Ashmole And The Craft.

Ashmole and the Craft .

ALTHOUGH evidence of the activity of the speculative members of the Craft during the 17 th Century in England , is neither so early nor so extensive as in Scotland , yet the Eecords so far traced are of a remarkable character , and prove that we must go much farther back than even that period , to look for the premier Assembly of a purely

Speculative Lodge , and still earlier for the first admission of other than operatives into Masonic Lodges . Until the advent of the " Eecords of the Hole Crafte and Fellowship of Masons , " by Bro . Edward Conder , Jr ., in 1894 ; the earliest known instances of the Initiation of " Speculatives "

were of the years 1641 and 1646 , at Newcastle and Warrington respectively . On the publication of

that valuable work it was found that the existing Eecords of the Masons Company , London ,

date back the evidenceof" making Masons " of non-operatives to 1621 . Tlie dual condition of the

Company " so early as 1620 and inf ' erentiallv in theearliest times " abundantly confirms the opinion

of those who have firml y believed in the speculative character of the Craft long before the 17 th Century .

The meetings of the Theoretical or " G e o in a t i c " branch , held under the wing of the London

Cornpan y , w ere term ed the " Acception , " and the members were known as "Accepted Masons ; " those of

the Company proper being described as Freemasons , until 1655-6 , when that well known prefix was dropped . In

time the two prefixes were united to describe the speculative brethren , viz ., "Free and Accepted Masons ; " so widely followed from 1723 . Elias Ashmole , in his Diary , which is preserved in the Bodleian , Oxford , has only three entries concerning the Craft ; the first being of 1646 and the others of 1682 . Until recent

years we have known of these through two printed editions of his curious Journal of 1717 and 1774 . Unfortunately these are incorrect in a few , but most important respects , and in one case in particular gives a wholly erroneous report of the MS . in question . It is well to test these reproductions b y facsimiles of the several entries , which have recently been published , the first of which reads under the year 1646 .

KLIAS ASH . MOI . K'S HOOK PLATK .

" Oct . 16 , 4 . 30 p . m . I was made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancashire ; with Coll . Henry Mainwaring of Karincham in Cheshire . The names of those that were then at the Lodge , Mr . Eich . Penket , Warden , Mr . James Collier , Mr . Eich . Sankey , Henry Littler , John Ellam ,

Eich . Ellam and Hugh Brewer . " Bro . W . H . Eylands , F . S . A ., in an admirable Paper on " Freemasonry in the Seventeenth Century , Warrington , 1646 " ( Mas . Mag . Dec . 1881 ) states that if " asked to express an opinion on the Warrington Lodge of 1646 , be would feel obliged to say

that , so far as he was able to judge , there is not a scrap of evidence that there was a single operative

Mason present on the afternoon of the 16 th of October , 1646 ; in fact the whole of the evidence seems to

point quite in the opposite direction . "

J t is quite clear that this historic gathering was not the first of itskind , and as Mr . Eyland ' s researches

indicate , the brethren present were not operatives , any more than the two candidates in

question ; so it may be assumed that the lodge was entirely worked

for speculative purposes . It is also most noteworthy that the "SloaneMS ., No . 1848 " British

Museum ( n copy of the "Old Charges " ) bears the same date as this meeting , viz .: " Finis p . me

Edwardu Sankey , decimo sexto die Octobris , Anno Domini , 1646 , " and apparently

was transcribed for use at the reception of the two distinguished neophytes . Edward Sankey , the Scribe , was most probably the son of the Eichard Sankey , Landowner , who was present as a member of the Lodge in 1646 . The Master did not attend , and only one Warden is noted , who possibly presided on the occasion .

It is not until more than thirty-five years afterwards , that Ashmole again refers to the Fraternity , and then it was concerning the Lodge of the Masons' Company , London . There are really two entries . One of the 10 th March , 1682 , " About 5 p . m . I reed , a Summons to appr . at a Lodge to be held the next day , at Masons Hall , London . " the other being a more lengthy one , and / icriiieiillij misquoted