United Grand Lodge of England - History

History

Prior to 1717 there is evidence of Freemasons' lodges in both England and Scotland, with the earliest being in Scotland. On 24 June 1717, three existing London lodges and a Westminster lodge held a joint dinner at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse in St. Paul's Churchyard, elected a gentleman, Anthony Sayer, to the chair as Grand Master, and called themselves a Grand Lodge. The City of London Corporation has erected a Blue Plaque near the location.

In 1718 Sayer, who despite his significant social rank was obscure and impoverished, was succeeded by George Payne, an energetic and successful tradesman. In 1721, the Grand Lodge managed to obtain a nobleman, the Duke of Montagu to preside as Grand Master, and so was able to establish itself as an authoritative regulatory body, and began meeting on a quarterly basis. This resulted in lodges outside of London becoming affiliated, accepting sequentially numbered warrants conferring seniority over later applicants.

In 1723, by authority of the Grand Lodge, James Anderson published the Constitutions of Masonry for the purposes of regulating the craft and establishing the Grand Lodge's authority to warrant Lodges to meet. The book includes a fanciful history of the Craft, which nevertheless contains much interesting material.

The creation of Lodges followed the development of the Empire, with all three home Grand Lodges warranting Lodges around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa, from the 1730s. Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth, was Grand Master in 1735–36.

Throughout the early years of the new Grand Lodge there were any number of Masons and lodges that never affiliated with the new Grand Lodge. These unaffiliated Masons and their Lodges were referred to as "Old Masons", or "St. John Masons", and "St. John Lodges".

During the 1730s and 1740s antipathy increased between the London Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland. Irish and Scots Masons visiting and living in London considered the London Grand Lodge to have deviated substantially from the ancient practices of the Craft. As a result, these Masons felt a stronger kinship with the unaffiliated London Lodges. The aristocratic nature of the London Grand Lodge and its members alienated other Masons causing them also to identify with the unaffiliated Lodges.

On 17 July 1751, representatives of five Lodges gathered at the Turk's Head Tavern, in Greek Street, Soho, London and formed a rival Grand Lodge – "The Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions". They considered that they practiced a more ancient and therefore purer form of Masonry, and called their Grand Lodge The Ancients' Grand Lodge. They called those affiliated to the Premier Grand Lodge, by the pejorative epithet The Moderns. These two unofficial names stuck.

An illustration of how deep the division between the two factions became over the next fifty years is the case of Benjamin Franklin, who was a member of a Moderns' Lodge in Philadelphia. Upon returning from France, it transpired that his Lodge had changed to (and had received a new warrant from) the Ancients Grand Lodge; no longer recognizing him and declining to give him Masonic Honours at his funeral.

In 1809 the Moderns appointed a "Lodge of Promulgation" to return their own ritual to regularity with Scotland, Ireland and especially the Ancients. In 1811 both Grand Lodges appointed Commissioners and over the next two years, articles of Union were negotiated and agreed. In January 1813 the Duke of Sussex became Grand Master of the Moderns on the resignation of his brother, the Prince Regent, and in December of that year another brother, Duke of Kent became Grand Master of the Antients. On 27 December 1813 the United Grand Lodge of England ("UGLE") was constituted at Freemasons' Hall, London with HRH the Duke of Sussex (younger son of King George III) as Grand Master. A Lodge of Reconciliation was formed to reconcile the rituals worked under the two former Grand Lodges.

UGLE adopted the ritual demonstrated by the Lodge of Reconciliation although, in accordance with the contemporary understanding of the Masonic obligations, it was not minuted or officially recorded. Some linking passages can be regarded as merely ancillary and insignificant, and there are numerous possible interpretations, gestures and floorwork, so there are now many published variants and rubrics. UGLE has always declined to make any general rulings in matters of ritual, although it has authorised and mandated specific changes to reflect developments in society as a whole.