Grand Masters Of The 19th Century.

GRAND MASTERS OF THE 19 Th CENTURY .

' ^_^^^^^^^^ HE century commenced as it tlp | fpp ^ 3 §^ m ended , with a son of the ruling Sovereign fflmi ^^ flWifTW : lt *' ' leac ^ ° f English Freemasonry in |^^^^» person of the Prince of Wales . The 1 Craft much to the patronage and

/•^ iK ^ S ^^ ll ^ owes W ^) nP / MvD countenance of Royalty from the earliest KyyzJi ^ 'MK t ' i indeed , the introduction of the W ~ * mh \ vC ^ Jl' \\ Masonic Fraternity into England is

! <__ i ^ r V / iu ^ fes ? ' sJ 1 , ascribed by the earlier Masonic writers )) f j 4 ^ tt V \ lP \ to ^' & Athelstan , who is said to have '"¦ * ¥ >«^ v ) J .. % - ^ granted a charter for a Grand Lodge ' y ^^ y ^ 'ln ^ 'hl which was formed at York under Prince ( fcBiMC ^ ft ^ E dwin in the year 926 —and that

' ^ m ^/ tr v - Edward III . revived the constitutions * j &—ill \\ * ¦ - ' t { Usr . ilk \\{ in l ' . ' . S . Tradition further maintains . ! f ^' vi fv \ l '/ * " *" K ' > m 2 l ' l iT . diat English kings have fostered and protected J 5 vf ( JL the Order during successive centuries . That k ^ j ! v there is some foundation for these statementsin so

_ , ~ fZ I far as they apply to medieval Masonic guilds , ^ fTi there can be little doubt , but the Craftsman of to-day 7 = 4 is less concerned with the legendary accounts so dear to the earlier writers of the origin of Masonry ,

than were our forefathers , and is content with the more prosaic facts supplied by modern historians as to the beginnings of the present world-wide organisation . The connection of English Royalty with the Craft commences , so far as records exist , with the initiation

of Frederick Prince of Wales in the year 1737 , followed in 1766 by the Dukes of York and Gloucester , who were in the following year elected Past Grand Masters . In 1781 , H . R . H . Henry Frederick Duke of Cumberland was elected Grand Master , and the year 1 787 witnessed the introduction into

Masonry of three sons of the reigning monarch , namely , the Prince of Wales , the Duke of Cumberland , and the Duke of Clarence , followed in 1790 , by the initiation of the Duke of Kent , and during the next few years by Prince William of Gloucester , the King of Hanover , and the Duke of Sussex .

The Prince of Wales , afterwards George IV ., was elected Grand Master in 1790 , and held that position until 1813 , when lie resigned on becoming Prince Regent . The latter

year marks an important epoch in the history of English Masonry , the Union of the two Grand Lodges and the advent of one of its most capable rulers in the person of THE DI * KK OK SUSSEX , whose thirty years of Grand Mastership were marked by the most assiduous and painstaking attention to the duties of