Freemasonry in Kolkata is now 272 years old with the consecration of the first Lodge outside England under the English Constitution of the Lodge "East India Arms" in 1730 in Fort William which along with No.2 Lodge went out of existence in 1756 after the seize of Kolkata.

The Scottish Constitution came a little later in 1736.

Lodge St. Thomas in the East named after one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ was consecrated on 7th May 1860 as Lodge No. 404 under the Scottish Constitution. Lodge St. Thomas in the East is the sixth oldest lodge in India and Sri Lanka and the second oldest lodge in Eastern India under the Scottish Constitution.

This lodge feels proud and is honoured to be associated with the name of the Great Apostle and Saint.

The crest of the Lodge was chosen to have the square and compasses, the two great Masonic symbols.

Early records of the Lodge of the first eight years were lost long ago and therefore the names of the founding members are not at present available.

The Lodge celebrated it's centenary at Kolkata on 19th November 1960 under the Mastership R. W. Bro. Tapan Kumar Ghosh, P. Dy R. G. M., P. Dy G. M. who is now the Honorary Member of the Lodge.

After the founding of the Grand Lodge of India in 1961 the Lodge opted for the Indian Constitution and became Lodge No. 12 on the Rolls of the Grand Lodge of India as one of its Founding Members.

Since its consecration on 7th May 1860 the Lodge has been continuously active in promoting Free masonary till today and has completed 142 years of its existence.

Over the years more than 1000 brethren have joined the Lodge. At present 43 brethren are on its roll. It holds its meetings at Freemason Hall, Park Street, Kolkata, every third Saturday of the month except for the months of May and October.

During the past 142 years many eminent men from different walks of life have been its members, such as Mariners, Engineers, Police Officers, Lawyers, Ministers under the Central Government of India, Advocate Generals, Doctors, Educationists, Chartered Accountants, Businessmen, Members of the ruling houses of Nepal and Cooch Behar down to a servant of the Bengal Club.

The First three Indians affiliated were Bro. Priya Nath Mullick in December 1879, who became Master in 1881, Bro. Womesh Chandra Ghose in January 1881 and Bro. Prokash Nath Mullick in February 1881. First Indians to be initiated in the Lodge were Bro. Monilal Banerjee in May 1881 and Bro. Kumar Kadir Bahadur in June 1881.

Some of the eminent members in the past have been :-

Sir N. N. Sircar, Sarat Chandra Bose, Sir S. M. Bose, Advocate General Bengal, Sir A. K. Roy, Advocate General Bengal, Sachindra N. Chaudhuri, Union Finance Minister, S. R. Das, Ex-Chief Justice of India, Amin Ahmed, Chief Justice of Dacca, H. S. Surhawardy, Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, A. C. Mitra, A. K. Sen, Central Law Minister, S. M. Banerjee, R. M. Chatterjee, D. P. Khaitan, Ratindra Nath Dutt, Bhagwati Prasad Khaitan, Saila Kumar Mukherjee Ex-Speaker.

The Lodge feels proud that one of its members R. W. Bro. Md. Ismail was appointed the first Director of Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of India.

In the first 100 years one of the brothers of the Lodge was G. S. E. A. of the Scottish Constitution and was conferred Grand Lodge (Scotland) honours.