Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

territoriality of operative masons, but the early designs of the Grand Lodge to
control the operative element. However, the financial strain of the hospital
proved too much of a burden, as construction of the Cell had “been put off from
time to time,” principally due to the lack of support for the project. 95 By 1750
the mason’s cell was discontinued.
According to Kahler, the implementation of these policies and the
concerted effort to accommodate the stonemasons suggests that the Grand
Lodge “recognized the existence of operative lodges and was keen to attract
them, and keep them, in the masonic community. It also indicates that Grand
Lodge recognized the operative roots of the organization, and was willing to
acknowledge these origins.” 96 Despite such attempts to protect the interests of
operative masons, the excerpt from the minute books of No. 8 Journeymen
Lodge regulating the number of speculative entrants underscores the assertions
by historians that the creation of the Grand Lodge and the ushering in of
speculative masonry were, indeed, the “death-blow” given to operative
freemasonry. 97 Some lodges charged higher entry fees for non-operatives,
further magnifying an over-arching sense of operative individualism, 98 while
others, according to Stevenson, “seem to have experimented with allowing
95
Ibid, 30 November 1750.
96
Ibid.
97
Hunter, Journeymen Masons, 63.
98
See G.W. Speth, “Scottish Freemasonry Before the Era of Grand Lodges,” AQC, 1(1886-
1888), 191. Speth writes that “In many cases the gentlemen paid higher initiation and office
fees. A very unusual name for them was Geomatics, whilst the masons by trade were called
Domatics. The Geomatics were also known as Gentlemen masons, Theorical masons, Architect
masons, and Honorary members. There was always a sharp distinction drawn between these and
masons by trade, which so far does not appear to have obtained in England.”
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