Scottish Freemasonry and England 1700 to 1750

Scottish Freemasonry, the Lodges and the relationships with English Freemasonry 1700-1750.

By Iain D. McIntosh

Part One

Before 1700, the Background of the Lodges and the state of Masonry in Scotland.

Scottish Craft Masonry, the Scottish Lodges, and the evolution of what would become modern ‘Freemasonry’, in the Early part of the 18th Century was more widespread, and more well-established and identifiable in Scotland than in England. These early Scottish Lodges boasted long and well-documented histories. When the ‘Premier Grand Lodge’ formed in London in 1717 with the only four existing lodges at that time, Scotland had perhaps about 30+ Lodges all spread throughout the length and breadth of the land. In the main burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Dunfermline, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth, Dunblane and in rural Ayrshire even one as far north as Inverness.
These early Scottish Lodges were mainly Craft Lodges, ‘Incorporations of Masons’ composed of working masons and were in most cases, part of the established fabric of the towns of Scotland, they were regulated like the rest of the Incorporations and trades. They were in mostly in the main Royal Burghs of Scotland like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and the other towns which had their established Guildries and ‘Incorporated trades’ – Goldsmiths, Hammermen, Weavers, Baxters, Bonnetmakers, Tailors and many others, Edinburgh had 15 trades, Glasgow 12, Dundee 9 (they also had the 3 United Trades of Masons, Wrights and Slaiters).

In the 16th and 17th centuries they obtained charters or ‘Seals of Cause’ from the Local authorities, the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons of Edinburgh received their ‘Seal of Cause’ in October 1475, they later became known as Mary’s Chapel . A charter was issued by King James VI of Scotland in 1592 to the ‘Masons, Wrights and Slaiters’ of Dundee giving them the rights to elect a deacon . A strange and unique document which has no equal as most of the other Lodges were chartered by the Burgh authorities under ‘Seals of Cause’. There is no evidence that this ‘Royal Charter’ was ever implemented in Dundee as there was much civil upheaval and waves of plagues at the time so maybe it was just forgotten, as we find Dundee applying for a charter in 1628, which was refused and then they applied for another charter in 1659, which was successful when an ‘Act of Council’ from the local authorities to elect a deacon and formulate laws was finally granted.

The Incorporation of Masons in Glasgow (The Lodge of Glasgow) received its seal of cause in October 1551. The Lodge of Aberdeen was issued with its ‘Seal of Charter’ from the local magistrates in 1527, and again in 1541, and, like the case of Dundee, incorporated other building trades as well, forming a sort of Territorial Lodge. From the History of the Lodge of Edinburgh it is mentioned that in 1590 ‘Patrick Copland of Udaught in Kincardineshire, was appointed “Wardane and Justice over the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine”.
As to the Kilwinning Lodge (Mother Kilwinning) the beginnings of that Lodge go way back into the mists of time, mentioned in 1598 it had become one of the three Lodges mentioned in the ‘Schaw Statues’ of that year . Another of the old Scottish Lodges which was in existence in the 17th Century was that of Aitchison’s Haven, a lodge not established in one of the great towns or burghs of Scotland but in a small harbour on the North Sea coast near Prestonpans, about 12 miles from Edinburgh, it cannot be found on modern maps but is mentioned on the 1662-5 Blaeu Atlas Map , and on Roy’s Military Map of 1747-1755 as ‘Morrison’s Haven’. The earliest Book of this Lodge is designated as ‘The Buik of the Actis and Ordinans of the Nobile Maisters and Fellows of craft of the Ludg of Aitcheson’s heavine’”, and contains a “catalogue of the names of the Fellows of Craft that ar presently in the Zeair of God, 1598’ . The minutes of this Lodge extend up to 1764. The Lodge was declared dormant in 1852.

By the end of the 17th century Scottish Lodges were, mainly of these ‘Operative Lodges’, embedded within the ‘Incorporations of Masons’ – the names of the various Lodges reflected this fact, The Lodge of Edinburgh was part of the ‘Incorporation of Mary’s Chapel’ – the Lodge in Montrose, which began in 1713 was entitled the “Honourable Fraternity and Incorporation of Freemasons at Montrose.’ Likewise, in neighbouring Brechin when they started their Lodge in 1714 they also called their Lodge ‘The Honourable Fraternity of Meassons of the Lodge of Brechin’ . Over time these too began admitting non-operatives.
In Glasgow, there is a co-existence of the “Incorporation of Masons in Glasgow” and the Lodge of Glasgow (now Lodge of Glasgow St John No.3bis.) The Incorporation was composed of Freemen, and the Lodge of all members of the building craft, including “The Freemen”. The Deacon of the Incorporation was also the master of the Lodge . In the History of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No.1 up to the beginning of the 18th century, it is recorded that the master burgesses were the dominant power within the Lodge, only on rare occasions admitting craftsmen below the rank of employer. For a while, between the end of the 17th Century and the start of the 18th we read that the Lodge made ‘enactments’ against the encroachment of the Journeymen, (the workmen, or the employees) obviously, the journeymen were looking for more ‘liberty’ and a voice in the administration and the disbursement of funds to the poor, something to which they were contributing but had no say. A breakup that would result in the formation of the Lodge of Journeymen in 1707.

The regulation of these mason trades and the early operative lodges in Scotland had begun from as early as the end of the 16th Century, when the King’s ‘Master of Works’, William Schaw of Sauchie laid down the first statutes and rules for the operative masons in the various Lodges in Scotland. This is the format which the Lodges in Scotland regulated their members and set their rules. Also, as we have seen they were also controlled in the Royal Burghs by the Burgesses and the town authorities along with the other Incorporations and trades.
During the 17th Century – more especially the second half, the Lodges started to admit non-operatives, to begin with, there is the admittance of notaries (lawyers, writers) to act as clerks and to write the minutes, then as the century progressed some local gentry were admitted, maybe to act as a patron to the Lodge, then slowly over the later part of that Century, merchants, shopkeepers, watchmakers, other tradesmen, were admitted, the reason why they admitted these ‘gentlemen’, ‘geometric’ or Theoretical ‘speculative’ masons, is somewhat unknown.

The Lodge of Kilwinning had ‘hereditary’ connections with the Montgomery family from the early 16th Century. John, Earl of Cassilis, was elected ‘deacon’ of the Lodge in 1672. The Lodge of Edinburgh had admitted non-operative masons from as early as 1634 when they admitted Lord Alexander, Viscount Canada, some histories credit him with founding a colony and a Lodge in Canada on the banks of the St Lawrence River. There is also a record of another ‘honorary’ gentleman in the name of John Boswell of Auckinleck in about 1600. In 1641, whilst the Scottish Army was encamped at Newcastle members of the Lodge of Edinburgh admitted Sir Robert Moray. Another early member of the Lodge of Edinburgh, who was also present with the Scottish army at Newcastle was John Mylne (made Fellow Craft in October 1633, Deacon of the Lodge and Warden in 1636) , a mason and ‘King’s Master Gunner at the Castle of Edinburgh’ appointed by King Charles II in 1646, he was also ‘Principal Master Mason’, and ‘Captain and Master of Workmen and Pioneers’, He is also mentioned in Dundee as one of the masons who petitioned the Convention of Royal Burghs for a charter to allow the Masons and Wrights to choose a Deacon and form an ‘Incorporation’ in Dundee.
His family had hailed from Dundee, his father, another ‘John Myln’ was master of the Lodge of Scone & Perth and had built the first stone bridge over the River Tay at Perth in the early part of the 17th century (washed away by a flood in 1621). This family claimed the unique title of having provided 5 generations of ‘Master Masons to the Crown of Scotland’. His grandfather was Robert Mylne, Provost of Dundee 1544-1548.

The Lodge of Aberdeen had admitted about 17 non-operatives by 1670, those included Harry Elphinstone, Tutor of Airth, Collector of the King’s Customs at Aberdeen, Measson, and Master of the Honorable Lodge of Aberdein; James Anderson, Glassier and measson, and writer of the Mark Book, Maister of the Lodge in 1688 and 1694; The Lord Pitsligo; Meason; Mr William Frasser, minister of Slains and Meason; William Rickard; Merchant & Meason and Treasurer of the Lodge. Also, The Earls of Findlater, Dunfermline, and Errol. This is the earliest recorded patronage of the lodges by the aristocratic classes in Aberdeen . Over the years into the 18th Century the Lodge of Aberdeen became a typical ‘mixed’ Lodge of operative and ‘gentlemen/speculative Freemasons.
The same could be said about Dundee, the earliest mention of an ‘Operative Lodge’ is in 1536 with the ‘Lady Luge of Dundee’ and again mentioned in 1560 as ‘ye ancient luge’, and of course the masons in Dundee are mentioned in the 1592 King James VI charter. Also mention of the Dundee Lodge being summoned by William Schaw to a meeting in St Andrew’s in 1599, the Lodge was also one of the signatories of the 1628 ‘Sinclair’ letter. The first recorded minute of the Lodge was in 1659 as ‘The Lodge of Dundee’. By 1659, they had only admitted one local landowner, Patrick Kyd of Craigie in that year, we read that he was elected Deacon in 1677 . The Lodge remained mostly composed of operative masons until the start of the 18th century when more gentleman masons were admitted and the Lodge became more of a mixed membership of gentlemen and operative masons. However, something happened between 1735 and 1745 when it divided up into factions, one being mentioned as Dundee Kilwinning, and then in 1745 two Lodges applied for Charters from the Grand Lodge of Scotland – the present Operative Mason Lodge of Dundee No. 47 and the Ancient Lodge of Dundee No.49.

EXISTING LODGES AT THE END OF THE 17TH CENTURY

1701 to 1717

This period covers a big upheaval in Scottish History and it is interesting to consider the situation of the Scottish Lodges in the context of the momentous changes taking place within Scotland during the first half of the 18th Century. Up until 1707, Scotland was still an independent country with its own parliament, its own courts and legal structure, its own ‘Established’ Church, that of the ‘Presbyterian faith’ which dominated most of the country, especially the Central belt and Southern Scotland, there was also many people of the ‘Episcopalian Church’, mainly concentrated in the North-eastern counties, and the Catholic Faith was pre-dominant in the Highlands and Western Isles. Scotland also had its own Educational structure with four universities. But, Scotland, although in many respects still an ‘independent country’ was also part of a ‘joint monarchy’ with England and Wales. With the union of the Crowns in 1606 when James VI of Scotland succeeded to the Crown of England much of the control of laws, policy etc., emanated from the Royal Court in London and heavily influenced Scottish affairs.

The Treaty of Union in 1707 was a watershed in Scottish history, the formation of a new partnership with England, a new powerful political entity – The United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish parliament came to an end and full political power moved down to London. In 1707 Daniel Defoe said of Edinburgh, during the Union Talks as “Slavery to the English, running away with the crown, taking away the nation’ and that the Atmosphere in Edinburgh was very tense. The Duke of Hamilton commented – ‘And so the darkest day in Scotland’s history has finally arrived. The point of no return has been reached, and nothing is left to us of Scotland’s sovereignty, nor her honour or dignity or name.’

There was still the painful and difficult re-adjustment from an independent country to a junior member of the new political entity called “Great Britain”, laws being made in London by the unified parliament that were not always conducive to Scottish likes. Also, during that period Scotland and its people were trying to catch up with the new ideas and thoughts that were spreading up from England, Newtonian Science and the other advances from academics and members of the ‘Royal Society’ the spread of a new ‘industrial’ age, the prospect of trade with the colonies in North America and the Caribbean. Many Scots willing to embrace the new situation especially the merchants and shipmaster of the trading burghs of Scotland, seeing massive prospects for trade, also the added protection of their ships by the powerful Royal Navy. The Capitol, Edinburgh, had however, lost its place as the heart and seat of the Scottish Parliament, its power had diminished, for the second time in its history, power had moved from Edinburgh to London, first in 1606 when King James VI became James I of England, and now with the union of the Parliament in 1707. On both occasions, Scots nobility, had moved with the power to London.
Taking with them the seeds of Scottish Lodges and Scottish ‘Masonry’.
Scotland in the early 18th Century had a largely autocratic class, most of the 150 or so peerage families were interconnected by marriage and had large family and clan groupings – with many in the middle or lower income groups, they could claim cousin-ship with the noble lords at the top of the social class and structure and forming political and social relationships. They also mirrored the political and religious tensions and groupings of the times. They encompassed the mainly Protestant, Whig, Hanoverian supporting nobility of the Lowlands and West Coast, there was, still, the great Clans of the Highlands and Gaelic Western Isles, Catholic, some Protestant, some Episcopalian, many devoted to the old Ancient Royal Stuart lineage and supported the ‘King over the water’. There was also the largely Non-juring Episcopalian nobility and grouping of the North-Eastern part of Scotland, the Earls of Airlie, Strathmore, Panmure, The Gordons, the Erskines, Grahams and others, mostly non-juring Episcopalian, a church which still considered the Exiled Stuart dynasty as the head of their church.

Edinburgh at the time was the winter quarters of the wealthiest Scots landowners, they all lived ‘cheek by jowel’ with lawyers, ministers, doctors, academics in the cramped tenements of the Royal Mile, stretching down from its ancient castle, down a backbone of rock to the Palace of Holyrood. Many had been educated in one of Scotland’s four universities, and also on the Continent at the Dutch Universities, there was a unique cross-fertilization of ideas and manners in old Edinburgh. There a predominantly Presbyterian – Calvinistic society prevailed, however there were a good many Episcopalian aristocrats mixed in, especially those from the North-Eastern Counties of Scotland, many who were members of Lodges there. It was said that Edinburgh was a friendly and cultured town, with something of a French atmosphere about it. The Scots – noted a London Society hostess, Mrs. Elizabeth Montague “live in ye French Way”.
There was even more resentment and opposition when in 1714, after the death of Queen Anne, the last Protestant Stuart monarchy, the crown was settled upon the Protestant German Hanoverian line with George I. The accession of The House of Hanover was ‘noted’ by the Lodge of Edinburgh No.1, but it did not commemorate the event. It declared an ‘amnesty’ to the Journeymen of the Lodge who had ‘deserted it’ also it kept alive the embers of discord and it reserved for reasons of a more aggressive means against the ‘Journeyman Lodge’.

At the start of the eighteenth century more Lodges were beginning to emerge, between 1700 and 1717 (when London allegedly formed the first Grand Lodge), about 9 more Scottish Lodges appear in the list, giving Scotland over 30 Lodges, and an already well established Lodge structure, degree working and indeed a long and documented history.

NEW LODGES 1700 TO 1717

Of these early 18th Century Lodges one which could be highlighted, was the Lodge of Haughfoot, begun in 1702 and composed of local gentlemen from the local estates of Torsonce, Philiphaugh and Galashiels – the Scott, Young and Pringle families, many of which were not operative masons, but landowners, speculative or ‘gentleman’ freemasons. Men like John Hoppringle of that Ilk and Sir James Scott of Gala, Hoppringle’s Brother-in-Law, whose father Sir Hugh Scott had suffered great persecution in the political troubles of the 1680’s, but after the accession of William of Orange, his lands and barony were confirmed by Royal Charter in 1692, he served as MP for Roxburghshire in 1689-1702, at the outbreak of the 1715 Jacobite uprising and presided over a meeting of Selkirkshire lairds to provide horses and other equipment for a defence against the enemy (i.e. the Jacobites).

Go to next Part 2 - 1715 to 1736 and the formation of The Grand Lodge of Scotland

©Research by Iain D. McIntosh, 2014