Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

acknowledgement is not surprising. 57 However, given that they recorded other
communications from the Grand Lodge relatively soon after its establishment, it
is peculiar that the inauguration is not mentioned in their lodge minutes, if
indeed the invitations were received.
For example, an entry in the minute books of No.1(3) Aberdeen almost
one year after the Grand Lodge’s formation stated that “There was Produced by
the Right Worshipful Master a Letter address’d to him from the Grand Lodge at
Edinburgh with Proposealls concerning the building of the Hospitall of the
Royall Infirmary.” 58 No. 3 Scoon & Perth lodge minutes even suggest that no
communication was established with the Grand Lodge until nearly four years
after its inception. In a minute entry dated 8 December 1740, the lodge noted
that “it was unanimously agreed to by the Lodge That application be made to the
Grand Lodge at Edinburgh for a new Charter to this Lodge That thereby they
may have Communication with the Grand Lodge.” 59
One further example will suffice to illustrate the argument that
communication among lodges was – if not infrequent – selective at best. No. 8
Journeymen Lodge in Edinburgh, which regularly attended Grand Lodge
meetings, documented its first mention of the Grand Lodge on 27 December
1743. Alluding to subscription fees and general dues, the lodge stipulated that
“for this day and the like to be Continued for the future that each member shall
bear and pay an equall proportion of the whole Expenses of this days
57 Kahler, “The Grand Lodge of Scotland,” 95. See also Amelia H. Stirling, A Sketch of Scottish
Industrial and Social History (London, 1906), 40-41.
58 No. 1(3) Aberdeen Lodge Minutes, 7 July 1737.
59 No. 3 Scoon & Perth Lodge Minutes, 8 December 1740.
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