For people who say Freemasonry is restricted to men only. There are thousands of Women Freemasons

In the United Kingdom, female freemasons often meet in halls owned by the male orders.This is fully approved by Grand Lodge. I have re-printed the official confirmation letter below.

Today, the United Grand Lodge Of England acknowledges womens freemasonry.This is distinct from them saying “recognises, or includes”. You can read more about their view on their website. (Just Google UGLE.) The two female freemasons Grand Lodges are entirely autonomous jurisdictions, both from eachother and the male only UGLE.

NB. Members of The Eastern Star Organisation are not female freemasons.  Nor are Lions, Kiwanis, Round Tablers, Inner Wheelers, or Rotarians.

However all are welcome as masons. Here are some Women Freemasons wearing beautiful embroidered regalia.

These two “brethren” are of very high masonic rank. Yes, that’s right they too refer to eachother as Brother

(Women Freemasons are not called Sister)

The Official United Grand Lodge Of England view on

FEMALE FREEMASONS

The Order of Women Freemasons 27 Pembridge Gardens London W2 4EF Tel:  020 7229 2368/020 7227 2164 http://www.owf.org.uk/ We usually tell enquirers that the above organisations practise “regular” Freemasonry, but point out that there are some Grand Lodges and other apparently Masonic bodies that do not meet these standards, e.g. that do not require a belief in a Supreme Being, or that allow or encourage their members as such to participate in political matters, and that these Grand Lodges and bodies are not recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England as being Masonically regular. It is in order to hire out Masonic buildings to Lodges affiliated to the two Ladies’ Grand Lodges listed above, as long as their meetings do not coincide with your Lodge meetings or any meeting of a Lodge under the UGLE. I hope this is helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact xxxxxxx or another member of the Communications Department at UGLE if you have any further questions. United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons’ Hall Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AZ Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 9811 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +44 (0) 20 7831 9811      end_of_the_skype_highlighting Fax: +44 (0) 20 7831 6021

Website: www.ugle.org.uk Email: info@ugle.org.uk

Some Masonic History

Dan Browns new best seller The Lost Symbol has once again stirred up the intrigue as it hits the bookstores. The cover, featuring an old style key with the Masonic icon of square and compasses at one end, kindles new questions. Who are the Freemasons, what are the masonc secrets , and what is their link with the past, and what do they do behind closed doors?

By their own admission their Order is “shrouded in mystery and veiled in allegory.”

If you have an enquiring mind, here are a few questions you may like answers to.

•       Why is it men only?

•       Who were the first Freemasons?

•       Are there Lodges for African Americans?

•       Where did it all start?

•       Is it all one interconnected Brotherhood?   

  

But Is It Really Men Only?  

It is known that the original skilled stonemasons formed themselves into Guilds, and perhaps protected their craft by adopting passwords and other forms of recognition.

The origins and early development of fraternal Freemasonry are a matter of some debate and conjecture. A poem known as the Regius Manuscript has been dated to approximately 1390 and is the oldest known Masonic text. There is evidence to suggest that there were Masonic lodges in existence in Scotland as early as the late sixteenth century.

For example the Lodge at Kilwinning, Scotland, has records that date to the late 1500s, and is mentioned in the Second Schaw Statutes (1599) which specified that “ye warden of ye lug of Kilwynning [...] tak tryall of ye airt of memorie and science yrof, of everie fellowe of craft and everie prenteiss according to ayr of yr vocations”).There are clear references to the existence of lodges in England by the mid-seventeenth century.

An inn called the Goose and Gridiron, where the Grand Lodge of England was founded.      

The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England (GLE), was founded on 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. This rapidly expanded into a regulatory body, which most English Lodges joined. However, a few lodges resented some of the modernisations that GLE endorsed, such as the creation of the Third Degree, and formed a rival Grand Lodge on 17 July 1751, which they called the “Antient Grand Lodge of England”. The two competing Grand Lodges vied for supremacy – the “Moderns” (GLE) and the “Antients” (or “Ancients”) – until they united 25 November 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). Today the headquarters is in Great Queen Street, London. In recent years the entrance has been used for the backdrop to the TV spy series Spooks.

The Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736 respectively. Freemasonry was exported to the British Colonies in North America by the 1730s – with both the “Antients” and the “Moderns” (as well as the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland) chartering offspring (“daughter”) Lodges, and organising various Provincial Grand Lodges. After the American Revolution independent U.S. Grand Lodges formed themselves within each State. Some thought was briefly given to organising an over-arching “Grand Lodge of the United States, with George Washington (who was a member of a Virginian lodge) as the first Grand Master, but the idea was short-lived. The various State Grand Lodges did not wish to diminish their own authority by agreeing to such a body.

Although there are no real differences in the Freemasonry practiced by lodges chartered by the Antients or the Moderns, the remnants of this division can still be seen in the names of most Lodges, F.& A.M. being Free and Accepted Masons and A.F.& A.M. being Antient Free and Accepted Masons.

The oldest jurisdiction on the continent of Europe, the Grand Orient de France (GOdF), was founded in 1728. However, most English-speaking jurisdictions cut formal relations with the GOdF around 1877 – when the GOdF removed the requirement that its members have a belief in a Deity (thereby accepting atheists). The Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF) is currently the only French Grand Lodge that is in regular amity with the UGLE and its many concordant jurisdictions worldwide.

Due to the above history, Freemasonry is often said to consist of two branches not in mutual regular amity:

* the UGLE and concordant tradition of jurisdictions (mostly termed Grand Lodges) in amity, and

* the GOdF, European Continental, tradition of jurisdictions (often termed Grand Orients) in amity.

In most Latin countries, the GOdF-style of European Continental Freemasonry predominates,  although in most of these Latin countries there are also Grand Lodges that are in regular amity with the UGLE and the worldwide community of Grand Lodges that share regular “fraternal relations” with the UGLE. The rest of the world, accounting for the bulk of Freemasonry, tends to follow more closely to the UGLE style, although minor variations exist.

African-American or Prince Hall Freemasonry

Documents in Massachusetts showing that slave-owner William Hall freed a man named Prince Hall on April 9, 1765 cannot be conclusively linked to any one individual as there exists record of no fewer than 21 males named Prince Hall, and several other men named Prince Hall were living in Boston at that time. It is also unknown whether he was free-born or a freedman.

Prince Hall was a property owner and a registered voter in Boston. He worked as an abolitionist and civil rights activist, fought for laws to protect free blacks in Massachusetts from kidnapping by slave traders, campaigned for schools for black children, and operated a school in his own home.

On March 6  1775 Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated, passed and raised in Military Lodge No. 441, an integrated Lodge attached to the British Army and then stationed in Boston.

 

Prince Hall’s grave in Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in Boston, US.

It is probable that Prince Hall served in the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolutionary War but his service record is unclear because at least six men from Massachusetts named “Prince Hall” served in the military during the war. Historians George Washington Williams and Carter Woodson believed that this Prince Hall did serve in the war. He may have been one of the black soldiers who fought on the American side of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

When the British Army left Boston in 1776, the black Masons were granted a dispensation for limited operations as African Lodge No. 1. They were entitled to meet as a Lodge, to take part in the Masonic procession on St. John’s Day, and to bury their dead with Masonic rites, but not to confer degrees or perform other Masonic functions. Excluded by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts they were granted a charter by the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1784 as African Lodge No. 459 (but, due to communications problems, did not receive the actual charter until 1787).

Shortly after that, black Masons elsewhere in the United States began contacting Prince Hall with requests to establish affiliated Lodges in their own cities. Consistent with European Masonic practice at that time, African Lodge granted their requests and served as Mother Lodge to new black Lodges in Philadelphia Providence and New York. For many years Prince Hall Freemasonry and other forms of Freemasonry existed without recognising each other. Today in all but the most backward states, recognition is mutual.

Can Women Join?

The fact that there are Lady Masons is one of the closest guarded masonic secrets. The history of the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons in particular cannot be described without reference to the history of the Women’s movement in Masonry in general. We cannot do better than to quote from a pamphlet published in 1988 by Enid Scott, a former Assistant Grand Master of our Order, entitled “Women in Freemasonry”.

“It was in 1902 that the first lodge of Co-Masons was formed in London and that importation from France soon snowballed. But within a few years some of its members became uneasy regarding the course being taken by the governing body in Paris. They felt that their ancient forms were in jeopardy and a departure from their traditional style was taking place; history was being repeated, for it was a similar state that had arisen in regular Freemasonry in the mid-18th century. Various members resigned from the Order and formed themselves into a Society from which was to emerge the Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry, but still as an association for men and women. On 5 June 1908 a Grand Lodge was formed with a Reverend Brother as Grand Master. He was the first and only male Grand Master and held that office for four years before retiring through ill health. His successor commenced the continuing line of female Grand Masters. Approximately ten years later it was decided to restrict admission to women only but to allow existing male members to remain. Within a very short period the title was changed to the Order of Women Freemasons but the form of address as ‘Brother’ remained, the term ‘Sister’ having been discontinued soon after the formation in 1908 as it was deemed unfitting for members of a universal Brotherhood of Freemasons. It is also of some interest to note that history was repeated again, in that the Royal Arch became the subject of a division in their ranks, rather on the lines of the Antients and Moderns years before the Union in 1813. A group of its members wished to include the Royal Arch in the system but failed to obtain authority from their Grand Lodge, which caused them to secede and form the first Lodge of yet another Order – The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, two Grand Lodges running in parallel was almost a carbon copy performance, but in this case the time for a Union, similar to that which took place in 1813, is yet to come.”

It should be noted that Women’s Freemasonry pre-dates both the Women’s Institute founded in 1915 and also the Townswomen’s Guild which started in 1929.

The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons was founded in 1913 and the first Grand Master was Mrs Elizabeth Boswell-Reid who held that Office from 1913 to 1933 ; she was succeeded by her daughter Mrs Lily Seton Challen.

The first three Lodges to be consecrated were ;

· Stability No 1 ·

. Wisdom No 2 (later to change its name to Fidelity)

· Strength No 3.

The progress of the Order was severely restricted by the outbreak of the Great War as many of its members had dedicated themselves to voluntary service for the war effort.  Nevertheless in 1916 the dream of establishing the Higher Degrees was realised with the consecration of the Chapter of Hidden Splendour no 1 of the Holy Royal Arch. 

In 1932 the Mark Degree was established when the Keystone Mark Lodge no 1 was consecrated, followed by the Rose Croix 18th Degree Rose of Sharon Chapter no 1 in 1935. Ark Mariners in 1996 and Knights Templar in 2001.

Our very first masonic home was Dr Johnson’s Library, swiftly followed by Caxton Hall,Westminster and then St Ermins, Westminster. In 1947 the Fraternity moved to Clive Court, Kensington, in 1955 to 68 Great Cumberland Place and  in 2005 we moved to 402 Finchley Road, London NW2. This nowadays is known as “402″.

The women’s movement in France continued along the lines of Adoptive Masonry until 1959 when the Grand Loge Féminine de France decided to work the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. This led to the consecration of further national Grand Lodges in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Turkey, Germany, Canada  and the Americas.

There are two Womens Grand Lodges

The Order was founded in 1908 as the Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry, and formed by a small group of men and women who seceded from the Co-Masonic movement. They disagreed with the theosophical precepts and the governance of the Co-Masonic organisation and wanted to return to the traditional workings of English Masonry. The leader and first Grand Master was W. F. Cobb, Rector of St Ethelburga’s church in the City of London. By the time he resigned from the Order in 1912, six Lodges had been consecrated. The second and all subsequent Grand Masters have been women.

The sanctions of United Grand Lodge of England against any of their members who associated with “irregular bodies” of Freemasons, including those admitting women, meant that there were few male candidates after 1910. In 1920 a petition was sent from the Order to UGLE for recognition as a bone fide Masonic body but this was refused. After that men were no longer accepted as candidates into the Order although there were still a few who, distancing themselves from their own Obedience, chose to remain in high office. In 1935 Peter Slingsby, the male Grand Secretary, died and the remaining male Grand Officer, Deputy Grand Master Peter Birchall, was asked to resign. From this date the Order has been exclusively female. Relations with UGLE are now mutually cordial. Some all female Lodges meet at mens’ Masonic Halls, however inter-visitation is not allowed!

In 1913 a small group who wished to introduce the Holy Royal Arch degree in an unorthodox manner were expelled from the Order and founded their own female Order, the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasonry.

The degree of the Holy Royal Arch was legitimately introduced in 1929 and the Mark Degree in 1946. Other Higher and Further Degrees including the Chivalric Degrees were introduced in the late 1940s and the 1950s. All these are administered by the same Grand Lodge as the Craft Degrees.

The Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry took as its subtitle in 1958 ‘The Order of Women Freemasons’, to make its single-sex nature more obvious, and it is by this name that it is known today.

The Order currently comprises nearly 300 working Craft Lodges, based in the British Isles, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe. There are approximately 7,250 members, at last count. The headquarters, Grand Lodge administration and Grand Temple are at 27 Pembridge Gardens, Notting Hill Gate, London. The workings and Constitution of the Order parallel those of the United Grand Lodge of England.

The current Grand Master is Brenda Irene Fleming-Taylor.

Grand Masters of the Order:

* William Frederick Cobb 1908 – 1912

* Marion Lindsay Halsey 1912 – 1927

* Adelaide Daisy Litten 1928 – 1938

* Lucy Bertram O’Hea 1938 – 1948

* Mary Gordon Muirhead Hope 1948 – 1964

* Mildred Rhoda Low 1964 – 1976

* Frances Hall 1976 – 1989

* Brenda Irene Fleming-Taylor 1989 -

Lady Masons, in most peoples eyes are a real masonic secret.

Men and Women together?

The Grand Lodge of Freemasonry for Men and Women was Inaugurated on the 18th February 2001, as a result of a need of an Order for Freemasonry freed from the dictates of other Obediences.  These dictates precluded young Masons from reaching Grand Lodge level and as such assisting with the policies of the future.     

The Order was created especially to meet a need to provide a modern organisation in the Millennium; maintaining the ancient Landmarks and Principles of Freemasonry, alongside similar Masonic Orders in England, such as the singular masculine and women’s Masonic Orders.   It was seen to be of paramount importance to very senior members who were the Founders of the Order, that it is essential that all members, whether in Great Britain or overseas, certify that they have a belief in a Supreme Being.

The sharing of responsibilities of officering a lodge regardless of gender, race or creed brings a vibrant enthusiasm to common responsibilities of Officering a Lodge.

The three great principles of Masonry being Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth are essential to the Order and are the basis of the harmony in Lodges.

With the beginning of the Millennium and the beginning of the Grand Lodge of Freemasonry for Men and Women, it was considered unnecessary to continue with the expression Co-Mason, and to use the one word ‘Freemason’ to express the name of the individual.  It was Dr.Annie Besant who said in 1927 at the Festival to commemorate the Founding of the Order of Universal Co-Masonry in the British Federation (later called International Co-Freemasonry Le Droit Humain).  ‘In forming what was at first called in England  ‘Joint Free Masonry’ and in France where the Order took its birth, ‘Maconnierie Mixte’  we did not think that would be a very favourable title for us here in England, the term might have been misunderstood, and so we at first chose the word ‘Joint’ and then, a little later, taking the idea from the education of boys and girls together, we used the prefix ‘Co’  to represent our position, and called it ‘Co-Masonry’.     

So we, the new moderns, insist that, as we are unable to recognise International Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain, and as an entirely British Organisation, we are now known to all as Freemasons, regardless of gender.

Our Overseas Lodges are independent Grand Lodges but work to our Constitution at present, the Ancient Landmarks are adhered to, and a Belief in a Supreme Being is an essential requirement for all membership.

 

False Freemasonry.

 

There are many self styled organisations who have constructed their own Grand Lodges and who carry out initiations on willing but unsuspecting candidates. These are not recognised by legitimate Masonic Authorities, but continue to imitate. Their members are excluded from mainstream or “regular” Freemasonry.

This website is designed to bring you a little of the history of the various fraternities.