Some Problems of English Masonic History - Part 1- PREVIEW

Listen to the beginning of A.G. Markham's Inaugural paper in Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076, London in 1996, publish in AQC v. 110, 1997. Read by MAGI Robert L.D. Cooper, PM QC 2076

“This paper consists of comment on some of the problems arising in the history of English craft Masonry in the period ending with the Union of the Grand Lodges in 1813. The notes and appendices to the printed version of the paper explain generalisations and include important further points which time does not allow to be included in this present spoken narrative. I continue next with a brief survey of familiar ground as preparation for what is said later.

In the 1600s Freemasonry was restricted to the British Isles and was a private matter, rarely recorded in writing; least of all in Ireland, and less so in England than in Scotland. This is a major problem; and it is surprising that we know as much as we do about English Masonry of the 1600s. It is possible to see the existence of a remarkable brotherhood of non-operative Mason, based on well recognised custom (including, notably, secret modes of recognition and those curious archaic documents the Old Charges), spread more or less all over the nation, crossing class boundaries in a very class conscious age: harmoniously and convivially uniting men, including, I would accept, those of differing political persuasions and practising mutual charity. But this evidence is limited in detail and does not extend to dispelling the mystery of its origins, a mystery, which, though since to some extent cherished by masons, has also lent itself to Misinterpretation by writers, both masonic and anti-masonic”