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United Grand Lodge of England

February 18, 2024

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales, and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic Grand Lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron Tavern in London, it is considered to be the oldest Masonic Grand Lodge in the world, together with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

United Grand Lodge of England
Coat of arms of the United Grand Lodge of England
Formation27 December 1813; 210 years ago (27 December 1813)
Location
Region
England and Wales
Grand Master
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent[1]
Websitewww.ugle.org.uk

History edit

Main article: History of Freemasonry

Moderns and Ancients in English Freemasonry edit

Main articles: Premier Grand Lodge of England and Antient Grand Lodge of England

Prior to 1717 there were Freemasons' lodges in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with the earliest known admission of non-operative masons being in Scotland. On St John's Day, 24 June 1717, three existing London lodges and a Westminster lodge held a joint dinner at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse in St Paul's Churchyard, elected Anthony Sayer to the chair as Grand Master, and called themselves the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. The City of London Corporation has erected a Blue Plaque near the location. Little is known of Sayer save that he was described as a Gentleman (a man of independent means) when he became Grand Master, but later fell on hard times, receiving money from the Grand Lodge charity fund.

In 1718 Sayer was succeeded by George Payne, a successful Civil Servant. The society then passed into the care of John Theophilus Desaguliers, a scientist and clergyman, then back to Payne. In 1721, the Grand Lodge managed to obtain a nobleman, the Duke of Montagu to preside as Grand Master, and so was able to establish itself as an authoritative regulatory body, and began meeting on a quarterly basis. This resulted in lodges outside London becoming affiliated, accepting sequentially numbered warrants conferring seniority over later applicants.

In 1723, by authority of the Grand Lodge, James Anderson published the Constitutions of Masonry[2] for the purposes of regulating the craft and establishing the Grand Lodge's authority to warrant Lodges to meet. The book includes a fanciful history of the Craft, which nevertheless contains much interesting material.[3]

Throughout the early years of the new Grand Lodge there were any number of Masons and lodges that never affiliated with the new Grand Lodge. These unaffiliated Masons and their Lodges were referred to as "Old Masons", or "St John Masons", and "St John Lodges".[4]

During the 1730s and 1740s antipathy increased between the London Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland. Irish and Scots Masons visiting and living in London considered the London Grand Lodge to have deviated substantially from the ancient practices of the Craft. As a result, these Masons felt a stronger kinship with the unaffiliated London Lodges. The aristocratic nature of the London Grand Lodge and its members alienated other Masons causing them also to identify with the unaffiliated Lodges.[5]

On 17 July 1751, representatives of five Lodges gathered at the Turk's Head Tavern, in Greek Street, Soho, London and formed a rival Grand Lodge: "The Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions". They considered that they practised a more ancient and therefore purer form of Masonry, and called their Grand Lodge The Ancients' Grand Lodge. They called those affiliated to the Premier Grand Lodge, by the pejorative epithet The Moderns. These two unofficial names stuck.[6]

The creation of Lodges followed the development of the Empire, with all three home Grand Lodges warranting Lodges around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa, from the 1730s.

Formation of the United Grand Lodge of England edit

 
Freemasons' Hall, London is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England

In 1809 the Moderns appointed a "Lodge of Promulgation" to return their own ritual to regularity with Scotland, Ireland and especially the Ancients. In 1811 both Grand Lodges appointed Commissioners; and over the next two years, articles of Union were negotiated and agreed upon. In January 1813 the Duke of Sussex became Grand Master of the Moderns on the resignation of his brother, the Prince Regent; and in December 1813 another brother, Duke of Kent became Grand Master of the Antients. On 27 December 1813 the United Grand Lodge of England ("UGLE") was constituted at Freemasons' Hall, London with the Duke of Sussex (younger son of King George III) as Grand Master. A Lodge of Reconciliation was formed to reconcile the rituals worked under the two former Grand Lodges.[7]

The new Grand Master had high hopes for Freemasonry, having a theory that it was pre-Christian and could serve the cause of humanity as a universal religion. However, his autocratic dealings with ordinary lodges won him few friends outside London, and sparked open rebellion and a new Grand Lodge of Wigan in the North West. Within Grand Lodge, opposition centred on Masonic Charity. Robert Crucefix launched the Freemason's Quarterly Review to promote charity to keep Freemasons from the workhouse, and to engage masons in the broader argument for social reform. The Earl of Zetland's complacent and inept management of Grand Lodge played into the hands of the reformers, and by the end of the 1870s English Freemasonry had become a perfect expression of the aspirations of the enlightened middle classes.[8]

Freemasonry in contemporary times edit

In response to conspiracy theories about Freemasons and generally hostile views gaining new life, due to the works of Stephen Knight and Martin Short, the United Grand Lodge of England began to change the way it dealt with the general public and the media from the mid-1990s, emphasizing a new "openness."[9] This presentation was summed up by Provincial Secretary of East Lancashire, Alan Garnett who declared, "we're not a secret society or a society with secrets, but we are a private society."[9] Lodges across England and Wales began holding open days, to allow the general public to see what they do.[10] Freemasons' Hall, London and the Library and Museum of Freemasonry also opened to the general public, including guided tours.[10]

Today, the United Grand Lodge of England or Grand Lodge currently has over 200,000 members meeting in over 6,800 Lodges,[11] organised into a number of subordinate Provincial Grand Lodges which are approximately equivalent to the historic counties of England.

  • Lodges meeting in London (an area generally within a 10-mile radius of Freemasons’ Hall) are, with five exceptions, administered by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London, headed by the Metropolitan Grand Master.
  • Lodges meeting outside London, and within England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, are grouped into 47 Provincial Grand Lodges (UGLE), each headed by a Provincial Grand Master.
  • Lodges that meet outside England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are grouped into 33 District Grand Lodges, each headed by a District Grand Master.
  • Five Groups (i.e.: currently too small to make up a District), each headed by a Grand Inspector.
  • Five Lodges in London and 12 Lodges abroad that are directly administered by Freemasons' Hall.

Grand Masters edit

 
Accomondation certificate of the United Grand Lodge of England, issued 6 July 1925, when the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was the Grand Master
  1. Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1813–1843)
  2. Thomas Dundas, 2nd Earl of Zetland (1844–1870)
  3. George Robinson, 3rd Earl de Grey and 2nd Earl of Ripon (1st Marquess of Ripon from 1871) (1870–1874)
  4. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (King of Great Britain and Ireland as Edward VII from 1901) (1874–1901)
  5. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1901–1939)
  6. Prince George, Duke of Kent (1939–1942)
  7. Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1942–1947)
  8. Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1947–1950)
  9. Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough (1951–1967)
  10. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1967–present)

Pro Grand Masters edit

When the Grand Master is a member of the royal family it is customary to appoint a Pro Grand Master. The Pro Grand Master fills the role of the Grand Master when he is not available due to his royal duties. It is distinct from the Deputy Grand Master who acts as the Grand Master's deputy rather than as acting Grand Master.[12]

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

Grand Secretaries edit

Opposition edit

Politics edit

 
Herbert Morrison claimed that his bid for the Labour Party leadership was sabotaged by Freemasonry.

In English politics, freemasonry has often been criticised by those associated with the Labour Party and trade unionism, because of a perception that freemasonry is aligned with the Conservative Party.[30][31] The Labour Party became the second party of the United Kingdom from 1922 onward and stood on a platform of representing working-class interests, while the Conservatives and Liberals were largely based in the middle-class and upper-class (similar to Freemasonry). After a number of Labour MPs were blackballed from joining Masonic lodges, the Prince of Wales who was concerned by the potential conflict, intervened and had the New Welcome Lodge created for Labour members in 1929. Herbert Morrison claimed that his 1935 bid for the Labour leadership was sabotaged by Lodge members who preferred first Arthur Greenwood and then Clement Attlee.[32]

Despite the creation of the New Welcome Lodge, there remained an element of hostility to Masonry within the Labour Party. As well as the alleged Tory connections, they accused Freemasonry of having unaccountable influence within the judicial system. This issue was brought to the forefront of English politics in the 1990s when Jack Straw, Home Secretary in the Tony Blair government attempted to force all Freemasons who worked as police officers,[33][34] judges or magistrates to publicly declare membership in the organisation. In 2009, the ruling that freemasons had to declare if they were judges or magistrates was scrapped by Straw after fears that he would lose a court case at the European Court of Human Rights.[35][36] Critics regard the group Common Purpose as an attempt to set up a pro-Labour freemasonry equivalent.[37]

Conspiracy theories edit

 
A 1970s theory connected Freemasonry and the Duke of Clarence to Jack the Ripper.

As with freemasonry in other countries, the United Grand Lodge of England has featured as the subject of Masonic conspiracy theories; the most persistent of these attempts to link freemasonry to a "cover-up" or whitewash of the Jack the Ripper case (in some cases, conspiracy theorists have claimed that the killings were masonic ritual murder), the inquiry into the Sinking of the RMS Titanic (though Lord Mersey, Sydney Buxton and Lord Pirrie), and Bloody Sunday (though Lord Widgery).[38][39][40]

In the Ripper case, Stephen Knight's Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution (1976) attempted to implicate freemasonry and the British royal family in the murders through the personage of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. Elements of this theory, through the novel of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, even made its way into a major American film, From Hell (2001). The Hughes Brothers who produced the film, even approached the United Grand Lodge of England to get the "masonic bits" right, but, they were rebuffed due to the anti-masonic nature of the storyline.[41] Another thesis, promoted by Bruce Robinson in his They All Love Jack (2015), attempts to link the case to freemasonry through Michael Maybrick.[42]

Some native proponents of more generic anti-masonic conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati (based on John Robison and Augustin Barruel) have typically sought to implicate only Continental Freemasonry as a subversive force, while claiming to not be attacking the United Grand Lodge of England itself or British freemasonry more generally.[43] This is the case with Nesta Helen Webster in her Secret Societies and Subversive Movements (1924). The American-born but English-domiciled Lady Queenborough pulled fewer punches with her Occult Theocrasy (1933), claiming that English freemasonry was founded as a front for the "Manichean" Rosicrucians.[44] Many of these conspiracy theorists also attempted to implicate Jews or Jesuits as working hand in hand with masonry[44] (such as Barry Domvile, coiner of the epithet "Judmas").

See also edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to United Grand Lodge of England.

References edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ "UGLE Governance | United Grand Lodge of England".
  2. ^ . Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2010., "Introduction to Anderson Constitution of 1723, by Bro. Lionel Vibert". Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  3. ^ Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, passim
  4. ^ Coil, Henry W. (1961). Two articles: "England, Grand Lodge of, According to the Old Institutions," pp. 237–240; and "Saints John," pp. 589–590. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. (rev. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. & Masonic Supply Co. Inc.
  5. ^ Jones, Bernard E. (1950). Freemasons' Guide and Compendium, (rev. ed. 1956) London: Harrap Ltd.
  6. ^ Batham, Cyril N. (1981). "The Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions, otherwise known as The Grand Lodge of the Antients." The Collected Prestonian Lectures, 1975–1987, Vol. Three. London (1988): Lewis Masonic.
  7. ^ Beresiner, Yasha (9 October 2008). "Masonic Education — Lodges of Instruction". Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry. Masonic Papers. Retrieved 27 September 2021. The Lodge of Reconciliation was thus formed on 7 December 1813, a few weeks before the actual Union ceremonies and the installation of the Grand Master of the new United Grand Lodge of England were to take place.
  8. ^ Andrew Prescott, A History of British Freemasonry 1425–2000, CRFF Working paper series 1, University of Sheffield, 2008
  9. ^ a b "So you want to be a Freemason". The Independent. 11 February 1999.
  10. ^ a b "The Craft". BBC. 26 March 1999.
  11. ^ About UGLE 12 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 21 July 2016
  12. ^ "PRO GRAND MASTER". Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  13. ^ "The Late Grand Secretary", "The Freemason", 2 January 1892, pp. 1-4 masonicperiodicals.org
  14. ^ "Two Hundred Years of Masonry", The Times (London), 25 June 1917, p. 9. Gale CS152373465.
  15. ^ "Sir E. Letchworth", The Times (London), 9 October 1917, p. 11. Gale CS185665865
  16. ^ "Smith, Sir Philip (Colville)", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  17. ^ "White, Sir Sydney (Arthur)", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Stubbs, Sir James (Wilfrid)", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Higham, Commander Michael Bernard Shepley" 20 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Stuck with the Sussex Fudge: A piece by Jim Daniel". www.ugle.org.uk. United Grand Lodge of England. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  21. ^ "An opportunity to fix the Sussex Fudge". www.thesquaremagazine.com. The Square Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  22. ^ Barkham, Patrick (4 May 2006). "Masons in turmoil as sacking at top shocks secret brotherhood". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Freemasonry Today - Summer 2016 - Issue 34 by UGLE - Issuu". issuu.com. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  24. ^ Hodapp, Christopher (21 April 2016). "Freemasons For Dummies: UGLE Grand Secretary Nigel Brown Retiring". Freemasons For Dummies. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  25. ^ "The interview: Dr David Staples". issuu. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  26. ^ Hodapp, Christopher (27 April 2022). "Freemasons For Dummies: David Staples Resigning as U.G.L.E.'s CEO and Grand Secretary". Freemasons For Dummies. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  27. ^ "Freemasonry Today - Summer 2018 - Issue 42 by UGLE - Issuu". issuu.com. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  28. ^ "UGLE Governance". www.ugle.org.uk. United Grand Lodge of England. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  29. ^ "Appointment of the Grand Secretary and Grand Scribe E". pglm.org.uk. Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  30. ^ "Conservatives at the heart of Freemasonry". The Independent. 31 October 1995.
  31. ^ "MP protests over 'NHS freemasons' spacey". The Independent. 16 March 1995.
  32. ^ Hamill, John; Prescott, Andrew (2006). "'The Masons' Candidate': New Welcome Lodge No. 5139 and the Parliamentary Labour Party". Labour History Review. 71: 9–41. doi:10.1179/174581806X103862.
  33. ^ "Straw scores own goal with Freemasons' register". The Telegraph. 11 March 2001. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  34. ^ "Police chief will respect Act by not naming masons". The Telegraph. 3 October 2000. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  35. ^ "Judges no longer have to declare Freemasonry". The Telegraph. 8 March 2009. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  36. ^ "Jack Straw scraps rule saying judges must declare if they are masons". The Guardian. 5 November 2009.
  37. ^ "A secret society?". BBC. 5 November 2009.
  38. ^ "Was Titanic inquiry scuppered by the Freemasons?". The Telegraph. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  39. ^ "Freemasons may have influenced Titanic inquiry, newly disclosed list of members' names reveals". The Independent. 23 November 2015.
  40. ^ "Freemasonry's Titanic heyday has probably long gone". The Guardian. 25 November 2015.
  41. ^ "Jack the Ripper". Masonic Info. 5 November 2009.
  42. ^ "They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper by Bruce Robinson review – a huge establishment cover-up". The Guardian. 3 October 2015.
  43. ^ "Nesta H. Webster's Secret Societies". Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. 3 October 2015.
  44. ^ a b "Occult Theocrasy Notes". Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. 3 October 2015.

Bibliography edit

  • Berman, Ric (2014). The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects, Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1714—1740. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1845196981.
  • Berman, Ric (2013). Schism: The Battle that Forged Freemasonry. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1845196073.
  • Harland-Jacobs, Jessica (2007). Builders of Empire: Freemasonry and British Imperialism, 1717-1927. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807830888.
  • Harrison, David (2010). The Transformation of Freemasonry. Arima Publishing. ISBN 978-1845494377.
  • Knight, Stephen (1984). The Brotherhood. Harper. ISBN 0007246293.
  • Murphy, Christopher B (2017). Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry: Studies in Honor of the Tricentennial of the Establishment of the Grand Lodge of England. Plumbstone. ISBN 978-1603020626.
  • Short, Martin (1989). Inside the Brotherhood. Grafton. ISBN 0246130202.

External links edit

February 18, 2024
united, grand, lodge, england, ugle, governing, masonic, lodge, majority, freemasons, england, wales, commonwealth, nations, claiming, descent, from, masonic, grand, lodge, formed, june, 1717, goose, gridiron, tavern, london, considered, oldest, masonic, grand. The United Grand Lodge of England UGLE is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England Wales and the Commonwealth of Nations Claiming descent from the Masonic Grand Lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose amp Gridiron Tavern in London it is considered to be the oldest Masonic Grand Lodge in the world together with the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Grand Lodge of Ireland United Grand Lodge of EnglandCoat of arms of the United Grand Lodge of EnglandFormation27 December 1813 210 years ago 27 December 1813 LocationLondon WC2RegionEngland and WalesGrand MasterPrince Edward Duke of Kent 1 Websitewww wbr ugle wbr org wbr uk Contents 1 History 1 1 Moderns and Ancients in English Freemasonry 1 2 Formation of the United Grand Lodge of England 1 3 Freemasonry in contemporary times 2 Grand Masters 2 1 Pro Grand Masters 3 Grand Secretaries 4 Opposition 4 1 Politics 4 2 Conspiracy theories 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Footnotes 6 2 Bibliography 7 External linksHistory editMain article History of Freemasonry Moderns and Ancients in English Freemasonry edit Main articles Premier Grand Lodge of England and Antient Grand Lodge of England Prior to 1717 there were Freemasons lodges in England Scotland and Ireland with the earliest known admission of non operative masons being in Scotland On St John s Day 24 June 1717 three existing London lodges and a Westminster lodge held a joint dinner at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse in St Paul s Churchyard elected Anthony Sayer to the chair as Grand Master and called themselves the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster The City of London Corporation has erected a Blue Plaque near the location Little is known of Sayer save that he was described as a Gentleman a man of independent means when he became Grand Master but later fell on hard times receiving money from the Grand Lodge charity fund In 1718 Sayer was succeeded by George Payne a successful Civil Servant The society then passed into the care of John Theophilus Desaguliers a scientist and clergyman then back to Payne In 1721 the Grand Lodge managed to obtain a nobleman the Duke of Montagu to preside as Grand Master and so was able to establish itself as an authoritative regulatory body and began meeting on a quarterly basis This resulted in lodges outside London becoming affiliated accepting sequentially numbered warrants conferring seniority over later applicants In 1723 by authority of the Grand Lodge James Anderson published the Constitutions of Masonry 2 for the purposes of regulating the craft and establishing the Grand Lodge s authority to warrant Lodges to meet The book includes a fanciful history of the Craft which nevertheless contains much interesting material 3 Throughout the early years of the new Grand Lodge there were any number of Masons and lodges that never affiliated with the new Grand Lodge These unaffiliated Masons and their Lodges were referred to as Old Masons or St John Masons and St John Lodges 4 During the 1730s and 1740s antipathy increased between the London Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland Irish and Scots Masons visiting and living in London considered the London Grand Lodge to have deviated substantially from the ancient practices of the Craft As a result these Masons felt a stronger kinship with the unaffiliated London Lodges The aristocratic nature of the London Grand Lodge and its members alienated other Masons causing them also to identify with the unaffiliated Lodges 5 On 17 July 1751 representatives of five Lodges gathered at the Turk s Head Tavern in Greek Street Soho London and formed a rival Grand Lodge The Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions They considered that they practised a more ancient and therefore purer form of Masonry and called their Grand Lodge The Ancients Grand Lodge They called those affiliated to the Premier Grand Lodge by the pejorative epithet The Moderns These two unofficial names stuck 6 The creation of Lodges followed the development of the Empire with all three home Grand Lodges warranting Lodges around the world including the Americas India and Africa from the 1730s Formation of the United Grand Lodge of England edit nbsp Freemasons Hall London is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of EnglandIn 1809 the Moderns appointed a Lodge of Promulgation to return their own ritual to regularity with Scotland Ireland and especially the Ancients In 1811 both Grand Lodges appointed Commissioners and over the next two years articles of Union were negotiated and agreed upon In January 1813 the Duke of Sussex became Grand Master of the Moderns on the resignation of his brother the Prince Regent and in December 1813 another brother Duke of Kent became Grand Master of the Antients On 27 December 1813 the United Grand Lodge of England UGLE was constituted at Freemasons Hall London with the Duke of Sussex younger son of King George III as Grand Master A Lodge of Reconciliation was formed to reconcile the rituals worked under the two former Grand Lodges 7 The new Grand Master had high hopes for Freemasonry having a theory that it was pre Christian and could serve the cause of humanity as a universal religion However his autocratic dealings with ordinary lodges won him few friends outside London and sparked open rebellion and a new Grand Lodge of Wigan in the North West Within Grand Lodge opposition centred on Masonic Charity Robert Crucefix launched the Freemason s Quarterly Review to promote charity to keep Freemasons from the workhouse and to engage masons in the broader argument for social reform The Earl of Zetland s complacent and inept management of Grand Lodge played into the hands of the reformers and by the end of the 1870s English Freemasonry had become a perfect expression of the aspirations of the enlightened middle classes 8 Freemasonry in contemporary times edit In response to conspiracy theories about Freemasons and generally hostile views gaining new life due to the works of Stephen Knight and Martin Short the United Grand Lodge of England began to change the way it dealt with the general public and the media from the mid 1990s emphasizing a new openness 9 This presentation was summed up by Provincial Secretary of East Lancashire Alan Garnett who declared we re not a secret society or a society with secrets but we are a private society 9 Lodges across England and Wales began holding open days to allow the general public to see what they do 10 Freemasons Hall London and the Library and Museum of Freemasonry also opened to the general public including guided tours 10 Today the United Grand Lodge of England or Grand Lodge currently has over 200 000 members meeting in over 6 800 Lodges 11 organised into a number of subordinate Provincial Grand Lodges which are approximately equivalent to the historic counties of England Lodges meeting in London an area generally within a 10 mile radius of Freemasons Hall are with five exceptions administered by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London headed by the Metropolitan Grand Master Lodges meeting outside London and within England Wales the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are grouped into 47 Provincial Grand Lodges UGLE each headed by a Provincial Grand Master Lodges that meet outside England Wales the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are grouped into 33 District Grand Lodges each headed by a District Grand Master Five Groups i e currently too small to make up a District each headed by a Grand Inspector Five Lodges in London and 12 Lodges abroad that are directly administered by Freemasons Hall Grand Masters edit nbsp Accomondation certificate of the United Grand Lodge of England issued 6 July 1925 when the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was the Grand MasterPrince Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex 1813 1843 Thomas Dundas 2nd Earl of Zetland 1844 1870 George Robinson 3rd Earl de Grey and 2nd Earl of Ripon 1st Marquess of Ripon from 1871 1870 1874 Albert Edward Prince of Wales King of Great Britain and Ireland as Edward VII from 1901 1874 1901 Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught and Strathearn 1901 1939 Prince George Duke of Kent 1939 1942 Henry Lascelles 6th Earl of Harewood 1942 1947 Edward Cavendish 10th Duke of Devonshire 1947 1950 Roger Lumley 11th Earl of Scarbrough 1951 1967 Prince Edward Duke of Kent 1967 present Pro Grand Masters edit When the Grand Master is a member of the royal family it is customary to appoint a Pro Grand Master The Pro Grand Master fills the role of the Grand Master when he is not available due to his royal duties It is distinct from the Deputy Grand Master who acts as the Grand Master s deputy rather than as acting Grand Master 12 Albert Edward Prince of WalesHenry Herbert 4th Earl of Carnarvon 1874 to 1890 Edward Bootle Wilbraham 1st Earl of Lathom 1891 to 1898 William Amherst 3rd Earl Amherst 1898 to 1901 Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught and StrathearnWilliam Amherst 3rd Earl Amherst 1901 to 1908 Oliver Russell 2nd Baron Ampthill 1908 to 1935 Prince Edward Duke of KentWilliam Cadogan 7th Earl Cadogan 1969 to 1982 Fiennes Cornwallis 3rd Baron Cornwallis 1982 to 1991 Barry Maxwell 12th Baron Farnham 1991 to 2001 Spencer Compton 7th Marquess of Northampton 2001 to 2009 Peter Lowndes 2009 to 2022 Jonathan Spence 2022 to present Grand Secretaries edit1880 1891 Colonel Shadwell Henry Clerke 13 1891 1917 Sir Edward Letchworth 14 15 1917 1937 Sir Philip Colville Smith CVO 16 1937 1958 Sir Sydney Arthur White KCVO 17 1958 1980 Sir James Wilfrid Stubbs KCVO TD 18 1980 1998 Commander Michael Bernard Shepley Higham CVO 19 1998 2002 Jim Daniel 20 21 2002 2006 Robert Morrow 22 2007 2016 Nigel Brown 23 24 2016 2018 Willie Shackell 2018 2022 David Staples 25 26 27 2022 Present Adrian Marsh 28 29 Opposition editPolitics edit nbsp Herbert Morrison claimed that his bid for the Labour Party leadership was sabotaged by Freemasonry In English politics freemasonry has often been criticised by those associated with the Labour Party and trade unionism because of a perception that freemasonry is aligned with the Conservative Party 30 31 The Labour Party became the second party of the United Kingdom from 1922 onward and stood on a platform of representing working class interests while the Conservatives and Liberals were largely based in the middle class and upper class similar to Freemasonry After a number of Labour MPs were blackballed from joining Masonic lodges the Prince of Wales who was concerned by the potential conflict intervened and had the New Welcome Lodge created for Labour members in 1929 Herbert Morrison claimed that his 1935 bid for the Labour leadership was sabotaged by Lodge members who preferred first Arthur Greenwood and then Clement Attlee 32 Despite the creation of the New Welcome Lodge there remained an element of hostility to Masonry within the Labour Party As well as the alleged Tory connections they accused Freemasonry of having unaccountable influence within the judicial system This issue was brought to the forefront of English politics in the 1990s when Jack Straw Home Secretary in the Tony Blair government attempted to force all Freemasons who worked as police officers 33 34 judges or magistrates to publicly declare membership in the organisation In 2009 the ruling that freemasons had to declare if they were judges or magistrates was scrapped by Straw after fears that he would lose a court case at the European Court of Human Rights 35 36 Critics regard the group Common Purpose as an attempt to set up a pro Labour freemasonry equivalent 37 Conspiracy theories edit nbsp A 1970s theory connected Freemasonry and the Duke of Clarence to Jack the Ripper As with freemasonry in other countries the United Grand Lodge of England has featured as the subject of Masonic conspiracy theories the most persistent of these attempts to link freemasonry to a cover up or whitewash of the Jack the Ripper case in some cases conspiracy theorists have claimed that the killings were masonic ritual murder the inquiry into the Sinking of the RMS Titanic though Lord Mersey Sydney Buxton and Lord Pirrie and Bloody Sunday though Lord Widgery 38 39 40 In the Ripper case Stephen Knight s Jack the Ripper The Final Solution 1976 attempted to implicate freemasonry and the British royal family in the murders through the personage of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale Elements of this theory through the novel of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell even made its way into a major American film From Hell 2001 The Hughes Brothers who produced the film even approached the United Grand Lodge of England to get the masonic bits right but they were rebuffed due to the anti masonic nature of the storyline 41 Another thesis promoted by Bruce Robinson in his They All Love Jack 2015 attempts to link the case to freemasonry through Michael Maybrick 42 Some native proponents of more generic anti masonic conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati based on John Robison and Augustin Barruel have typically sought to implicate only Continental Freemasonry as a subversive force while claiming to not be attacking the United Grand Lodge of England itself or British freemasonry more generally 43 This is the case with Nesta Helen Webster in her Secret Societies and Subversive Movements 1924 The American born but English domiciled Lady Queenborough pulled fewer punches with her Occult Theocrasy 1933 claiming that English freemasonry was founded as a front for the Manichean Rosicrucians 44 Many of these conspiracy theorists also attempted to implicate Jews or Jesuits as working hand in hand with masonry 44 such as Barry Domvile coiner of the epithet Judmas See also edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Hall London Museum of Freemasonry LondonReferences editFootnotes edit UGLE Governance United Grand Lodge of England Anderson s Constitutions Archived from the original on 22 July 2011 Retrieved 31 May 2010 Introduction to Anderson Constitution of 1723 by Bro Lionel Vibert Retrieved 31 May 2010 Ars Quatuor Coronatorum passim Coil Henry W 1961 Two articles England Grand Lodge of According to the Old Institutions pp 237 240 and Saints John pp 589 590 Coil s Masonic Encyclopedia rev ed 1996 Richmond Va Macoy Publ amp Masonic Supply Co Inc Jones Bernard E 1950 Freemasons Guide and Compendium rev ed 1956 London Harrap Ltd Batham Cyril N 1981 The Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions otherwise known as The Grand Lodge of the Antients The Collected Prestonian Lectures 1975 1987 Vol Three London 1988 Lewis Masonic Beresiner Yasha 9 October 2008 Masonic Education Lodges of Instruction Pietre Stones Review of Freemasonry Masonic Papers Retrieved 27 September 2021 The Lodge of Reconciliation was thus formed on 7 December 1813 a few weeks before the actual Union ceremonies and the installation of the Grand Master of the new United Grand Lodge of England were to take place Andrew Prescott A History of British Freemasonry 1425 2000 CRFF Working paper series 1 University of Sheffield 2008 a b So you want to be a Freemason The Independent 11 February 1999 a b The Craft BBC 26 March 1999 About UGLE Archived 12 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 21 July 2016 PRO GRAND MASTER Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Retrieved 4 December 2014 The Late Grand Secretary The Freemason 2 January 1892 pp 1 4 masonicperiodicals org Two Hundred Years of Masonry The Times London 25 June 1917 p 9 Gale CS152373465 Sir E Letchworth The Times London 9 October 1917 p 11 Gale CS185665865 Smith Sir Philip Colville Who Was Who online ed Oxford University Press 2021 Retrieved 20 July 2021 White Sir Sydney Arthur Who Was Who online ed Oxford University Press 2021 Retrieved 20 July 2021 Stubbs Sir James Wilfrid Who Was Who online ed Oxford University Press 2021 Retrieved 20 July 2021 Higham Commander Michael Bernard Shepley Archived 20 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine Who Was Who online ed Oxford University Press 2021 Retrieved 20 July 2021 Stuck with the Sussex Fudge A piece by Jim Daniel www ugle org uk United Grand Lodge of England Retrieved 22 April 2023 An opportunity to fix the Sussex Fudge www thesquaremagazine com The Square Magazine Retrieved 22 April 2023 Barkham Patrick 4 May 2006 Masons in turmoil as sacking at top shocks secret brotherhood The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 2 October 2023 Freemasonry Today Summer 2016 Issue 34 by UGLE Issuu issuu com 6 June 2016 Retrieved 2 October 2023 Hodapp Christopher 21 April 2016 Freemasons For Dummies UGLE Grand Secretary Nigel Brown Retiring Freemasons For Dummies Retrieved 2 October 2023 The interview Dr David Staples issuu Retrieved 2 October 2023 Hodapp Christopher 27 April 2022 Freemasons For Dummies David Staples Resigning as U G L E s CEO and Grand Secretary Freemasons For Dummies Retrieved 2 October 2023 Freemasonry Today Summer 2018 Issue 42 by UGLE Issuu issuu com 19 June 2018 Retrieved 2 October 2023 UGLE Governance www ugle org uk United Grand Lodge of England Retrieved 22 April 2023 Appointment of the Grand Secretary and Grand Scribe E pglm org uk Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex 9 September 2022 Retrieved 22 April 2023 Conservatives at the heart of Freemasonry The Independent 31 October 1995 MP protests over NHS freemasons spacey The Independent 16 March 1995 Hamill John Prescott Andrew 2006 The Masons Candidate New Welcome Lodge No 5139 and the Parliamentary Labour Party Labour History Review 71 9 41 doi 10 1179 174581806X103862 Straw scores own goal with Freemasons register The Telegraph 11 March 2001 Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Police chief will respect Act by not naming masons The Telegraph 3 October 2000 Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Judges no longer have to declare Freemasonry The Telegraph 8 March 2009 Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Jack Straw scraps rule saying judges must declare if they are masons The Guardian 5 November 2009 A secret society BBC 5 November 2009 Was Titanic inquiry scuppered by the Freemasons The Telegraph 23 November 2015 Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Freemasons may have influenced Titanic inquiry newly disclosed list of members names reveals The Independent 23 November 2015 Freemasonry s Titanic heyday has probably long gone The Guardian 25 November 2015 Jack the Ripper Masonic Info 5 November 2009 They All Love Jack Busting the Ripper by Bruce Robinson review a huge establishment cover up The Guardian 3 October 2015 Nesta H Webster s Secret Societies Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon 3 October 2015 a b Occult Theocrasy Notes Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon 3 October 2015 Bibliography edit Berman Ric 2014 The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry The Grand Architects Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment 1714 1740 Sussex Academic Press ISBN 978 1845196981 Berman Ric 2013 Schism The Battle that Forged Freemasonry Sussex Academic Press ISBN 978 1845196073 Harland Jacobs Jessica 2007 Builders of Empire Freemasonry and British Imperialism 1717 1927 University of North Carolina Press ISBN 978 0807830888 Harrison David 2010 The Transformation of Freemasonry Arima Publishing ISBN 978 1845494377 Knight Stephen 1984 The Brotherhood Harper ISBN 0007246293 Murphy Christopher B 2017 Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry Studies in Honor of the Tricentennial of the Establishment of the Grand Lodge of England Plumbstone ISBN 978 1603020626 Short Martin 1989 Inside the Brotherhood Grafton ISBN 0246130202 External links editUnited Grand Lodge of England Homepage The Library and Museum of Freemasonry Archived 22 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine Freemasonry in the Police and the Judiciary by Home Affairs Select Committee Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title United Grand Lodge of England amp oldid 1197788000, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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