Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

conditions of the lodges in various parts of the country “made casual co-
ordination impossible.” 41 Unlike England, where evidence suggests active
contact among lodges, Scottish minutes before 1740 offer little indication of
lodge interaction and communication. 42 By 1747, however, the Grand Lodge of
Scotland had addressed this problem. As will be explained in greater detail in
Chapter 3, the office of Provincial Grand Master enabled lodges outside of
Edinburgh to correspond with the Grand Lodge and afforded an accessible and
convenient method of collecting subscription monies, charitable donations, and
other mandatory fees.
The Grand Lodge of Scotland
Despite the best efforts of the four Edinburgh lodges to create an
institution that would satisfy everyone, the manner in which the central
governing body emerged would dog its existence for almost a century from its
inception. 43 According to Lyon, there was an overall “disorganization that was
prevalent in the Craft at the date of the erection,” and the Grand Lodge itself
held “indistinct notions” regarding its functions and role in Scottish
freemasonry. 44
41 Robert Strathern Lindsay, A History Of The Mason Lodge Of Holyrood House (St Luke), No.
44 Holding Of The Grand Lodge Of Scotland With A Roll Of Members, 1734-1934 (Edinburgh,
1935), 46.
42 Clark, British Clubs, 331.
43 Kahler, “The Grand Lodge of Scotland,” 108. Kahler explains that “it is likely that the
introduction of some type of governing board would have been distasteful to the existing lodges,
particularly the older, primarily operative lodges,” “The Grand Lodge,” 94. See also E.
Macbean, “Formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland,” AQC, 3(1890), 183.
44 Lyon, Mary’s Chapel, 192.
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