Some Memorials Of The Globe Lod Ge,No. 23, And Of The "Red Apron."

it was probably engraved during his Grand Mastership . Nothing in the shape of a ribbon or collar for the Grand Master ' s jewel is shown in this portrait nor in the beautifully engraved frontispiece to the first printed Constitutions , wherein the Duke of Montague is represented as handing the

Compasses , the Grand Master ' s emblem , and the Constitutions to his successor , the Duke of Wharton , while another brother is in attendance with white aprons and gloves , presumably for the investiture of the new Grand Officers . There is no mention of colour in the Constitutions nor in

the Grand Lodge minutes prior to the 24 th of June , 1727 , when it was " Resolved , nem . con ., that in all private Lodges and Quarterly Communications and Generall Meetings , the Masters and Wardens do wear the Jewells of Masonry hanging to a White Ribbon ( vizt . ) That the Master wear the

Square , the Senr . Warden the Levell , and the Junr . Warden the Plumb-Rule . " This order , it will be observed , applies to private Lodges and Masters and Wardens only . In all 18 th century editions of the Constitutions After 1727 the colour for the Grand Lodge regalia is ordered to be " blue , " that for the Grand Stewards , " red , " and for the Masters and Wardens , " white , " but since the revision of

THE FEKESIASONS' TAVERN , GREAT QUEEX STRKET , AS IT APPEARED WHEN THE GL 013 E L 011 GU HELD ITS FIRST MEETINGS THERE IX 181 . 1 . the Constitutions at the Union , in 1813 , the Grand Officers ' clothing has always been described as of Garter-Blue . We

know , however , from existing ante-union relics , that dark blue was the distinguishing colour of Grand Officers' clothing long before that event . Although white is the only colour named in the order of 1727 , a reasonable inference would be that at this period some

other colour was used in the Grand Lodge and by the Grand Officers , hence the resolution and the restriction . Assuming this to have been the case , the question is , what was that colour ? why and when was it introduced ? There can be no doubt that the election of that popular

and talented soldier , the Duke of Montague , to the Grand Mastership in 1721 ( the first of a long line of noble Grand Masters ) , was the means of bringing the infant Grand Lodge from comparative obscurity , and of attracting to the ranks of the Craft a large number of aristocratic and military recruits

, also of evolving order and a regular system of government out of comparative chaos , or , at least , a very " happy-golucky " condition of things . For instance , records of the transactions of the Grand Lodge do not appear to have been

kept , nor was a Secretary appointed prior to 1723 , in which year the first Book of Constitutions was published , the author . Dr . Anderson , having been ordered to prepare the work by the Duke of Montague during his Grand Mastership . Moreover , no attempt appears to have been made to ascertain the

membership of the various Lodges until the eventful year last mentioned . If necessary other facts might be adduced to show that the organization , progress , and stability of the Grand Lodge as a governing body dates from 1723 rather than from 1717 . In view of the altered state of affairs

indicated , it seems but natural that some official mark should have been deemed desirable to denote those who were , or had been , Grand Officers , and equally feasible is it that a change in the colour of the clothing would be considered the most simple , as well as the most effective distinction . It is evident that a change in this direction had been

made between the years 1723 and 1731 , and in all probability , so far as relates to the Grand Officers , prior to 1727 . As an expression of opinion only , I should be inclined to place the first alteration- —that of the Grand Lodge clothingto about the year 1726 . At this period there were at least four prominent

members of the Craft who were also Knights of the Garter . They were the Duke of Montague , G . M . 1721 ; the Duke of Richmond , G . M . 1724 ( both of whom evinced the warmest interest in the welfare of the Craft ) ; the Duke of St . Albans , Master of a Lodge at Bath in 1725 ; and the Earl of

Chesterfield . There was also an important official of that Most Noble Order in the person of John Anstis , Register of the Garter , a member of the University Lodge—the first Lodge to adopt a distinctive title— -of which Dr . Desaguliers and many other notabilities were members .

The original ribbon or sash of the Order of the Garter is said to have been light blue , worn over the right shoulder , but in the reign of Charles II . it was changed to a deeper blue , and ordered to be worn , as at present , over the left shoulder . About the middle of the eighteenth century the colour

was again changed to a still darker shade . In the portraits of various princes and nobles painted in the early part of that century wearing the ribbon of the Garter , the colour shown is distinctly blue , neither light nor dark , and I make no doubt that the subsequent change of

colour was followed by a corresponding alteration in that of the clothing of the Grand Officers , and that it has been so continued with but slight variation down to the present day . In the valuable and unique collection of Masonic scraps and documents forming part of the Rawlinson MSS .

preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford , recently described in chronological order by Dr . W . J . Chetwode Crawley in Vol . XI . of the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , will be found conclusive evidence that in the year 1734 the Grand Officers' aprons were trimmed with

Garter Blue silk . It is in the shape of an order given by Thomas Batson , Esq ., Deputy Grand Master , for " Two Grand Master's aprons lined with Garter Blue silk and turn'd over two inches , with white silk strings . Two Deputy Grand Master ' s aprons turn'd over an inch and half ditto . One apron lined with the deepest yellow silk for the Grand Master's Sword Bearer . " *

The earliest reference to colour , other than white , in the Grand Lodge minutes , is found in the order for a procession of the Grand Officers on the occasion of the installation of the Duke of Norfolk , 29 th January , 1730 , and is as follows : — " The Marshall , Mr . Pyne , is to bear a Truncheon painted blew and tipt with Gold . "

I have given priority to the blue of the Grand Officers , being of opinion that it preceded the red of the Grand Stewards as a Masonic colour , and will now endeavour , as briefly as possible , to state my reasons for having arrived at a conclusion similar to that of Bro . Crowe , that this colour

is derived from the ribbon of the order of knighthood , then next in point of rank to that of the Garter , the Order of