Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

Initiated: May 18, 1736
Passed: June 2, 1736
Lodge Canongate Kilwinning
Grand Master: St. Andrew's day 1736
Grand Lodge of Scotland
Text reprinted from Albert G. Mackey Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1966. p. 899. Initiation dates noted in Heredom, the
transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society, Volume VI, Year 1997.
Hereditary Grand Master Mason of Scotland 1736. >
From the Original in St. John's Chapel. Canongate Edinburgh.
Lithd. by Brothr. Schenk. Edinburgh. Frontispiece: The Laws and Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient and
Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland. Edinburgh : MDCCCXLVIII.
The St. Clairs of Roslin were hereditary grandmasters of Masonry in Scotland. King James II conferred that dignity upon them. The
first grandmaster, William St. Clair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, and his successors, held their courts in Ayrshire, town of
Kilwinning. William St. Clair of Roslin being destitute of an heir and having to sell his estates in 1736, resigned all claim to the grandmastership,
and the office became elective. He, himself, was elected to the position and d. in 1778 at age 78. He was the last of the
direct male line of Roslin. Upon his death a solemn funeral lodge was held. A poem was composed and set to the air of Roslyn
Castle, a couplet of which reads:
Like St. Clair live, like St. Clair die;
Then join the Eternal Lodge on high
soc.org.freemasonry
From: "Dai McClymont"
Date: Thu Apr 7, 2005
Dear Brethren
Certain remarks have been made, as usual, about "shreds of evidence". One of the
latest concerns the hereditary patronage of the Sinclairs over Masonry. I do not presume
to contradict the assertion that there is no proof (presumably the writers meant
"documentary proof") of this status. What is much more important, however, is the fact
that this status was generally accepted.
It is a historical fact that people generally believed that the Sinclairs were hereditary
patrons of Scottish Freemasonry. Herewith an
excerpt from the funeral oration for the first elected Grand Master of Scottish
Freemasonry, William Sinclair, delivered by one of his
successors in 1778:
"Among other marks of royal approbation conferred on his ancestors, for their faithful
and valuable services, they enjoyed the dignity if Grand Master Mason, by charters of
high antiquity, from the Kings of Scotland.
This hereditary honour continued in the family of Roslin under the year 1736; when, with
a disinterestedness of which there are a few examples, he made a voluntary resignation
of the office into the hands of the Craft in general; by which from being hereditary, it has
ever since been elective: and in consequence of such a singular act of generosity it is,
that, by your suffrages, 1 have now the honour to fill this chair." The full oration is on the
Grand Lodge of Scotland's website.
The fact that a Sinclair was the first Grand Master is all the more striking, as William
Sinclair was only made a mason in May of the year that he was elected Grand Master.
This fact is recorded in volume 7 of Heredom, the transactions of the Scottish Rite
Research Society.
The article records that "Although the first reference to this plan appears in September
1735, the records indicate that most of the work involved in setting up the Grand Lodge took place between September 29, 1736
and the date of the first meeting two months later. There are only two specific references in 1735 to what would become the Grand
Lodge, and both appear in the minutes of Canongate Kilwinning. The first is dated September 29, 1735, when a committee is
formed 'for framing proposals to be layed before the Several Lodges in order to the chusing a Grand Master for Scotland.' The
second occurs on 15 October, when the committee was again directed to 'take under consideration proposals for a Grand Master.'".
If nothing else, the excerpts indicate the strength of that belief, and that the belief in question influenced a Lodge to "recruit" a man
with a view to using his hereditary prestige to validate a proposed Grand Lodge. In the final event, 4 lodges formed the Grand
Lodge, with another 29 lodges in attendance.
There are also some hints that there was already some sort of informal association of lodges in existence at the time. Go figure.
Although the initiative had been taken by Canongate Kilwinning, the article shows how that lodge was persuaded to include Lodge
Edinburgh in its deliberations. The co-operation of this lodge was crucial to the success of the initiative, because of its prestige. The
Schaw 2nd Ms. of 1599 (but not known in 1735/6) refers to three lodges, and ranks them as follows: Edinburgh, Kilwinning, Stirling.
What is also noteworthy is that the three lodges in question remained in existence well into the modern "speculative" period. There
is no suggestion of any discontinuity or change from operative to speculative.
One also has to ask why, if Masons' lodges moved around according to where the work was, that these three lodges remained in
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