United Grand Lodge of England
The United Grand Lodge of England (Engl. United Grand Lodge of England , UGLoE ) is the umbrella organization of Freemasonry in England and Wales . It claims to be the oldest grand lodge in the world.
Emergence
The First Grand Lodge of England ( English The Premier Grand Lodge of England , PGLoE) was created on June 24, 1717 through a merger of four old Masonic lodges from London and Westminster in the Goose and Gridiron Ale House in St Paul's Churchyard.
In 1721 the first English noble grandmaster John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu (* 1690; † 1749) commissioned the Scottish preacher James Anderson to write down a new constitution for the grand lodge on the basis of old Gothic constitutions , which is now under the Term old duties is known.
In 1751, an opposition grand lodge was established claiming that the PGLoE had innovated and deviated from the Old Landmarks approved by Prince Edwin of York in 926. For this reason, this grand lodge was called the Antients Grand Lodge . These differences of opinion between the two grand lodges lasted for about 63 years. There were members who stood between the two grand lodges and were active in both.
In 1809, both grand lodges appointed representatives to negotiate a merger. This process lasted about four years until a grand ceremony was held on December 27, 1813 at Freemasons's Hall in London, where both grand lodges merged to form the United Grand Lodge of England .
Today the United Grand Lodge of England is organized into provincial grand lodges roughly the same as the traditional counties of England. These form the local administration of the organization. The province of London is known as the Metropolitan Grand Lodge . Jurisdictions in other countries are organized as districts.
Relations with other grand lodges
Initially, there was mutual recognition between the Grand Orient de France (GOdF) and the United Grand Lodge of England . These two umbrella organizations largely determine the organization of Freemasonry. At the convention in 1877, the Grand Orient de France no longer mentioned the term " Almighty Master Builder of All Worlds " for the first time due to the motion of the Protestant clergyman Frédéric Desmons :
“Freemasonry has unconditional freedom of conscience and human solidarity as its principles . She does not exclude anyone for the sake of his or her belief. "
When the GOdF then also replaced the “Book of the Holy Law” with a “white book”, a split occurred: The United Grand Lodge of England unilaterally broke off relations with the GOdF in 1913 and revoked its “regularity”. Conversely, the GOdF continues to recognize the United Grand Lodge of England and the grand lodges and lodges recognized by it.
Today this non-recognition is justified by the fact that the “liberal” lodges originating from the GOdF violate the Basic Principles of the UGLoE by allowing political discussions in the lodges and recognizing women's lodges and mixed-sex lodges. On March 10, 1999, the United Grand Lodge of England issued a public statement officially prohibiting the attendance of ritual meetings of liberal lodges .
Grandmaster
| Grand Master's name | Term of office | portrait |
|---|---|---|
| Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex | 1813-1843 | |
| Thomas Dundas, 2nd Earl of Zetland | 1844-1870 | |
| George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon | 1870-1874 | |
| Edward VII | 1874-1901 | |
| Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn | 1901-1939 | |
| George, 1st Duke of Kent | 1939-1942 | |
| Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood | 1942-1947 | |
| Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire | 1947-1950 | |
| Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough | 1951-1967 | |
| Edward, 2nd Duke of Kent | 1968-present |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.ugle.org.uk/about "The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing body of Freemasonry in England, Wales and the Channel Islands."
- ↑ http://www.grandlodge-england.org/masonry/freemasonrys-external-relations.htm ( Memento from September 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )