but can only have been occasional, given his career in London.