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         The First Written Record Anywhere of the
           Conferring of the Master Mason Degree
                    by John Salmon, MPS

This paper was presented October 16, 1993, at the Grand Lodge of British
Columbia's "Grand Masonic Day" in Vancouver.

Introduction

Before I get into the main topic of my paper, it will be necessary to
familiarize you with Masonry in London, England, in the 1700's. On 24
June, 1717, the Grand Lodge of England, the First Grand Lodge in the world
was formed in London, making it the mother of all Grand Lodges. On its
formation there were, in total, three Grand Lodge Officers: The Grand
Master and his two Wardens. In 1721, a Deputy Grand Master was appointed,
and in 1723 by the Grand Secretary, making in total five Grand Lodge
Officers.

The jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge was within a ten-mile radius of
central London. Masons outside the London area, along with many inside its
area, were still following the "Time Immemorial Privilege" of whenever
five or more Masons gathered together for any reason whatever, including
the making of Masons, it was their right to do so. In 1723 the first Book
of Constitutions was written. We know from this book that there were only
two degrees, the Entered Apprentice and the Fellow Craft. As far as we
know today, the Master Mason Degree did not make its appearance until

In the "Charges of a Free Mason, " on pp. 51 and 52 of the 1723 Book of
Constitutions, we find the following:

     "Charge No. 4, Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices. "No
     Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellow 
     Craft; nor a Master until he has acted as a Warden, Nor Grand Warden
     until he has been Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master unless he has
     been a Fellow Craft before his election. "

Also, "Charge No. 5, Of the Management of the Craft in Working.
     "The most expert of the Fellow Crafts shall be chosen, or appointed,
     the Master, who is to be called `Master' by all who work under him."

In Regulation No. 13, on p. 63, we find the following:
     "Another Brother (who must be a Fellow Craft) should be appointed to
     look after the door of the Grand Lodge."

These three entries--Charges 4 and 5 and Regulation XIII--prove beyond a
shadow of a doubt, that the highest Masonic rank within a lodge in 1723
was that of Fellow Craft.

When the second Book of Constitutions was written in 1738, all references
to the Fellow Craft in Chapters 4 and 5 and Regulation XIII were deleted,
and the Masonic rank of "Master Mason" was inserted in their place. This
should also prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the highest Masonic
rank in 1738 was that of Master Mason.

Prior to the introduction of a Grand Lodge in 1717, each lodge, and there
were several scattered over England, was in fact, its own Grand Lodge with
respect to how the lodge would be managed. There was no higher authority
than the lodge itself. Many lodges were formed for just the one meeting.
It was not necessary to get anyone's approval to make Masons, as there was
no such person at that time. Even after the Grand Lodge was formed. many
Masons still felt that the Time-Immemorial Privilege was all that was
necessary to be able to hold a lodge and make Masons.

These points should be kept in mind when we get into the body of the
paper. Let us now turn our attention to the subject of this paper.

           The Lodge at the Queen's Head Tavern

The members of this lodge consisted of some of the finest of London's
musical, architectural, and cultural society. His Grace, the Duke of
Richmond was not only the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England in
1724-25, but was also at the same time Master of the lodge at the Queen's
Head Tavern. The name of this lodge was changed to the Apollo Lodge in
1727.

On 22 December, 1724, Charles Cotton, Esq., whose name will appear again
in the body of this paper, was made a Mason by the said Grand Master, the
Duke of Richmond, in the Lodge at the Queen's Head Tavern.

     Philo Musicae et Architecturae Societas Apolline

The earliest record of a third degree's actually being conferred comes not
from a lodge, but from the minutes of a London society of gentlemen who
were lovers of music and architecture. The English translation of the name
of this society was "The Apollonian Society for the lovers of Music and
Architecture," also known as The Musical Society.

                        The Society

On 18 February, 1725, seven members of the Queen's Head Tavern Lodge,
along with a member of the George Lodge in Long Acre decided that they
wanted to found a "Musical and Architectural Society."  One of the rules
of the society was that anyone could attend their architectural lectures,
or their musical evenings--the finest conductors and lecturers were also
members--but first he had to be a Mason. If he was not a member of the
Craft, he had to be made one before he could become a member of the
society. In 1725 the organization of the Craft was still such that it was
not unknown for a number of brethren to regard themselves as a lodge for
the time being and to make Masons. (Grand Lodge did not have control over
the making of Masons at that time as it does today.)

The Society had its own Minute/Rule Book in which many Masonic biograph-
ical notes were kept, including the dates of being made a Mason along
with, if necessary, the dates for being passed and
raised .

According to the preamble of the Fundamental Constitutions and Orders of
the Philo-Musicae et Architecturae Societas, four of the founders of the
Musical Society had been made Masons_at the Lodge in the Queen's Head
Tavern in December, 1724, and were, prior to February, 1725, "Regularly
pass'd Masters in the before mentioned lodge in Hollis Street." The term
"Regularly pass'd Master" or "passed Master" had the same meaning as our
"Raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason " has today.

Included in these biographical notes were the following pertaining to
Charles Cotton Esq.: "On 22 December 1724 Charles Cotton Esq. was made a
Mason by the said Grand Master, His Grace, the Duke of Richmond...." About
two months later, the same record continues: "And before we founded this
Society A Lodge was held consisting of Masters Sufficient for that purpose
in order to pass Charles Cotton Esq., Papillon Ball and Thom. Marshall
Fellow Crafts in the performance of which Mr. William Gulston acted as
Senior Warden immediately after which, the 18 day of February, he the said
Mr. William Gulston was chosen President of the said society. "

From the biographical notes of the society we find that Brother Cotton was
made an Entered Apprentice Freemason by the Grand Master in December 1724.
This was at a regularly held lodge meeting. We also know from these same
notes that "before the society was founded," a lodge was held on February
1, 1725, in which Cotton, Ball, and Thomas were passed Fellow Crafts. Once
again, this was also at a regularly held lodge meeting.

From these same notes we find that The Society was founded on the same
day, that is 18 February, 1725. This was after Cotton, Ball, and Marshall
were made Fellow Crafts and William Gulston was chosen president of the
said society.

             The Musical Society's Minute Book

Let us now turn our attention to the actual minute from the Musical
Society's Minute Book:
     "The 12th day of May 1725--our Beloved Brothers & Directors of the
     Right Worshipful Society, whose Names are here Underwritten (Viz.)
     "Bro. Thom. Marshall
     "Bro. Charles Cotton Esq.
     "Brother Papillon Ball
     "were regularly passed Master."

So here we have it, the earliest record, from a minute book of the Third
Degree's being performed. But, Cotton Ball, and Marshall could not
possibly have been "regularly passed Masters" for the degree was performed
in a musical society and not a lodge. On top of this, Regulation No. XIII
of the 1723 Book of Constitutions reads as follows: "Apprentices must be
admitted Masters and Fellow Craft only here .... "

When the Book of Constitutions was first written in 1723, the majority of
its members were in the London area, and were very few in number. By 17
25, membership was growing by leaps and bounds in both the city and lodges
outside the London area. As there was no way that Regulation XIII could be
followed to the letter, it was changed on 22 November, 1725, to read as
follows:

     "The Master of a Lodge with his wardens and a competent Number of
     the Lodge assembled in due Form, can make Masters and Fellows at
     Discretion. " This did away with the necessity of being admitted
     Masters and Fellow-Crafts in Grand Lodge, but did not solve the
     problem of irregular making of Masons outside the lodge.

These proceedings of the "Society" attracted the attention of Grand Lodge.
On May 27, 1725, Grand Lodge summoned certain members of the society, all
members of the Lodge at the Queen's Head, to attend the next Quarterly
Communication, but there is nothing subsequent to show whether they at-
tended, and if so, what happened.

On September 2, 1725, George Payne, Junior Grand Warden and Past Grand
Master (1718-19) and (1720-21), visited the Society. In December 1725,
Payne, along with the Grand Master (the Duke of Richmond) wrote letters to
the Society. These letters are recorded in the Society's Minute Book under
the date 16 December 1725:
     "A letter date the 8th Instant from Brother Geo. Payne Junr. Grand
     Warden directed in form to this Society inclosing a letter from the
     Duke of Richmond Grand Master .... directed to the President and the
     rest of the Brethren at the Apollo in which he Erroneously insists
     on and Assumes to himself a Pretended Authority to call Our Rt. Wor-
     shipful and Highly Esteemed Society to an account for making Masons
     irregularly .... Ordered That the Said Letter do lye on the Table."
The Grand Master's letter was deemed impolite because it had not been ad-
dressed directly to the Society. In other words, the letter was ignored.
The members of the Society resented the intervention of Grand Lodge, for
as far as they were concerned, they were only doing what accepted Masons
had been doing for the last hundred years; that is, forming themselves
into an occasional lodge and making Masons.

The last minute of the Society is dated 23 March, 1727, and it disappeared
soon afterwards. The Society's Minute Book is now in the British Library,
and a facsimile is available at the Freemasons' Hall in London.

So there we have the first record of a third degree's being performed, but
it was not in a lodge. Yet within a very short period of time--ten months
to be exact--we find evidence of the Third Degree being performed not in
a society but in a lawfully constituted lodge.

     Further Evidence of the Third Degree in practice.

The earliest lodge record of the Third Degree being performed belongs to
a Scottish lodge, Dumbarton Kilwinning now No. 18 under the Scottish
Constitution. The minutes for 29 January, 1726, state that there were
present the Worshipful Master, seven Master Masons, six Fellow Crafts, and
three Entered Apprentices. At the next meeting, on 25 March, 1726, we find
the following lodge minute:
     "Gabreal Porterfield who appeared in the January meeting as a Fellow
     Craft, was unanimously admitted and received a Master of the
     Fraternity and renewed his oath and gave in his entry money . . .

     " On December 27, 1728, Lodge Greenock Kilwinning, Now No. 12 under
     the Scottish Constitution prescribed separate fees for entering,
     passing and raising.

Because of the scarcity of lodge minutes for lodges in England along with
the fact that most Masons were quite satisfied to be merely "made Masons,"
taking only the first grade or the first and second together, makes it
very difficult to trace early records of the Third Degree's being
conferred in an English lodge. As an example, the Lodge of Antiquity, a
Time Immemorial Lodge*,  was founded before 1717, yet its earliest minute
of the Third Degree's being performed is dated 1737.

       Samuel Pritchard's Masonry Dissected -- 1730

This was the first printed exposure which included the three degrees--En-
tered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. It had a great influence
on the stabilization of our ritual and included, for the first time, a
penalty in the obligation. This was not unlike our present three
penalties, except that they were all included in the Entered Apprentice
Obligation, there being an obligation for the Entered Apprentice Degree.
This publication was to be the ritual until 1760 and '62 when Three
Distinct Knocks and Jachin & Boaz were published, respectively. It
included the ritual for opening the lodge in the Entered Apprentice Degree
only. The ritual for opening the lodge in the Fellow Craft or Master Mason
Degree was not to make an appearance until 1813. The 1760 and 1762
publications did include, for the first time, three obligations with a
separate penalty for each.

This then is the story of how our Third Degree got started and until
further evidence is found to the contrary, we can say, with reasonable
certainty, that our Third Degree dates from the 1720's.

*    A Time Immemorial Lodge is one that has existed since before the
     founding of Grand Lodge.

                     References Books
Anderson, James. The Grand Lodge of England Book of Constitutions, 1723,
61, Reg. No. XIII. Ibid. The Grand Lodge of England Book of Constitution,
1738.
160, Regulation No. XIII and New Regulation No. XIII 92).

Carr, Harry. The Freemason at Work, 8th and Revised Ed. 54- 59; 358.

Ibid. World of Freemasonry. 15-18.

Knoop and Jones. The Genesis of Freemasonry 187-89; 192; 26465; 312.

Smyth, Frederick. The Freemason's Pocket Reference Book, 3rd Ed. 256.

Ibid. The Pocket History of Freemasonry, 8th Ed ., 81 Articles in
Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2076.

Gould, R. F. "Philo-Musicae et Architecturae Societas Apollini." 16
(1903)), 112-28. 

Ibid. 17 (1904), 236.

Hughan, W. J. "The Three Degrees of Freemasonry." 10(1897), 157-94.

Tuckett, J. "An Apollonian Summons. " 26 (1913), 31-44, 303-04.