Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

y the Grand Lodge They nominated and appointed their worshipful
brother John Callender of Craigforth, Esq., To be Provincial Master of
that District for the ensuing year and thereafter until another be named in
his place for the said Lodge of Stirling and other Lodges in that county. 30
The Provincial System existed in theory more than in practice. Aside
from the Western and Stirling Districts, apparently no other territorial
demarcations were created. And the geographical ambiguities were part and
parcel of the vague notions surrounding the overall duties of the Provincial
Grand Master. As such, the system was allowed to stumble along until 1747,
when a concerted effort was made to clearly establish provincial boundaries and
Grand Masters for each newly created territory.
On 5 August 1747, the Grand Lodge proposed that “Lodges throughout
the Kingdom should be classed into particular Districts or divisions and some
particular person within such District or division who is a reale [illegible] to the
brotherhood be wrote to and [illegible] to advertise [these resolutions to] the
members of the other lodges in their respective divisions.” 31 Table 3.2 breaks
down the ten masonic Districts as created by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. 32
30 Ibid, 6 February 1745.
31 Ibid, 5 August 1747.
32 The original minutes only list the District Number and the lodges within each District. For
purposes of clarity and analysis, I have added the actual areas included in each District.
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