Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

two returns are recorded in Grand Lodge of Scotland’s Chartulary and List of
Lodges and Members: 1736-1799, an inconsistency that plagued most lodges in
Scotland. Indeed, as Clark writes, “analysis of the membership is not without its
problems. Occupational descriptions are a precarious source at the best of
times; in this period their meaning is often fluid.” 178 Although Chapter 3 will
deal more extensively with the issues of social mixing, elitism, classicism, and
lodge complexion – especially as they relate to the metropolitan centres of
London and Edinburgh – a brief examination of the recruitment patterns of
Dundee No. 47 manifests several wider trends present among Scottish lodges.
Table 2.1. Total Number of Occupations for No. 47, 1745 and 1770 179
1745 1770
_____________________________________________________________________________
Tradesmen 180
Professional 181
Seafaring 182
Victualling 183
Gentlemen 184
9 11
2 2
0 2
0 1
1 0
Table 2.1 and Appendix 1 show the number of members and professions
in 1745 and in 1770. A comparison of the two years shows that there is no
significant attempt to recruit gentlemen masons among the ranks of the lodge,
178
Clark, British Clubs, 320.
179
See Appendix 1 for a complete breakdown of No. 47 occupations and their numbers.
180
Tradesmen refer to all major distributive trades, for example shoemakers, smiths, and slaters.
181
Professionals are defined as those men working in completely non-operative trades such as
writers and clerks.
182
Seafarers include shipmasters and sailors.
183
For example, baxters, vintners, and brewers.
184
Gentlemen are propertied or landed gentry.
59