Freemasonry is one of the oldest secular fraternal societies. Its members enjoy mutual association and friendship within the strict codes of principle and morality that are prescribed.

Freemasons support charitable needs at Grand Lodge and local Lodge levels. They strive to be loyal members of Society and to contribute to their communities.

Its origins are uncertain. There are a number of theories that Freemasonry was in existence when King Solomon built the Temple at Jerusalem and that the stonemasons who built the Temple were organised into Lodges. Other speculative theories link Freemasonry with the builders of the Egyptian Pyramids, and also the Knights Templar who escaped to Scotland when the Knights were persecuted in Europe.

No firm evidence has been found to connect Freemasonry with these or any of the other theories, which abound. It is a fact that we do not know how Freemasonry originated. The theory most favoured by serious students of Freemasonry is that it developed from mediaeval stonemasons, who built great castles and cathedrals. These ‘operative’ masons met in ‘lodges’ for rest and refreshment. Over a period of time, the ‘lodges’ represented groupings of ‘operative’ Masons who developed standards and practices to regulate their craft and skills. In common with other trades and guilds operating at that time ‘Lodges’ developed initiation ceremonies for new apprentices. This took place at a time when the only way to prove the authenticity of a stonemason, other than testing his skills over many hours, was by word of mouth, the discreet passing of private words, one to another.

In the early 17^th Century, operative ‘Lodges’ started to accept men who were not operative masons. The reason for this is unknown but towards the end of the century some Lodges lost any connection with ‘operative’ stonemasons and became styled similarly to those which exist to-day, Lodges of ‘free and accepted or speculative’ Masons.

The first recorded Lodge of ‘free and accepted Masons’ is evidenced in the diary of Elias Ashmole, the renowned Lichfieldian, Antiquary and Founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. He records being made a Freemason in 1646 at a Lodge held at his father-in-law’s house at Warrington. Ashmole listed those present and none had any connection with operative stonemasons.

Moving from the uncertainty of Freemasonry’s origins, it is possible to state with certainty when regularly organised Freemasonry was established. On 24^th June 1717, four London Lodges formed a Grand Lodge and for a number of years held an annual feast and elected a Grand Master and two Wardens, the three senior ranking officers in a Lodge. By 1730, the Grand Lodge had over 100 Lodges within its control and had issued a Book of Constitutions, a form of guidance and regulations by which all Lodges should operate. This demonstrates the desire of Freemasonry from the earliest days of regular organisation, to enforce standards amongst members and to be publicly accountable for those standards. A Book of Constitutions to this day provides standards and guidelines by which all Lodges and members must operate.

In 1751, a rival Grand Lodge, consisting of those who were unable to join the London Lodges, was established. There followed a degree of conflict between the two Grand Lodges. The new Grand Lodge claimed to practice the ‘Old Institutions’ of Freemasonry, whilst alleging that the Grand Lodge, formed in 1717, had departed from the established customs of Freemasonry. This rivalry continued until 1813, when the Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge, His Royal Highness Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex, and his brother, His Royal highness Edward, Duke of Kent, the Grand Master of the Antients Grand Lodge, formulated Articles of Union between the two Grand Lodges. On 27^th December 1813, the United Grand Lodge of England came into being at a special great ceremony.

From these beginnings, Freemasonry has spread around the World. Around 1725, the Grand Lodge of Ireland was formed and in 1736 the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It can be justifiably claimed that Freemasonry universal traces its origins back to the Grand Lodges established in the British Isles.

The Masonic Province of Staffordshire was formed in April 1791. It now has over 200 years of continuous service to the ideals of Freemasonry. It is interesting to reflect on how it all began and the immense changes in society that have taken place.

The following history of the Province is a summary of a paper produced by F A Cotton, Past Grand Assistant Director of Ceremonies, in the United Grand Lodge of England and a prominent Freemason in this Province.

The Masonic Province of Staffordshire celebrated its Bi-Centenary in April 1991.

1791 was the year that the Guillotine was introduced (although the French Revolution had begun some two years earlier): Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died; the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the USA were voted and Washington DC was founded: Ordnance Survey established in Britain, and Boswell published his ‘Life of Johnson’.

All these events were carefully recorded and detailed for posterity – were that our subject was! Masonically speaking, if Elias Ashmole had not kept a journal which recorded his own initiation (which unlike most Journals of his time, was printed) and if Dr Robert Plot had not decided to publish ‘The Natural History of Staffordshire’, no-one would have known anything of the existence of Freemasons’ Lodges in Warrington in 1646, London in 1682 or in the Moorlands of Staffordshire and indeed throughout England in 1686. From the time that Dr Plot published his celebrated History in 1686, down to 1717, when the Premier Grand Lodge of England was established, hardly a vestige of evidence remains to substantiate the presence of Freemasonry in this country. Even in 1717, all that can be traced is five or six struggling Lodges in London, one in York, and one or possibly two in the north of England. Throughout the whole of the Midlands in 1717 no Lodge is known or even supposed to have existed but by 1725 there is evidence of 61 Lodges in London and 9 in the Provinces.

The first Lodge that we know of founded in the County of Stafford was constituted on 28^th March 1732. It met at the Bell and Raven in Rotton Row, Wolverhampton, and the first Master was Viscount Dudley and Ward. Nothing else is known of it, no records whatsoever have been preserved. Indeed the details quoted are those which remain on the engraved copper plate list of Grand Lodge. It survived a mere 22 years, being erased in 1754, but it is of great interest because surprisingly that Lodge pre-dated any Lodge in the neighbouring counties of Derby, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire and even in the great town of Birmingham.

The late 18^th Century was a time of great national transition and international disquiet. With the comparatively recent loss of America and the French Revolution on our doorstep, the background against which the Province came into being was to say the least eventful if not turbulent, but it did create the opportunity for greater private wealth and social activity by many more people.

In the short span of years between the accession of George III and that of his son William IV, the face of England changed dramatically. Open fields and common pasture were hedged or fenced and cultivated, hamlets grew into populous towns, chimney stacks rose to dwarf ancient spires and highroads were made – straighter, stronger and wider. The North and Irish seas and the navigable reaches of the great rivers were joined together by canals, and steam packets began to ply on the estuaries and the narrow seas. Communications were made much easier.

The outstanding feature of the social history of the period – the thing that above all distinguishes the age from its predecessors – was the rapid growth of population. In the second half of the eighteenth century, population increased by 40% and, with the increase in the other factors of production, the standard of living of the people – or most of them – improved greatly. The field became open for the exercise of initiative and enterprise – a perfect setting for the establishment and development of opportunities for successful men to meet socially or for their own improvement. About this time – 1751 – the ‘Antients’ constituted a Lodge at the Crown Inn, Penkhull Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, which lapsed around 1766.

When the first Provincial Grand Master for Staffordshire was appointed, there were only two ‘Modern’ Lodges meeting in the County, No 77 founded in 1768 at the Swan Inn, Wolverhampton, and Lodge of Unity No 502 founded in 1787 meeting in Lichfield. There was possibly one ‘Antient’ Lodge – St John’s No 224 – meeting in Lichfield but there was no contact between the three.

Between 1764 and 1800, a total of 13 Antients or Modern Lodges were constituted in the County. All passed out of existence and with the exception of one old minute book of Lodge No 42, which lapsed in 1795, and some old relics preserved by Noah’s Ark Lodge, the only trace of them is in the all too brief records of Grand Lodge. Between 1800 and 1805, two Antient Lodges were formed later to be erased, and in 1804 four new Lodges were constituted in the Potteries. Three were erased but the fourth, St Martin’s Lodge No 98 (then numbered 130, later 115) is the oldest. Noah’s Ark Lodge No 347 (originally 668) holds a Warrant dated 1815 and Menturia Lodge No 418 and St Peter’s Lodge No 419 were both consecrated in 1834. Since then, several have come and gone, but none erased since the Derbyshire Lodge No 122 in 1866.

The first Provincial Grand Master was the Rev Francis Henry Egerton, son of the Bishop of Durham, later to become Eighth Earl of Bridgewater, who was already Provincial Grand Master for North Wales and Shropshire. The Shropshire Calendar stated that in 1791 the Rev Egerton had his patent for North Wales and Shropshire confirmed but found that the Counties of Stafford, Flint, Denbigh and Montgomery had been added, hence Staffordshire was granted the status of a Masonic Province and gained its first Provincial Grand Master, the fact being noted in a letter from Egerton himself, dated 13^th April 1791, to the Grand Secretary.

Egerton, who had himself been initiated in France and who throughout was relatively inactive, lived his latter years in Paris, became very eccentric and died in February 1828, unmarried and surrounded by pampered cats and dogs. In his time a very talented and able man, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1781, of the Society of Antiquaries in 1791 and left many valuable documents to the British Museum. He also left a substantial sum of money for the benefit of the poor at Whitchurch and was buried at Little Gadesdon near the family seat of Ashridge in Hertfordshire. Masonically his successors over the centuries were, have been and are much more conscientious and successful in the discharge of their
responsibilities.

Thus from these beginnings developed Freemasonry in Staffordshire – a thriving Province of 101 Lodges, the most recent being the Black Country Heritage Lodge, which was consecrated in 1999.