A Short History Of The Lodge Of Emulation, No. 21.

A Short History of the Lodge of Emulation , No . 21 .

( By HEXKY SADLER , Sub-Librarian to the Grand Lodge of England ) .

THE history of a Freemasons' Loclge dating back to the year 1723 would , in my opinion , be incomplete unless accompanied by a sketch of Speculative Masonry in London at the period of its birth . I propose , therefore , as an introduction to my present undertaking to outline , as briefly as compatible with a clear understanding of the subject , the

acknowledged and reliable evidence appertaining to the early stages in the career of the '' Mother Grand Lodge of the World . " This I deem necessary in view of the large and ever increasing number of the members of our Order who , whilst not coming properly under the heading of Masonic

Students , show an appreciative interest in the doings of the Craft in bygone clays as evinced by the desire , growing stronger every year , to see in print and thereby preserved from extinction the records of their own particular lodges . It is pretty generally known that in the year 1717 certain

old lodges , more or less of an operative character , held a meeting in London and agreed to establish what was at lirst intended by its promoters , merely to be a Grand Loclge for the cities of London and Westminster , but which grew so rapidly that it became not only the Grand Loclge of England , but in a comparatively short space of time had extended its branches and influence to many distant parts of the globe .

Previous to this period there was no recognised head of symbolical Masonry , the lodges therefore acted quite independently of each other , acknowledging no higher Masonic authority than the master for the time being ; no doubt when a lodge grew too large for the comfort of its members , or a difference of opinion arose amongst them , and the

requisite number could be got together , they would remove to another house and set up a lodge on their own account , without troubling themselves about Warrants of Constitution , consecrating officers , or indeed any of the grand ceremonials considered so essential at the opening of a new lodge in the

present clay . In many of the lodges there was no regular subscription , each member contributing a small sum towards the expenses of the evening , with something in addition for the benefit of the sick and distressed ; this , with a small entrance fee , and the lines inflicted on brethren for trivial

offences such as omitting to bring their aprons , or the Loclge Jewel , or using " swear words , " constituted the only source of income .

It is most unfortunate and will ever be regretted that we should have no written record of the formation or establishing of the first Grand Lodge of Freemasons , nor of the subsequent transactions of that august body prior to the 24 th June , 1723 , when the written records of the Grand Lodge begin . So far as I have been able to learn , Dr . James Anderson

, a Presbyterian Minister , with antiquarian proclivities , the compiler of the lirst Book of the Constitutions for the purely speculative fraternity , published in 1723 , was the first to put in print an account of the formation of the Grand Lodge and the names of the Grand Officers who were appointedtogether

, with its proceedings during the lirst twenty-one years of its existence . But this was not done until he compiled a second and more elaborate edition of his book in 1738 . I am of opinion that Anderson wrote the early portion of his history , either " from information received , " or from notes of the

proceedings probably taken on loose sheets of paper that were not deemed worthy of preservation after he had copied ( hem , for , to the best of my knowledge and belief , he was not a Mason in 1717 .

According to Dr . Anderson , four lodges , whose places of meeting he mentions , took part in forming the Grand Loclge . One of these died out about 1725 , and the others are now represented by the Lodge of Antiquity , No . 2 , the Royal Somerset House and Inverness Loclge , No . 4 , and the Fortitude and Old Cumberland Lodge , No . 12 . The

early history of these lodges having been most ably and exhaustively dealt with by Robert F . Gould in a work entitled The Four Old Lodges , which is available in the usual channels , I need not dwell further on their history . Although Anderson does not state positively that the four he mentions were the only lodges in London when the Grand Loclge was formed ,

that is the impression left on the mind of the general reader . Strange to say an author of a later period boldly stales that si . v lodges took part in the formation of the Grand Lodge . * Whether there were four or six lodges that took part in establishing the Grand Lodge , is not , in my opinion , a matter

of vital importance , but considering all the circumstances , something more reliable than a bare statement is required to satisfy me that these were the only lodges in London at the time . The engraved official list of lodges for 1723 gives the signs of 51 houses at which lodges were supposed to be

meeting at the date of publication , all of them being situated in the metropolis with the exception of two . It is scarcely feasible that exclusive of the four or six of 171 / all these should have been entirely new lodges ; doubtless some of

Till- ; MASTER'S CIIAIU OF THE LOIU 1 K OF FMFLATION , No . 21 AND liOX OF WOUKINd TOOLS . Pt-i'neiileil I ,, / Sir I ' ltli / ll'U-e lie Eel / fief , P . AM , them were , but I think it highly probable that several were in existence prior to the formation of the ( hand Loclge , and on finding that Institution patronized by persons of wealth * The Com / Jctc Free Miison , tie Mnllu I'tuuis for l . ovcrs of Scads , published aiionviiiouslv about 17 ( 14 .