SCOTTISH FREEMASONRY 1725-1810 ... - Lodge Prudentia

gentlemen into their lodges, not liked the long-term results, and therefore
excluded them.” 99
Operative lodges, for example No. 1 Mary’s Chapel, No. 1(3) Aberdeen,
No. 6 Inverness, and No. 25 St Andrew – at least until the 1750s – rarely
recorded non-operative admissions. The majority of entered apprentices were
stonemasons, wrights, baxters, merchants, and deacons from other
incorporations. 100 One finds occasional references to servants, but none were
employed in poor trades such as “peddling or hawking,” 101 as lodges
discouraged such activities. A fine example is recorded in the minutes of No.
1(3) Aberdeen Lodge, when the “Right Worshipful Master Reported that he had
Reprimanded John Aikenhead mason for begging and horning In town and had
threatened him with imprisonment But that he had promised to behave for the
future.” 102 Musicians were intermittently admitted as members, although as
Clark notes they served as “prime sponsors of lodge sociability.” 103
By 1740, however, evidence suggests that operative lodges were aware
of the financial boons accorded with the arrival of speculative members. No
longer comprised solely of operative members, membership lists included
mathematicians, ministers, surgeons, and students. One lodge even recorded the
99 Stevenson, Origins, 216.
100 No. 1 Mary’s Chapel Lodge Minutes, 24 November 1740.
101 Clark, British Clubs, 321.
102 No. 1(3) Aberdeen Lodge Minutes, 1 September 1755.
103 Clark, British Clubs, 321. On 23 September 1740, No. 1 Mary’s Chapel recorded that “upon
application to them by John Palma musician, he was admitted and reased ane entered apprentice
gratis for the benefit of his musick to the Lodge which he promised and engaged to perform att
all their meetings in tyme coming during his residence in this city without other fee or reward
and also to pay the ordinary dues for the use of the entered and Grand Lodge.”
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