Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

associations were often politically or religiously motivated. Jacob addresses
these factions, as many were pseudo-masonic in that they imitated or closely
fashioned their own unique rituals and ceremonies after the freemasons. Elaine
W. McFarland’s Ireland And Scotland In The Age Of Revolution (1994) looks at
the role of organizations in fostering ideas of revolution. 20 She discusses the
problems which seditious societies such as the United Irishmen (who, as we
shall see, were to be implicated in the Maybole Trial of Sedition in 1800) posed
for the government. McFarland also considers the government response to their
revolutionary ideas; ultimately, the disciplinary measures aimed at eradicating
these organizations severely impacted British freemasons, especially those in
Scotland.
In exploring the changes in Scottish lodges between the years 1725 to
1810, several related questions will be considered in this study. First, what was
the nature of early eighteenth-century Scottish freemasonry and how did it
change in the years following the creation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland?
Second, what are the essential similarities and differences between English and
Scottish masons, and how did they affect the progression of eighteenth-century
Scottish lodges? Third, what were the roles and functions of the Grand Lodge?
Fourth, what are the broader patterns of voluntarism among freemasons, and
what are the similarities and differences of the fraternity when compared to
other eighteenth-century clubs and associations? Lastly, what caused the
conflicts among Scottish freemasons during the 1790s, and why was the Grand
Lodge of Scotland unable to effectively contain the turmoil among its lodges?
20 E. W. McFarland, Ireland And Scotland In The Age Of Revolution (Edinburgh, 1994).
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