GRAND LODGE OF ALL ENGLAND LODGES FROM 1762

1. French Lodge, “Punch Bowl,” York, June 10, 1762
2. Three Tuns, Scarborough, Aug. 19, 1762
3. Royal Oak, Ripon, July 31, 1769
4. Crown, Knaresborough, Oct. 30, 1769
5. Duke of Devonshire, Macclesfield, Sept. 24, 1770.
6. Hovingham, North Yorks May 29, 1773.
7. New Inn, Snainton, near Malton, Dec. 14, 1778.
8. Grand Lodge of England, South of the River Trent, March 29, 1779.
9. Druidical Lodge, Rotherham, Dec. 22, 1778.
10. Fortitude, at the Sun, Hollingwood, Lane, Nov. 27, 1790. Deputation for a Grand Lodge.

No. 1, Lodge of Perfect Observance, London, Aug. 9, 1779.
No. 2, Lodge of Perseverance and Triumph, London, Nov. 15, 1779.

The Talbot Lodge at Halifax was established in 1738.

In addition to these, we should add that in the Records and elsewhere, mention is made of petitions being presented to the Premier Grand Lodge at York for the holding of lodges.

I. Petition addressed to the “Grand Master of All England at York,” and signed by Abraham Sampson, about the year 1771. He declared that he had been taken to task by the “Grand Lodge in London ” for getting a Warrant for Macclesfield. The new Lodge was to be held at the “Black Bull, otherwise the Rising Sun, Pettycoat Lane, White Chapel,” the first Master and Wardens being nominated.

II. A letter was read at the Grand Lodge held September 27, 1779, ” Requiring the mode of applying for a Constitution,” the petitioner being “Bro. William Powell,” of Hull. Mr J. Coultman Smith 2 declared that the charter of the present ” Humber Lodge,” No. 57, of that town, was derived from the Premier Grand Lodge at York.

III. There was much correspondence about certain Masonic jewels, between the Grand Secretary at York and a Bro. W. Hutton Steel, of Scarborough, and others, extending from 1772 to 1781. The jewels were said to have been used by a lodge whose “Constitution was obtained from York,” probably No. 2 as above. Bro. Steel presented them on Dec. 26, 1779, and declared that “No meeting of a Lodge since 1735 ” had been held, and that he was the “Last Survivor of four score brethren.”

IV. A petition was received for a Lodge to be held at the “Brush Makers Arms, Smithy Door,” at the house of John Woodmans, Manchester, dated December 23, 1787; but as the records of that period are missing, we cannot say what answer was given to the petitioners, but it is very likely that a charter was granted.

An extract from the records, establishes the fact that the year 1762 witnessed the first Lodge being placed on the roll of the Premier Grand Lodge at York.

Constitutions or Warrants granted by this Right Worshipful Grand Lodge to Brethren enabling them to hold Lodges at the places and in the houses particularly mentioned in such constitutions or warrants.

No. 1. Anno Secundo Brother Drake G.M. On the 10th day of June 1762 a constitution or warrant was granted unto the following Brethren, French Prisoners of War on their Parole (Viz.) Du Fresne, Le Pettier, Julian Vilfort, Pierre Le Villaine, Louis Brusle, and Francis Le Grand, Thereby enabling them and others to open and continue to hold a Lodge at the sign of the Punch Bowl in Stonegate in the City of York and to make New Brethren as from time to time occasion might require, Prohibiting nevertheless them and their successors from making anyone a Brother who shall be a subject of Great Britain or Ireland, which said Lodge was accordingly opened and held on the said 10th day of June and to be continued regularly on the second Thursday in every month or oftener if occasion shall require.”

Of the second Lodge but little account has been preserved in the surviving archives of the, Premier Grand Lodge at York.

Of the third on the hat there is no doubt, it having been duly “sealed and signed;” neither is there any as to the fourth, the minute of October 30, 1769, reading as follows: The three last-mentioned Brethren petitioned for a Constitution to open and hold a Lodge at the sign of the Crown in Knaresbrough, which was unanimously agreed to, and the following were appointed officers for the opening of the same.

There is an allusion to the Inniskilling Dragoons in 1770, when the brethren of the Lodge held in that regiment took part, with other visitors, in the Great Procession on the celebration of the Festival of St John the Evangelist. It was arranged on December 17, Mr Whytehead informs me, that, the Brethren of the Inniskilling Regiment who carry the Colours and act as Tylers, as also all the Brethren in the said Regiment who are private soldiers to have tickets gratis.” The hospitality thus exhibited to the members of a regimental Lodge by the brethren at York, has been again and again exercised of late years by the ” York ” and ” Eboracura ” Lodges, no warmer reception being ever given to military Lodges then in the city of York.

Hughan declares he saw a minute-book, or extracts therefrom, in the York archives, being records of a Lodge opened at Scarborough, ” on Thursday the 19th August 1762 by virtue of a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons at York, Bro. Thos. Balderston, Rt. Worpl. M. ; Thos. Hart. S. W. ; John Walsham, J. W. ; Mattw. Fowler, 8. ; ” hence we are inclined to believe that the second on the roll is the Lodge referred to. Mr Joseph Todd has kindly transcribed the few minutes thus preserved, which begin March 25, 1762 (before the warrant was received), and end August 80, 1768.

Not many records remain of Nos. 6 and 7, but the ninth of the series, according to Hughan, was called “No. 109” at Rotherham, the members evidently considering that the addition of one hundred to its number would increase its importance. Some of its records have found their way to York, ranging from December 22, 1778, to March 26, 1779. There is no account of the Lodge at Hollingwood among the York documents, the only notice of its origin being the original charter in the archives of the Masonic Museum and Library in London which has been transcribed and published by Hughan (Masonic Sketches, Pt. 2, Appendix Q p. 41. The warrant was signed by Messrs Kilby and Blanchard, Grand Master and Grand Secretary respectively). A volume of minutes of the York Grand Lodge, 1780-92, is evidently still missing, which Hargrove saw in Blanchard’s hands so late as 1819.

In the York Courant for December 20, 1763, is an advertisement by authority of Mr J. S. Morritt, the Grand Master, the two Grand Wardens being Messrs Brooks and Atkinson, the latter Brother having been the Builder of the Bridge over the Foss at York. He and his brother were initiated in 1761, ” without paying the usual fees of the Lodge, as being working masons,” perhaps indicating the fact that the Old York Masons Assembly recognised its operative origins. Several of the festivals were held at the ” Punch Bowl,” an inn being much frequented by the York masons, The Lodges favoured processions to church prior to the celebration of the festivals, many of the advertisements for which have been carefully reproduced by Whytehead.

In the Courant for June 10, 1770, is an announcement on behalf of the Lodge at the Crown,” Knaresborough, for June 26, “A regular Procession to Church to hear Divine Service and a Sermon to be preached by a Brother suitable to the occasion,” being the chief attractions offered by the Rev. Charles Kedar, the Master, and Messrs Bateson and Clark, Wardens. In similar terms, another procession was advertised for December 27, 1770, to St John’s Church, Micklegate, York, the notice being issued by order of Grand Master Palmes. The sermon was preached by Bro. the Rev. W. Dade, Rector of Barmston, in the East Riding,’ the congregation including more than a hundred brethren. It was usual to have both a summer and winter festival in York; so the zeal of the Fraternity was kept alive, so far as processions and festive gatherings could promote the interests of the Society.

St John’s Day, 1777, witnessed the Grand Lodge being, held at “York Tavern,” to attend divine service, at St Helen’s suitable discourse being delivered by the Rev. Brother John Parker. The Rev. J. Parker, vicar of St Helen’s, was “made” in 1776, without any fee being charged, and became Chaplain to the Grand Lodge, being also the annual preacher at the holding of the festivals.

The last meeting advertised in the Courant by the York Grand Lodge was dated June 18, 1782; but undoubtedly there were many assemblies of the brethren held after that year, even so late as the next decade. Hargrove states, As a further proof of the importance of this Grand Lodge, we find it recorded that “On the 24th June 1783, the Grand Master, with all the officers, attended in the great room of the Mansion House, where a Lodge in the third degree was opened, and brother Wm. Siddall, esquire, at that time the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor and Grand Master elect, was installed, according to an Ancient usage and custom, The Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason of all England, and was thus saluted, homaged, and acknowledged.

There is abundant evidence to prove that the Grand Lodge was in existence even so late as August 23, 1792, which is the date “of a rough minute recording the election of Bro. Wolley as Grand Master, Bro. Geo. Kitson, Grand Treasurer, Bro. Thomas Richardson, S.G.W., and Bro. Williams, J.G.W.” There is also a list still extant, in Blanchard’s handwriting, containing an entry of October 1, 1790, when a brother was raised to the Third Degree; and the grant of a warrant in that year by the Premier Grand Lodge at York, which does not savour of extinction. We need not add other evidences of the activity of the Grand Lodge, as the foregoing are amply sufficient. Even the Constitutions of 1784, published by the authority of the “Grand Lodge of England”, thus refers to the Mother Grand Lodge at York. “ Some brethren at York continued to act under their original constitution, notwithstanding the revival of the Grand Lodge of England; but the irregular Masons in London never received any patronage from them The ancient York Masons were confined to one Lodge, which is still extant, but consists of very few members, and will probably be soon altogether annihilated.” (Constitutions, 1784, p. 240; Freemasons Calendar, 1783, p. 23.) Here, doubtless, the wish was father to the thought, but the prediction of John Noorthouck was soon fulfilled, though it must not be overlooked that he acknowledges the antiquity of the Grand Lodge at York, at a period, moreover, when the secession of the Lodge of Antiquity from the London organization, in which movement, though a member of No. 1 Noorthouck was not a participant-had greatly embittered the relations between the two earliest of the English Grand Lodges. That a warrant or deputation for the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England South of the River Trent, under the wing of the Lodge of Antiquity, was issued by the authority of the Premier Grand Lodge at York.

The York Lodge has an engraved portrait of Grand Master Wolley, and Mr Whytehead presented one to the Masonic Museum in London. Wolley afterwards changed his name to Copley.

During the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Beaufort, and the Secretaryship of Thomas French, he had become a useful assistant in arranging the General Regulations of the Society, and reviving the foreign and country correspondence. Having been appointed to the office of Deputy Grand Secretary, under James Heseltine, he compiled for the benefit of the charity, the History of Remarkable Occurrences, inserted in the first two publications of the “Freemasons’ Calendar,” and also prepared for the press an appendix to the ” Book of Constitutions,” from 1767, published in 1776.

In March 2, 1763 – Bro. Robt. Lochhead petitioned for Dispensation to make Masons at the sign of the White Hart, In the Strand and a dispensation was granted to him to continue in force for the space of 80 days ” Minutes of the Grand Lodge of England “According to the Old Institutions – i.e., of the Schismatics or Ancients

RW Bro. William Preston Joins the Mother Grand Lodge at York

The Rev. M. H. Eccles, rector of Bow, having been re-elected chaplain to the Lodge of Antiquity, engaged to preach an anniversary sermon on December 27, 1777, particulars of which were advertised in the Gazetteer for December 24. The brethren proceeded to church informally, clothing as masons in the vestry. On returning they walked to the Lodge room’ without having divested themselves of their Masonic clothing. John Noorthouck a member, took exception to the latter action of the Lodge, but Preston claimed that “the proceedings of the Brethren on St John’s Day were perfectly conformable to the principles of the Institution and the laws of the Society” W. Bro. Preston cited the law respecting processions, but contended that it was not calculated to debar the members of any private lodge from offering up their adoration to the Deity in a public place of worship in the character of masons, under the direction of their master” Noorthouck and Bottomley failed to obtain the consent of the members to a resolution terming the procession an ” unguarded transaction,” but on Preston moving” that the Lodge of Antiquity disapproves of any general processions of a masonic nature contrary to the authority of the Grand Lodge,” it was passed unanimously. A memorial was presented to the Grand Lodge by the minority, signed by the two mentioned, and two others, four in all. A reply to this protest was also signed in open lodge on January 27, 1778, by all but six (including Preston), and by six others subsequently who were not at the meeting, making a total of seventeen. The R.W.M. (John Wilson) and Preston waited on the Grand Secretary in the interim, imploring him to do his utmost to obtain an amicable settlement.’ The “Committee of Charity,” on January 30, 1778, sided with the minority, and as Preston justified the proceedings of the Lodge, on the ground of its possessing certain ” inherent privileges by virtue of its original constitution, that other lodges of a more modern date were not possessed of,” resolved that the Lodge of Antiquity possessed no other privilege than its rank according to seniority.

On January 29, 1779, the Master of No. 1 being called upon by the Committee of Charity to state whether their order, respecting the restoration of Brothers Bottomley, Noorthouck, and Brearly, had been complied with. ” Bro. Wm. Rigge, the Master, stated that on the evening of the last Quarterly Communication, viz., Nov. 4, last, it was resolved not to comply with the order of the Grand Lodge, and that the Lodge should withdraw itself from the authority of the London organization, and immediately join the Premier Grand Lodge at York, after which the health of the MW Bro. James Siddell was drank as Grand Master of Masons, the said Bro. Wm. Rigge and Brother Le Caan only dissenting. And that it was further resolved to notify such proceedings to the Grand Secretary, and that a manifesto should be published to the world.

RW Bro. Preston issued the State of Facts, but the subsequent proceedings, at the Committee of Charity, are given from the actual minutes of that body.

Minutes, Committee of Charity, January 30, 1778.

Grand Lodge Minutes, February 4, 1778.

Made October 30, 1778. At this meeting “a Pamphlet lately published by Bro. Wm. Preston under the title, of a State, of Facts, was cited as containing many severe, inflammatory, and false Reflections upon the Proceedings of the “Grand Lodge” at London in general, and upon the Conduct of Mr. Heseltine, the “Grand Secretary” (London), in particular.

It was further stated that a minority-who were desirous of continuing their allegiance to the Grand Lodge-opposed the violent proceedings of the majority, and informed the latter, that they had no right to take away the books and furniture of the lodge, which were the joint property of all the members, “notwithstanding which the factious junto, in defiance of every rule of justice, honour, or common honesty, in the deadest hour of the night, by force took away all the furniture, Jewels, and Books belonging to the Lodge, and had since assembled under a pretended and ridiculous authority called by them the Grand Lodge of York Masons, of which one James Siddell, a tradesman in York, calls himself Grand Master.” (this is the typical mouth wording used since time immemorial by the self constituted London organization).

It was also reported that the “Manifesto” alluded to had been published and dispersed, also that the members who remained true to their allegiance had elected the said Wm. Rigge their Master, and had restored Brothers Noorthouck, Bottomley, and Brearly to their rank and status in the Lodge. The following resolution was then passed by the Committee of Charity:

After which John Wilson, William Preston described as a ‘Journeyman Printer’, and nine others, were expelled from the Society, and their names ordered to be “transmitted to all regular Lodges, with an Injunction not to receive or admit them as members or otherwise; nor to countenance, acknowledge, or admit into their Lodges, any Person or Persons, assuming or calling themselves by the name of York Masons, or by any other Denomination than that of Free and Accepted Masons, under the Authority of, or in Alliance and Friendship with, the Grand Lodge of England, of which his Grace the Duke of Manchester is at present Grand Master.”

These proceedings-confirmed by Grand Lodge, February 3, 1779-evoked a further pamphlet from the seceders, dated March 24 in the same year, and issued from the Queen’s Arms Tavern, St Paul’s, under the hand of J. Sealy, Secretary, wherein they protest against ” the very disrespectful and injurious manner in which the names of several brethren are mentioned,” and ” the false, mean, and scandalous designations annexed to them” (copy of this pamphlet, folio is to be found in the archives of the Lodge of Antiquity.)

These Brethren resorted to the Deputation from the Grand Lodge of all England to the R. W. Lodge of Antiquity, constituting the latter a Grand Lodge of England south of the River Trent, dated March 29, 1779,” 4 and were soon actively engaged under their new constitution.

Mr John Wilson, late Master of No. 1, was the first Grand Master, and Mr John Sealy the Grand Secretary, the inaugural proceedings taking place on June 24, 1779, Preston having the office of Grand Orator conferred upon him on November 3. On April 19, 1780, Mr Benjamin.

Bradley was installed as the second Grand Master, Preston being appointed his D.G.M., and Messrs Donaldson and Sealy were elected Grand Treasurer and Secretary respectively. The only two lodges formed under the auspices of the Premier Grand Lodge at York were numbered one and two, the junior being the first to be constituted. The ceremony took place at the “=Queen’s Head Tavern,” Holborn, on August 9, 1779. The lodge was named ” Perseverance and Triumph,” and had Preston for its first Master. On November 15, 1779, the ” Lodge of Perfect Observance ” was constituted at the ‘I Mitre Tavern,” Fleet Street – P. Lambert de Lintot being R.W.M. Mr B. H. Latrobe was Grand Secretary in 1789, and in a report to the “ Grand Lodge of all England held at York,” mentioned that “ at the last Q.C., 29 Dec. 1789, the decayed state of the two Lodges was taken into consideration,” and a deputation was appointed to make due inquiries. This was followed by a favourable result, which led that official to remark that, “upon the whole, the prospect before us seems to be less gloomy than that we have had for some time past.”

As the “Lodge of Antiquity ” preserved a dual existence, the private lodge and the Grand Lodge (offshoot of the Premier York Grand Lodge) being kept quite distinct there were, three subordinate lodges on the roll of the Grand Lodge of England south of the Trent.

A memorial from Preston respecting his expulsion was laid before Grand Lodge on April 8, 1789, but it was not even allowed to be read. At the ensuing Grand Feast, however, in the May following, wiser councils prevailed, and mainly through the mediation of William Birch, afterwards Master of the Lodge of Antiquity. Preston and those expelled with him in 1779, all “expressing their desire of promoting conciliatory measures with the Grand Lodge, and signifying their concern that through misrepresentation they should have incurred the displeasure of Grand Lodge-their wish to be restored to the privileges of the Society, to the taws of which they were ready to conform, the London organization, being “satisfied with their apology,” ordered that they should be restored to their privileges in the Society. It has been said that Bro. Preston came out of this dispute the victor.

In 1787 Preston was instrumental in forming-or, to use the Masonic equivalent, “reviving the Grand Chapter of Harodim. But it is upon his “Illustrations of Masonry” that his fame chiefly rests. Of this twelve editions were published in the lifetime of the author.

Bro. Preston died, on April 1, 1818, aged seventy-six, and was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral. Among the bequests in his will were £500 consols to the Fund of Benevolence, and £300 consols as an endowment to ensure the annual delivery of the Prestonian lecture.