Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

highly improbable that Scottish freemasonry could have endured such change
and upheaval without the guidance and powers of a Grand Lodge. Certainly, its
relationship with the government fully prevented the indiscriminate inclusion of
freemasonry under the original terms of the Secret Societies Act. Furthermore,
the increasing number of lodges throughout the eighteenth century, geographical
expansion, the organisational changes in the association, and the functioning of
the Grand Charity all suggest that Scottish freemasonry was immensely
influenced by a centralised system of masonic government.
From Great Loss to Revival
In 1736, four lodges gathered in Edinburgh to discuss the “great loss” 3
freemasonry had suffered due to the non-existence of a Grand Lodge. By 1740,
this attitude was replaced by feelings of optimism among Scottish freemasons;
no longer concerned with loss, masons now spoke of the “revival of the Grand
Lodge.” 4 The years following its creation were fruitful, the product of the
founding lodges’ prediction of masonic renewal: despite an initial period of
stagnancy, lodge numbers increased dramatically after 1750, and they continued
to grow well into the 1790s. By 1800, more than 300 lodges were functioning,
with provincial lodges accounting for almost 76 per cent of the aggregate
numbers.
The increase in masonic lodges was also accompanied by a general trend
among masons to seek private premises for lodge meetings. Compared to the
3 Gould, History of Freemasonry Vol. 3, 243
4 Grand Lodge of Scotland Minutes, 21 May 1740.
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