Heredom | Royal Order of Scotland

The circumstance has, in my own judgment, been far too lightly passed over, that the earliest “records” of any degrees whatsoever, extraneous to the system of ancient Freemasonry, are those of the ROYAL ORDER, at London...

Recently, I tried to show why the broadly accepted theory which ascribes the origin of ‘high degrees’ to French Masons hardly fits with a series of facts, such as the existence of The Order of Kilwinning or Scotch Heredom, a masonic Order conferring degrees upon Master Masons in London.[2] The present paper intends to bring together early documents issued by, or related to, this little-known Order together with a few factual comments.

We neither know when the Order was founded nor who founded it. We know it delivered several documents to two Brethren who had come from The Hague to London in 1750, presumably in order to be granted a Charter for their Continental masonic body, because one of the two, a Scots named William Mitchell, brought them back a few years later to Edinburgh where they are extant. We are inclined to believe that the Order existed at least since 1741 because two of these documents were signed by the then Provincial Grand Master “in the Ninth Year” of his charge. And we are sure it met in London in 1743 since the discovery made in 1926 by Frederick William Levander who found a meeting of the Order advertised in a non-identified newspaper in the middle of a collection of press cuttings. Which shows that luck played an important part in our limited knowledge of the Order’s history and that with a little more luck, we may still discover more about it.

Early masonic literature about the Order’s beginnings is scarce : excerpts scattered in books by Thory, Lenning and Clavel,[3] one chapter of David Murray Lyon’s (1819-1903) History of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No. 1 (1873) and twenty pages authored by William James Hughan (1841-1911) [4] in the History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons and Concordant Orders (1891), a collective work of nine hundred pages issued in the United States.[5]

Monographs devoted to the Order were first issued in the 20^th century.[6] Among the papers of Robert Strathern Lindsay, an Office-bearer of the Order who died in 1963, his widow found a manuscript draft of its history up to 1839 and gave it to the Executive Committee of the Order. The Committee considered “it was too long, contained many tautologies, and had never been revised by the author” and asked A.J.B. Milborne (1888-1976) “to undertake the task of editing the MS. and bringing it into publishable format”.[7] The result was The Royal Order of Scotland (1970). George Draffen of Newington (1910-1986) authored a second volume issued in 1977 under the self-describing title The Royal Order of Scotland. The Second Hundred Years.

In spite of its present name, it appears unlikely that the Order originated in Scotland. Lyon’s statement “Of the existence in Scotland of any branch of the Order prior to 1754 there is not a particle of evidence” [8] still holds water. According to Lindsay, “there does not seem to be any shadow of doubt that the Royal Order’s birthplace was England”.[9]

The Order went first under the name of Scotch H—d—m (Heredom), or Ancient and Honourable Order of K—n—g (Kilwinning). The adjective ‘Royal’ seems to have been adopted shortly after its establishment in Edinburgh : Laws of the R.L. H.R.D.M. (Royal Heredom) were approved on 5 January 1767 and, under 26 July 1769, the records of the Edinburgh Town Council mention “a Petition, of the Governor and other officers of the Royal Order of Ancient Scots Masonry”.[10] Grand Secretary William Gibb wrote in a letter from 21 October 1782 :

[...] there are two different orders of masonry which subsist in Scotland. The one called “The Holy Lodge of St. John” [...] The other is called the Royal Order of the H.R.D.M. of Kilwinning or the Royal Order of Scotch Masonry, into which none but Master masons of the order of St. John can be admitted. This order con(tains) 4 other degrees of masonry, & was instituted for many great & valuable purposes [...].[11]

Since 1785, the Order received applications for Charters from abroad. It may be the reason why shortly afterwards ‘in Scotland’ was appended to its title : the high and honourable Order of the H-r-d-m of Kilwinning in Scotland,[12] The Royal Order of the H.R.D.M. of Kilwinning in Scotland.[13] The present expression The Royal Order of Scotland seems to be first met with [14] in the Concordat [15] the Order entered into with the Supreme Council for Scotland in April 1855.

According to extant documents, the history of the Order can be divided into three periods :

2) a Scottish one from 1753 to 1839, including two full lapses (1794-1802 and 1819-1839). In 1786, the Grand Lodge in Edinburgh warranted a Provincial Grand Lodge in the kingdom of France, headed in Rouen by Jean Matheus, which created some twenty-five bodies of the Order in France and overseas until 1811.

There is no information showing when the Order was founded. Evidence concerning the English period comes from two sources only.

· Three clippings from non-identified newspapers advertising meetings of the Order in London in November 1743, August 1750 and November 1753.[16]

· Several documents delivered in London to William Mitchell, a Scotsman from The Hague,[17] in July 1750 when appointed Provincial Grand Master of the Order of the H.R.D.M. throughout the Seven United Provinces (as The Netherlands were then called). They include a patent, instructions and a book of records. No mention is made of a ritual. If Mitchell received one, it is not extant any more.

The earliest piece of evidence about the Order is the following announcement which appeared in a newspaper on 26 November 1743 :

The Brethren of the Scotch H——d——m, or Ancient and Honourable Order of K——n——g, are desir’d to meet the Grand Master of the said Order, and the rest of his Grand Officers, at the sign of the Swan in Great Portland-street, near Oxford-Market, on Wednesday next, at Three o’Clock in the Afternoon precisely, to celebrate the Day. By Order of the Grand Master, E. W., Grand Sec.[18]

The wording is not indifferent since it includes the only mention of a “Grand Master of the Order”, likely the same person as “the Right Hon^ble and Right Worship^l Prince and Supreme Ruler and Governor of the Great S.N.H.D.R.M. and Grand Master of the H.R.D.M. of K.L.W.N.N.G.” referred to in the patent delivered to Mitchell some seven years later by the Provincial Grand Master in S. Britain. The Grand Master’s and his Grand Officers’ names are unknown. The only clue given by the announcement relies in the fact that in November 1743 the Order met at The Swan, Great Portland Street.

It seems to have passed hitherto unnoticed that one of the Four Old Lodges, that which met in 1717 at the Apple-Tree,[19] moved some time before January 1742 to The Swan where it remained until about June 1750.[20] Since 1723 it met ‘on every other Wednesday’, since 1729 on ‘the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday’.[21] Remarkably, the announced meeting of the Order was to take place on 30 November 1743 (Old Style) which was the fifth Wednesday in November.

Two weeks later, on 11 December, a Chapter of the Order was founded at The Golden Horse Shoe, Cannon Street, Southwark, London.[22]

In 1750, two Brethren, William Mitchell and Jacobus Jonas Kluck, arrived in London from The Hague [23] and addressed a petition (an undated copy of which was made by the Provincial Grand Secretary) to the Provincial Grand Master of the Order. Nothing shows how they had become aware of his existence. It stated that both of them and some Brethren at The Hague already were members of the Order and wished to receive a Constitution.

To the Right Worshipful Sir Robert Relief K.^ntof the R:Y:C:S: Provincial Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Hon^le. Order of the H.R.D.M. of K.L.W.N.N.G. in S^o. Britain, Sir Jos^h. Hen^y. Broomott, F.R.D.M. Deputy G^d. Mas^r. Sir Will^m. P.R.P.T.O.N. and Sir Rich. T.C.T.Y. Grand Wardens and the rest of the Right Worsh^l. Grand Officers of the said Order, etc.[24]

There being Divers brethren of the above most Ancient and Hon^le. Order of Masons residing at the Hague, and we whose Names are hereunto subscribed, Brothers of the said Most Ancient and Hon^le. Order and residing as above, being Authorised and Appointed to petition your Worship etc. for the Grant of a Constitution, DO therefore in the Name of the whole Pray That your Worship etc. will be pleas’d to Grant us the said Favour by which means we shall be Brought under Your Care and Direction ; which Favour being Granted us, we shall allways bear a Grateful Remembrance, and as in Duty bound, will make it our Careful study to be Obedient to all such good Laws and Rules, as Your Worship etc. shall from time to time Think proper to Lay us under.

On the strength of “the excellence of its wording and the knowledge it displayed as to the names and Characteristics [26] of the principal Office-bearers”, Lindsay disbelieved the terms of Mitchell’s and Kluck’s petition and was “inclined to guess” that it had been “framed” in London by the Provincial Secretary of the Order. Mitchell, Kluck and the Brethren from The Hague “could not possibly have been members of the Order” since “their names as such were not on the Register of the Order [27] [...] Therefore as a first step, they were both required to take the two Degrees of the Order”.[28] And Lindsay suggested :

They were probably holders of the French Rose Croix Degree, who wanted a Charter to enhance the working of the Rose Croix Degree as part of their Lodge system and [...] thought that the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Order of Heredom of Kilwinning at London, with its Rosy Cross Degree, could be able to issue to them the type of Charter they wanted. [29]

Lindsay’s suggestion appears more improbable than the possibility that the Brethren at The Hague already were members of the Order. The earliest mention of the word Rose-Croix in a masonic context I am aware of, is met with in a French ritual for the installation of the Master of a Lodge, which bears the date 1754.[30] The next one, a Rose Croix Certificate said by Kloss to be dated 1 Mai 1757 and reproduced in facsimile by Jean Eustache Peuvret.[31] The ritual of Chevalier de l'Aigle du Pélican dit de Rose Croix, included in the ritual collection of the Marquis de Gages, is probably the oldest extant manuscript version of the degree.[32] However the date on the manuscript, 1763, is by thirteen years later than Mitchell’s arrival in London.

“In compliance with this petition the Provincial Grand Master [...] gave a deliverance that ‘one brother who has signed the same do attend me at the house of Brother Lowis, S.N.C.R.T.Y., on Monday’ the 22nd July 1750, at four o’clock precisely.” wrote Murray Lyon.[33] Lindsay described the document as : ‘Copy of a docket by R.L.F. “Pro: Gr: Mr. in S: B.”’ and summarized it thus :

This grants the Prayer of the Petitioners and orders that “one of the brethren who have signed the same attend me at the house of Bro. Lewis S.N.C.R.T.Y. the Sign of the Gold Horsehoe in Cannon Street in Southwark [34] on Monday, the twenty-second day of July instant at Four o’clock in the Afternoon to receive the Pattent etc. according to customary form in such cases”. This document is dated 10 July A.D. 1750, AMH 5753, and is in the hand of the Provincial Grand Secretary at London. Mitchell was the one who attended, and from this point Kluck disappears entirely from the story.[35]

The petition was granted, according to a document (certificate) here reproduced in the version of Murray Lyon :[36]

London, 22d July A.D. 1750, AMH. 5758. I did this day attend at the house of Brother Lowis, S.N.C.R.T.Y., the sign of the Golden Horse Shoe in Cannon Street, Southwark, and did then and there constitute the petitioning brethren residing at the Hague into a regular Chapter in full form, and did constitute and appoint our right worshipful and highly honoured Brother, William Mitchell, known and distinguished among the brothers of the Order by the sublime title and characteristick of F.D.L.T.Y., and Knight of the R.Y.C.S., to be T.R.S.I., by delivering the pattent and in due form as usual for the constitution of Chapters in foreign parts, and did, by virtue of my authority exchange his characteristick and invest him for that of R.L. (Signed) R.L.F.

The above Petition, Docket and Certificate, still extant in Edinburgh, are described by Lindsay as ‘copies’.[37]

The pattent (its seal and the fact that it is also termed a copy elsewhere are discussed in Appendix I) is said by Lindsay to be one “of two single sheets now separate but originally stitched together by thread down the left-hand side”.[38] It is worded thus :

SIR ROBERT R. L. F. Knight of the Order of the R.Y.C.S. Warder of the Tower of R.F.S.M.N.T. Presedent of the Judges and Councel of the Great S.N.H.D.R.M. and Provincial Grand Master of the H.R.D.M. of K.L.W.N.N.G. in S.B.: &c^a: &c^a: &c^a.

BY VERTUE of the Authority to ME (By the Right Hon^ble and Right Worship^l Prince and Supreme Ruler and Governor of the Great S.N.H.D.R.M. and Grand Master of the H.R.D.M. of K.L.W.N.N.G.) in this behalf given, I DO hereby grant unto You and rest of the R^t. Worthy and Worship^lBrothers of the H.R.D.M. residing at the Hague, FULL POWER and AUTHORITY to hold a Chapter of the Order, at such house as to You and them shall seem Convenient, so long as You and they shall behave as become Worthy Brothers of the said Order, with FULL power to Remove the same, from Place to Place, as Occasion shall Offer, for the Good and Glory of the Society ; in any part of the Seven United Provinces, You and they Conforming to the Constitutional Rules Assigned You by the Grand Lodge in London ; AND FURTHER Know You that for the Good, and promotion of the H.R.D.M. in Genera^l I DO HEREBY EMPOWER You to form as a Grand Lodge of the Order and DO Nominate, Constitute and Appoint You the said Sir William R. L. F. to be Grand T.R.S.T.A. to Preside at, Rule over, and Govern the same and the Brethren thereunto belonging, so long as you shall Act Conformable to the Laws and Rules of the Grand Lodge in London ; AND I do hereby Grant you Authority to appoint Proper Officers to Assist You in the execution of the High Office hereby on You Conferr’d to Consist of the following Number and Denominations, (to wit) One Deputy Prov^l Grand Master, Two Grand Wardens, one Grand Secretary, one Grand Treasurer, one Sword Bearer, one Banner Bearer, four Grand Stewards, one Grand Marshal, one Deputy Grand Marshal, one Grand Guarder ; and I DO HEREBY AUTHORIZE and IMPOWER YOU the said Sir William R. L. F. to take upon Yourself the title of Provincial Grand Master of the Order of the H.R.D.M. throughout the Seven United Provinces ; and out of a pure desire for the Glory of this Order and Increasing the Number of Worthy Brothers I do hereby IMPOWER You to Grant Constitutions of the Order, in any part within the said Seven United Provinces, and DO APPOINT YOU to Preside Amongst, Rule over and Govern all such Chapters, and the Brethren thereto belonging or on them Attendant ; AND FURTHER be it known to all and every the Brethren, that I hereby Invest You with full Power to Appoint such persons to be Your Grand Officers, as you shall think are most fit and proper, for each Respective Post, without asking the Consent or Aprobation, of any Brother of the Order, whatsoever, Except of Your own Free will You may think proper to pay such Compliment, to the Brethren ; and FURTHER, I do hereby Invest You with full power and Authority, to Depose, or Displace from His or their Office or Offices any such Grand Officer or Officers, as Shall be Guilty of any Indignities to Your Worship, or to Fine, Mulct or Amerce them, or any or either of them for the same, without being Obliged to bring them to a Formal Trial, or ask the Consent or Aprobation of the Brethren for so doing ; Except you shall of Your own will think proper so to do : AND I do hereby STRICTLY charge, and require of the Brethren in General, as well Your Grand Officers as others, to Acknowledge, Obey and put you the said Sir William R. L. F. to Due Worship, as Head Ruler and Governor, over them, and their Chapters ; and I do hereby Appoint You to hold Quarterly Meetings for Regulating the Affairs of the Order ; AND FURTHER, I do Impower You to relinquish, or Resign Your said Office (in case You shall think proper or be desirous so to do) to any Worthy Qualified Brother of the Order of the R.Y.C.S. but to no person whatsoever under that Degree ; AND FURTHER, be it known to the Brethren in Gen^l that it is not, nor Cannot be, in the Power of them, to Depose or Displace You, from the High Office hereby on You Conferr’d ; Except for High and Enormous Crimes, tending to the Scandal or Detriment of the Order, And not then without bringing You to a Regular Trial, and an Account of the Proceedings thereon, with the Crime, and sentence of the Councel ; being first sent to the Grand Lodge at London, for my Approbation ; and for Every Authority, Priviledge and Power, herein above mentioned this shall be Your Sufficient Warrant and Pattent.

There is no reason to doubt the veracity of the above words “in the Ninth Year of my Provincial Grand Mastership” or of “in the Ninth Year of my Authority” found on the ‘Diploma’ reproduced below, which are the basis for the assumption that the Order was founded in 1741 at the latest. If the Provincial Grand Master who signed both documents had not been first in office, the Order could very well have been founded some years earlier.

On the sheet originally stitched with the pattent were the following Instructions :

Imprimis. All passing Fees are Your own Property as Warder of the Tower of R.F.S.M.N.T. therefore You may Demand the same from all T.R.S.T.A.’s of Chapters under Your Jurisdiction, (Except you think proper to grant them to the use of any Chapter, by Your Instructions in Writing Annexed to the T.R.S.T.A.’s Pattent) and they must be Accountable to You for the same at least Once a Quarter.

2° No T.R.S.T.A. under Your Jurisdiction is Authorized, or Impower’d to Advance to the Knighthood of the R.Y.C.S. at their own Chapter or other places, but where Your Self or Your Deputy is present, Except by Authority first Obtain’d from You or Your Deputy in Your Absence, According as is set forth in the Laws Established by the Grand Lodge in London.

3° Whenever your Constitute a Chapter You must do it by Pattent, and Deliver therewith to the T.R.S.T.A. a Book of the Records, of the Laws, and Rules, and the Alphabetical List of Brethren’s Names, &c., with the Classical, and Extra,‘ Characteristicks ; List of Exclusions, and List of Regular Chapters ; the same as in the Book herewith to You deliver’d, But you must Observe the Proper Officers of a Chapter are as Follows, and no more (To wit) The T.R.S.T.A., Deputy T.R.S.T.A., two Guardians and a Secretary being Five in the whole, and Each Chapter is to Keep a Regular Entry in such book, of the Names, Places of Abode, Professions, Character and N° of Class or Extra^e of each Advanct Brother,together with the Degrees of Advancement of Each Brother which they are to produce at the Grand Lodge for Your Inspection, Four times in each Year if Summon’d so to do, under the Penalties and Restrictions by Grand Laws Established.

4° Your are to keep a Regular Entry in Your Own Book (from time to time) from the Books of the Chapters under Your Jurisdiction, of the Names, places of Abode, professions, Degrees of Advancement, &c: of Every Brother of the Order throughout the Seven United Provinces, and You are also to keep a Book in w^ch You must enter Duplicates of the Characteristicks belonging to Each Chapter, and the Names of such Brethren as are Fixed to any of them.

5° Your Chapters should once a Quarter, or at Least once in a Year, pay in at Your Quarterly Grand Lodge, an Acknowledgment, to be Lodged in Your Hand or stock, in Your Grand Treasurer’s hands, for Charitable uses.

6° Your Grand Lodge also, must (as You would Avoid Censure) make a proper Acknowledgment once a Year at Least, to the Grand Lodge from whence You hold Your Constitution, on some one of the Quarterly Grand Lodge Nights, which Remember are allways on the Fifth Sunday in such Months as have so many.

7° You are not to Admit into Your Grand Lodge or into any of Your Chapters, any such person who you shall find on the List of Exclusions, without first having receiv’d Notice from me, or my Deputy, that he or they have work’d their Restoration, and Given a proper security for his or their future Good Behaviour, and this You are to Signifie to Your Chapters that they may Conform to the Same.

8° You are Required (when ever You send Your Acknowledgments to the Grand Lodge in London) to send a List of the Names, places, of Abode, professions, Characteristicks, and Degrees of Advancement of all such persons as Belong to the Society under Your Jurisdictⁿ, and as are from time to Time Advanced at Your Grand Lodge or the Chapters under Your Care, and also a list of all Chapters under Your Constitution Expressing the place and Time of Forming, the time of Constitution, and the T.R.S.T.A.’s Name ; also an Account of all such persons (if any) who may happen to be Excluded Vertue of Your Authority ; with the Crimes they Committed to Occasion such their Exclusion.

9° You are Not to Enter any Minute or other Laws or Rules in the Book herewith Deliver’d but such as You shall from time to time Receive from the Grand Lodge in London ; and You are to be Conformable in Every point to the Laws and Rules in the Book herew^h Deliver’d and to all such as You may from time to time have sent to be with the others Inserted therein.

10° Whenever You sign any Patent or other A‘hority, You must write your Christian Name befor the Letters of Your Character^k on Account of Holding Your Authority from me, and my Characteristick, being the same as Yours.

Mitchell received a further document which is transcribed in a slightly different way by three Scottish writers who name it a Diploma or “Deploma”. This is Lindsay’s version : [40]

TO our Trusty, Wellbeloved, and Right Worshipful and Highly Honour’d Brother Sir William R.L.F. Kn^t of the Order of the R.Y.C.S.: Provincial Grand Master of the Seven United Provinces, &c.

KNOW YE that out of the Great Esteem and Brotherly Love I bear to You and being well Assured of Your Fidelity, I do hereby Impower You (with proper Assistance) to Advance to the Order of the R.Y.C.S. at Your Grand Lodge at the Hague or at any other Chapter to which You may Grant Constitution in any part of the Seven United Provinces, AND BE IT FURTHER KNOWN UNTO YOU, that if You are found Guilty of Acting Contrary to my will and Pleasure, making Breach of any of Your Constitutional Laws, Rules, Orders or Regulations, Appointed for Your Observance by Authority of the Grand Lodge where I preside and govern, You will be Render’d for the Future Incapable of Holding any Grand Office or Authority in the H.R.D.M. and also be Liable to be Exclude the Society for Contempt and Disobedience.

Lindsay remarks : “The seal is the same as that on the Patent, but above it is written ‘N.A.S.I.’ and below it ‘President’.”

Lastly, Mitchell was given “a thin parchment-bound ledger [41] entitled in ink on the outside of its front cover Records of the H.R.D.M.”.[42] Besides copies of the petition, of the docket and of the patent stitched with the Instructions (numbered i-iii in the Records), it included ten further documents only mentioned by name by Lindsay with the exception of Documents iv, v, x, xi, xii which are summarized or commented upon but not quoted. Lindsay merely reproduces the (vi) “List of Regular Chapters according to Seniority.” [43]

iv. The Manner of Constituting a New Chapter [Both Grand Wardens sit in the West, the SGW nearest to the North Column, the JGW nearest to the South Column].

viii. The Order to be observed at the solemnizing the Funeral of a Deceas'd and of Returning from the Grave.

ix. The Proper Titles belonging to a Pro^l. Grand Master, a Deputy Pro^l Gr^d M^r and to a Senior Gr^d Warden.

x. Records of the Christian & Surnames of the Brethren of the H.R.D.M. Belonging to The Hague & Alphabetically Digested, together with their Places of abode, Degrees of Advancement and house list to which each Brother's Characteristicks belongs also The Nine Classical and Additional or Extra Characteristicks of the Grand Chapter (called the Grand Lodge) and all the Petty Chapters of the Order in the Seven United Provinces and with a List of the Grand Officers. &c.

xi. Laws, Rules and Orders establish'd at Grand Lodge for Regulating & Governing the same. Also to be observed and Obeyed by all T.R.S.T.A.s and Officers of Chapters and the Brethren belonging thereto or Attendant thereon.

xii. “On a blank page numbered 109 some one has written in red ink ‘The names of Brethren who are members of the Royal Chapter at Edinburgh’”.

The most interesting thing in the List is a note in the margin opposite Mitchell’s name as the date of joining the Order, viz., “In France & England the years 1749 and 1750.” This suggests that even after he had taken the two degrees of the Order in London,[44] Mitchell still believed that his French Rose Croix amounted to the same thing, and therefore, that he was only re-introducing the Rose Croix Degree into Scotland [which] was unknown in Scotland until about the first decade of the 19^th Century.

From a report [50] which in 1843 was prepared at the instance of the Grand Lodge [of the Order], we find [...] that it is reported as ‘doubtful’ if he [William Mitchell] ever returned to Holland after obtaining his patent in 1750. That he did not do so, and that he settled in Scotland, is also evident from the fact that he continued to act as Grand Master until July 1767.[51]

Thanks to the information [...] kindly supplied by Bro. Cruiset van Uchelen, Librarian and Museum Curator to the Grand Orient of the Netherlands [...] it is now certain that Mitchell returned to The Hague. His name appears in the Minutes of the first meeting of a new Lodge of Adoption at The Hague, called La Loge de Juste.[52]

In July 1994, the present writer asked Bro. Evert Kwaadgras, Archivist, Librarian and Curator to the Grand East of the Netherlands, if he could ascertain which information his predecessor had provided Lindsay with. He replied :

Bro. Croiset van Uchelen told me that his information to Lindsay was no other than what the author states himself, viz. that Mitchell was at The Hague in 1751, since his name appears on documents pertaining to the lodge of adoption de Juste. Lindsay mentions minutes, in fact a year account of the lodge, reporting reception of seven florins, one florin each (not seven each, but seven total; Lindsay is mistaken here) from the founding members, sept freres, qui ont donné principe a la loge it says. This happened on 28 January, 1751. The Livre de constitutions, which is extant in our archives (Portefeuille Adoptieloges, D2, No. 1, 160B) opens with an act by which the members of the lodge of adoption recognise Joost Gerrit baron van Wassenaer (1716-1753, Grand Master of the 'regular' masons 1749-52; Lindsay misspells his name rather badly) as their Grand Master, 1 May, 1751. Under this act we find Mitchell's signature; the signatures of the Soeurs under the same leave us in no doubt that this was an adoption lodge, and the rest of the records confirm this very fully. I include a xerox of the act discussed. [53]

When I looked at the copy which Bro. Kwaadgras was kind enough to send me and which is reproduced above , I doubted that Mitchell’s signature was affixed to its end, since the last four names on the left as well as the seven ones on the right appear to have been written by the same hand.

On 1 August 1750, which is ten days after Mitchell’s appointment, the following announcement appeared in a London newspaper :

The Brethren of the H.R.D.M. are desired to take notice, that the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of the Order are removed from the White Swan in Great Portland-Street, near Oxford-Market, to Brother Fields, the Thistle and Crown in Chandos-Street, near St. Martin's Lane. Note, The Grand Chapter meets on the first, and the Grand Lodge on the fifth Sunday in each Month, at Six in the Evening. By Command of the P.G.M., N.B.L.T.Y. Grand Secretary.

It was mentioned before that both the Old Lodge at the Apple-Tree and the Brethren of the Heredom met at The Swan since 1742-1743. Grand Lodge Minutes show the Lodge still meeting there in May 1749, but having moved to the Fish and Bell in Charles Street by June 1750. Could it be more than a coincidence that after going to The Swan at about the same time, both the Lodge and the Heredom bodies left the same meeting-place within a matter of weeks ?

On Wednesday next, being the third Wednesday of the Month, will be held the Grand Chapter of the Order H.R.D.M. at the Crown and Ball, in Playhouse-Yard, Black-Fryars,[55] where the Brethren of that Order are desired to attend. Yours, W.S. G^d T.R.S.T.A.

It was the last-known manifestation of the Order in London. We don’t know why.[56]

The beginnings (1753-1794) of the Scottish period of the Order’s history nearly coincide with the presence of William Mitchell in Edinburgh where he died, aged sixty-five, on 17 May 1792. Between 1753 and 1765 he visited several times Lodge Canongate Kilwinning from Leith [57] in the Minutes of which he is described on 12 September 1753 as “The Most Worshipful Br. Mitchell Grand Master of the Seven United provinces and provincial Grand Master from London Kilwinning over all Europe Brittain excepted in his proper Cloathing and Jewells”.[58]

Four brethren entered into the Order in Scotland between 1754 and 1762, a further ten in 1763 and about fifty more until 31 October 1766. From that date, (as yet unpublished) Minutes of a Chapter of the Order at Edinburgh are extant. Laws of the Royal Heredom were adopted 5 January 1767 and seventeen Office-bearers were elected on the following 4th of July.[59] Scottish historians do not quite agree on the part played by Mitchell in Edinburgh :

From a report [...], we find that Mr. Mitchell sat at various meetings of the Chapter there between 1766 and 1777, both years inclusive [...] The minutes of the Order between 1754 and 1766 not having been preserved, if they ever existed, it does not appear whether Mr. Mitchell attended any earlier meetings; but there is every probability that he did so, and admitted the earlier Brethren. His name does not appear in the Edinburgh Directory. (Murray Lyon) [60]

From 31st October 1766 to 4th July 1767, none of the Minutes [of the Order’s Chapter] are signed and William Mitchell is not recorded amongst those present at the Meetings. Yet there is no doubt that he was the executive head of the Order in Scotland and of its Edinburgh Chapter until 4th July 1767, when, on its elevation of itself into the Grand Lodge of the Order, he retired from all office but continued to attend occasional meetings up to 23^rd February 1787. (Lindsay) [61]

There are no records of William Mitchell ever having presided at any meeting of the Edinburgh Chapter and it is consequently impossible to say whether or not he ever held the position of Deputy Grand Master of the Order. It is unlikely — for, when he did attend, his presence is recorded as an ordinary member of the Order. (Draffen) [62]

After 4 July 1794, the Order did not meet until 10 May 1802. It experienced then a state of semi-dormancy – a few meetings are recorded between 1802 and 1805, three in 1813, a single one on 6 November 1819 – followed with another full lapse until 1839.

Since 1753, the Order had not created one single body in Scotland but it disseminated abroad. On 6 September 1785, Jean Matheus [63] petitioned the Order requesting a Patent or Charter to erect the Rose Croix Chapter grafted on his Lodge at Rouen into a Chapter of H.R.D.M. A Council held in Edinburgh on 1 May 1786 [64] granted his request and approved of a Charter allowing Matheus “to act as Provincial Grand Master of the Order in France”. The ritual of the Order was sent to Matheus who translated it in French in 1788.[65] Several manuscript copies of Matheus’ translation are extant in French libraries and in the Edinburgh archives.

Until 1811, twenty-seven Chapters of the Order were founded through Matheus in Paris, in Savoy (Chambéry), on the territory of the French Empire (Tournai, Courtrai, Livorno) and in the French colonies (La Martinique and St Domingo).[66] The eldest Chapter of the Order in Paris, the Chapitre de Heredom de Kilwinning du Choix, was warranted 4 October 1786. Claude-Antoine Thory was its Thirsata since 6 November 1807.[67] A Scottish Freemason, Dr Charles Morison of Greenfield, became a member in 1822 and a Thirsata as well.[68]

The Order ‘resuscitated’ in Edinburgh on 11 November 1839 after a lapse of twenty years. Five members were summoned, three did not show.[69] The meeting was attended by Houston Rigg Brown (1776-1857) admitted into the Order on 10 May 1802 and promoted four days later, and Hamilton Pyper admitted 27 June 1813 and promoted on the following 16 July. Brown had been out of Edinburgh for a long period and lived in Langley (Buckinghamshire).[70] During the meeting, Brown handed over various papers and documents connected with the Order, but “the documents did not include a Ritual”.[71] In December 1841, Dr George Arnott wrote in a letter : “they were so deplorably ignorant that when they admitted me [last month] they were obliged to dispense with all ceremonies except the obligation”.

Shortly afterwards, a ritual was composed “apparently from the memory of Houston Rigg Brown alone”, which is known as the ‘1843 ritual’ or ‘Revised Version’. [72] Lindsay notes that “the official reprints of the Ritual down to the present time have been versions of the 1843 Ritual”.[73] When Morison died in Paris, 4 May 1849,[74] his widow bequeathed his library to the (Craft) Grand Lodge of Scotland.[75] Among many highly valuable manuscripts, it included the ritual used by the Chapter du Choix in Paris as translated by Matheus. When it was compared with the ‘Revised Version’ of 1843, it was “wrongly asserted that where the French Ritual varied from the 1843 Ritual, the French Ritual was inaccurate”,[76] which should be kept in mind when reading the opinion of Norman Hackney :

I hope to produce evidence that this [the present Official Ritual, as issued from Edinburgh by Grand Lodge in 1950] is the same as the Original used in London in 1741, and, perhaps a little earlier [...] All of this means that we may accept it as being reasonably certain that the Ritual of today is the same as that supplied to William Mitchell in 1750; and there are strong grounds for believing that this (1750) is the same as the Original Ritual of the “Royal Order of Heredom of Kilwinning”.[77]

The present paper is especially meant for Scottish Rite Brethren who may be unaware of the importance of the Order as one of the earliest system of additional degrees.

It is also of a preliminary character for a later one in which I intend to discuss the possibility that some letters which were written in English and received by von Hund in Germany toward the end of 1753, might have been sent by members of the Order. I shall also quote from little-known manuscript documents pertaining to the Order’s existence in the West Indies and in the United States toward the turn of the 19^th Century, which show that the Order may have had some influence upon the early years of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. And if I feel brave enough, I may go as far as to tackle the old problem of the Order’s ritual and of the Harodim.

· The Instructions did not bear the same seal as the Patent and the ‘Diploma’ quoted above.[78] Both Hughan and Lindsay described the seal affixed upon the latter documents :

The seal on the diploma, or personal patent, as Prov. G. M., has been destroyed, but on the charter granted to the Prov. Grand Lodge and Chapter, the seal remains, which, however, is such a simple affair as not to call for reproduction. The design includes a bridge of five arches, enlarging towards the centre one and above, — the letter Z is prominently depicted. The first figure is suggestive of the bridge, with the letters “L.O.P.,” familiar to members of the 16° of the “Ancient and Accepted Rite,” and is certainly peculiarly appropriate for the attesting of Royal Order documents. The presiding officer signed by his characteristic “R.L.F.,” the words “Prov^l Gra^d Mas^r” being above, and those of “In So. B.” below the seal. A fac-simile of this seal may be found in Brother Lyon’s history of the “Lodge of Edinburgh” (p. 309), and is rather perplexing in character. (Hughan) [79]

The seal on the Diploma [when Hughan saw the document, its seal was destroyed] is the same as that on the Patent but above it is written ‘N.A.S.I.’ and below it ‘President’. The letters represent the Hebrew word for Prince, which was the title of the President of the Great Sanhedrim of the Jews. [80] [...] This [Seal] consisted of a hump-backed bridge of five circular arches over a stream of water. Between the parapet of the bridge over the central arch and the top edge of the zeal was the letter Z. (Lindsay) [81]

· The starting-point of the mysterious story about the seal attached to the Instructions is described in a short Lindsay paper, ‘William Mitchell, Provincial Grand Master at The Hague, 1750’, included in the Report and Historical Survey issued by the Royal Order in 1960 :

In 1950 Bro. G.S. Draffen, M.B.E. (the present Senior Grand Warden of The Grand Lodge of the Order) noticed that one of Mitchell’s London documents of 1750 (a copy) was sealed with armorial bearings, which were assumed to be those of Sir Robert Relief, granter of the Charter, and which, if traced, might identify this Provincial Grand Master of The Order for South Britain, who held that office since 1741. As Sir Robert Relief was probably English, enquiries were made of The College of Heralds in London. In 1951 Portcullis [82] declared, most unexpectedly, that the armorial bearings were those of the Scottish family of Livingston of Parkhall, just over the border of Stirlingshire from Linlithgow. From this it appeared possible that William Mitchell might have supplied his ring to reproduce on the copy document a seal which had been appended to the original. If so, what was the connection between Mitchell and the family of Livingston of Parkhall, which has a genealogy going back to 1381 ? [83]

Lindsay then described the genealogy of the Livingston family – which, as far as Mitchells are concerned, begins when Alexander Mitchell married Alison Livingston of Parkhall in 1713 and became a son christened William born about 1716 who died unmarried in 1774 – and ended by suggesting that the William Mitchell who came to London in 1750 “was probably the son of William (Livingston) Mitchell, born ‘on the wrong side of the blanket’”.

When Lindsay’s book edited by Milborne was issued in 1972, all the information it included about that seal was :

To what intent is not clear; but attached to the bottom left hand corner of the Instructions is a short length of pink silk ribbon bearing a red wax seal. At the request of Bro. G. S. Draffen, the seal was examined by Portcullis of the College of Heralds in England, and he identified its armorial bearings as being those of Livingstone of Parkhall.[84]

The author refers to the wholly suppositious connection of William Mitchell with the Livingstone family, which he more particularly set out in the Royal Order’s Report and Historical Survey for 1960. [...] Recent investigation shows clearly that William Mitchell, Teacher of French, died [...] on 17^th May 1792 aged 65 years. [...] He was, therefore born in 1727 which effectively disposes of the suggestion that his father was William (Livingstone) Mitchell. [...] No explanation has been found for the possession or use of the seal. The author’s speculations have therefore been deleted.

Draffen went over the seal question again in his book issued in 1977, one year after Milborne’s death :

In the original Manuscript of Lindsay’s Royal Order of Scotland the author dealt at some length with William’s Mitchell supposed connection with the family of Livingstone of Callendar.[85] [...] Lindsay’s theory was based upon the fact that the red wax seal [...] attached to the “Instructions” of 1752 [sic !] carries the impression of the Livingstone family. How that seal came to be used is still unexplained [...]. [86]

I fail to understand the reasoning of all three historians concerned. Why should the seal affixed on the copy of the Instructions have been in possession of the William Mitchell who came to London in 1750 (which seems to have been Lindsay’s second idea) ? Why should it be relevant to stress that there was no family tie between that Mitchell and the owner of the seal, as Draffen did in 1977 ? Since the Instructions document – whether a copy or not – is sealed with the arms of the Livingston of Parkhall, wouldn’t it be simpler to keep by the idea that the Provincial Grand Master of the Order in London in 1750 belonged to that family and try to identify him ?

The previous seal got lost, as showed by the Minutes of a Chapter Meeting held on 31 January 1777 :

the Chapter Authorized the Grand Clerk to cause make a new seal for the Order the old one being lost & to get a Sketch of one made out to be shown to the following Committee for their approbation [...].

Which brings Lindsay to makes the following comment : “The Minutes do not refer again to this new Seal but it may be reasonable to suppose that the design of it resembled as closely as possible that of the old Seal which had been lost”.[87]

Lindsay then describes the seal which stays in “the book containing the Ritual and other documents of the Chapter du Choix at Paris compiled in 1807 for its T.R.S.T.A. Claude Antoine Thory.” :[88]

It shows an equilateral triangle surrounded by an outer circular margin containing the words “x VIRTUTE ET SILENTIA x SIGIL.” Within the outer margin, along the outer sides of the equilateral triangle, reading from left to right and with the third upside down, are the words “ZEAL SECURES REWARD” with a thistle flower between the two leaves pointing outwards above the center of each of these three words. Occupying the whole of the equilateral triangle is a narrow battlemented tower of three storeys, having on its top a pillar ending on a globe on which rests an open book. The tower rests on a wider base of Mason work forming a lower apartment with a door in the centre. On the left, sun sideways on, a flight of steps leads up to the left hand base of the tower. On the right, in the background, and at right angles to the apartment on which the tower proper rests, is a bridge across a stream. The bridge ends after two rounded arches, above the second of which is a raised draw-bridge.

I doubt however that the seal of 1807 was identical with the new seal made in 1777 : in The American Addenda to Gould’s History of Freemasonry, Charles T. McClenachan quotes the following from an old manuscript in the Carson Collection and had the good idea to reproduce that seal he found in it (reproduced below) :

3 December 1797, at New York City, was founded a Sovereign Chapter of Rose Croix of Harodim of Kilwinning in Scotland, under the distinctive title of ‘La Triple Union,’ by Illustrious Bro. Huet La Chelle (Wisdom), Grand Provincial Master, from the Petit Goave St. Domingo, under the old Scottish Rite of Heredom of Kilwinning, and the auspices of the Provincial Grand Royal Scottish Lodge of Kilwinning of Edinburgh (the Royal order of Robert Bruce of Scotland), sitting at Rouen in Normandy, established there by Edinburgh, on the first day of May, 1786. [...]

This organization had no connection whatever with the Sublime Masonry of the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees, or with the Ancient and Accepted Rite. [...] Its ritualistic ceremonies were entirely different from those of the Rose Croix, eighteenth degree [...] It had a a particular seal as follows: A square castle with battlements, flanked by four turrets, surrounded with a moat. The draw-bridge down, the portcullis raised. To the right a sun. Exergue: Virtute et Silentio.[89]

2. 1677. Canongate Kilwinning. Planted in Edinburgh by the Lodge of Kilwinning. Present N° 2.

1.1. 1688. Canongate and Leith, Leith and Canongate. Founded by members who separated from the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel). Present N° 5.

1.2. 1709. Journeymen Masons. Founded by members who separated from the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel). Present N° 8.

3. 1729, 14 February. Kilwinning Scots Arms. Earliest speculative Lodge in Edinburgh (expulsed 1771).

4. 1734, 4 December. Holyrood House. May 1761 took the name St. Luke’s. Present N° 44.

2.1. 1736. Kilwinning Leith. Founded by members who separated from Canongate Kilwinning (extinct by 1770).

2.1.1. 1738, March. Canongate Kilwinning from Leith. An offshoot from Kilwinning Leith. 1764 took the name St. David. Present N° 36.

1.1.1. 1741, 15 May. [Admiral] Vernon Kilwinning. Founded by members from Canongate and Leith, Leith and Canongate. Took the name St Giles (dissolved in 1779).

5. 1745, 2 April. Scots Lodge in the Canongate. ~1760, took the name St. Andrew’s. Present N° 48.

1.1.2. 1751, August. Thistle Lodge. Founded by members from Canongate and Leith, Leith and Canongate (extinct 1823).

Lyon 1900: 344		Hackney 1966: 75			Lindsay 1972: 45-46

The Diploma runs thus :		The Deploma [91] is addressed to :
“To our truly well-beloved and right worshipful and highly honoured brother Sir William R.L.F., Knight of the R.Y.C.S., Provincial Grand Master of the Seven United Provinces.		“Our trusty, Wellbeloved, and Right Worshipful and Highly Honoured Brother, Sir William R.L.F. .... Provincial Grand Master of the Seven United Provinces, etca.”			TO our Trusty, Wellbeloved, and Right Worshipful and Highly Honour’d Brother Sir William R.L.F. Kn^t of the Order of the R.Y.C.S.: Provincial Grand Master of the Seven United Provinces, &c.
Know ye that out of the great esteem and brotherly love I bear to you, and being well assured of your fidelity,					KNOW YE that out of the Great Esteem and Brotherly Love I bear to You and being well Assured of Your Fidelity,
I do hereby impower you (with proper assistance) to advance to the Order of the R.Y.C.S. at your Grand Lodge at the Hague, or at any other Chapter to which You may grant constitution in any part of the Seven United Provinces.		It empowers the said Sir William R.L.F. to “Advance to the Order of R.Y.C.S. at your Grand Lodge at the Hague” ....			I do hereby Impower You (with proper Assistance) to Advance to the Order of the R.Y.C.S. at Your Grand Lodge at the Hague or at any other Chapter to which You may Grant Constitution in any part of the Seven United Provinces,
And be it further known unto you, that if you are found guilty of acting contrary to my will and pleasure,		and warns him that if he is “found guilty of acting contrary to my Will and Pleasure,			AND BE IT FURTHER KNOWN UNTO YOU, that if You are found Guilty of Acting Contrary to my will and Pleasure,
making breach of any of your constitutional laws, rules, ordinances, and regulations, appended for your observance by authority of the Grand Lodge where I preside and govern,		in making any breach of Your Constitutional Laws .... appointed for your Observance by the Authority of the Grand Lodge where I preside and govern ....			making Breach of any of Your Constitutional Laws, Rules, Orders or Regulations, Appointed for Your Observance by Authority of the Grand Lodge where I preside and govern,
you will be rendered for the future incapable of holding any said office or authority in the H.R.D.M. and also be liable to be excluded the Society for contempt and disobedience.		liable to be Exclude the Society”.			You will be Render’d for the Future Incapable of Holding any Grand Office or Authority in the H.R.D.M. and also be Liable to be Exclude the Society for Contempt and Disobedience.
	R.L.F., President. (Seal.)		This is signed: “R.L.F. under my hand and seal this 22nd day of July 1750, in the ninth year of my authority.” “Entered in the Grand Register by command of the Prol. Grand Master this 22nd day of July 1750 / 5753. Signed : N.B.L.T.Y., Grd. Secy.	N.A.S.I.		N.A.S.I. R.L.F.(L.S.) President.
	Given at London, under my hand and Priory Seal, this 22d day of July 1750, A.D. 1750, AMH. 5758, and in the ninth year of my authority.”			(seal)		Given at London, under my hand and Privy Seal this 22^d day of July 1750, A.D. 1750 A.M.H. 5753 and in the Ninth Year of my Authority.”
				President		Enter’d in the Grand Register By Command of the Pro^l. Grand Master this 22^d day of July 1750 : 5753. N.B.L.T.Y. Gr^d Sec^y
The seal on the Diploma bears to be that of the Provincial Grand Master in South Britain.					The seal is the same as that on the Patent, but above it is written “N.A.S.I.” and below it “President.”

1812. Claude-Antoine Thory, Histoire du Grand Orient de France, Dufart: Paris. - 1992 Slatkine: Genève, Facsimile ed., Introduction-Avertissement et Index par Alain Bernheim [pp. 79-81, 132-139 (letters from 14 October and 11 Dec. 1786), 171-184 (Charter from 1 May 1786), 338-339 (legends of medals reproduced Plate 2 in the un-numbered pages at the end of the volume)].

1815. Claude-Antoine Thory, Acta Latomorum, 2 vol., Dufart: Paris. 1980 Slatkine: Genève-Paris, Facsimile ed., Présentation de Daniel Ligou, [Vol. I: 6 (1314), 163 (1785), 169, 170, 174, 179, 215, 229, 231, 246 (1810) - 277, 308, 315n - 317, 335, 337, 344 (names of the four degrees of the Order). – Vol. II: 294 (Brown), 299 (Chabouillé), 303 (Louis Clavel), 310 (Demurdoch [sic]), 325 (George II et George III, Gibb), 327 (Gordon), 331 (Haye), 352 (Mathéus), 356 (Moor), 358 (Murdock)].

1824-1828. Lenning–Mossdorf, Encyclopädie der Freimaurerei, F.A. Brockhaus : Leipzig. [Vol II (1824), Entries Herodom, Kammer, Loge – Vol. III (1828), Entry Schechinah].

1843. François Timoléon Bègue Clavel, Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Pagnerre : Paris. 1844, 3^rd ed. & 1987 Facsimile 3^rd ed., Artefact: Paris [398-400].

1878. A.F.A. Woodford, Kenning's Encyclopedia, George Kenning : London [Entry Royal Order of Scotland].

1884. William James Hughan, Origin of the English Rite of Freemasonry, especially in relation to the Royal Arch Degree. 1909 New and Revised Edition, Johnson, Wykes and Co.: Leicester [92, 137-140, 160].

1891. Edward T. Schulz, ‘The Royal Order of Heredom of Kilwinning, or Rose Croix de Heredom of Kilwinning’, in: Henry Leonard Stillson & William James Hughan (ed.), History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons and Concordant Orders, The Fraternity Publishing Company: Boston and New York 1891 [851-854].

1902. John Yarker, ‘The old Swalwell Lodge and the Harodim’. Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 15: 184-188.

1920. Albert F. Calvert, Old Engraved Lists of Masonic Lodges, Kenning & Son: London.

1923. A. E. Waite, A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, 2 vol., William Rider and Son: London [Entries Heredom, Royal Order].

1924. E. Fox-Thomas, History of the Royal Order of Scotland. ["Mr. C. Fox-Thomas gives many interesting details in his sketch of the history of the Order" (1921 Gould. The Concise History. Revised edition: 273), "Egbert Fox-Thomas published the first history of the Order" (Draffen 1977: 62). Also mentioned in Trevor Stewart 1996: 59. The present writer has not seen the book].

1935. R. S. Lindsay. A History of the Mason Lodge of Holyrood House (St Luke's) N° 44, T. and A. Constable Ltd at the University Press: Edinburgh [pp. 8-9, 201-207, 467, 519, 541].

1950. Gilbert Colville Shadwell. The Shadwell-Cameron Manuscript, The Masonic Service Association: Washington D.C.

1954. Marius Lepage & George Draffen. ‘L'Ordre Royal d'Ecosse en France’, Le Symbolisme 6/316: 363-378.

1973. Pierre Girard-Augry, ‘Le R\ Chapitre de H.D.M. de Kilwinning sous la dénomination du Choix , Deuxième Chapitre de l’Ordre en France et le Premier à Paris’, Travaux de Villard de Honnecourt IX: 30-40.

1974. Pierre Girard-Augry, ‘Le Chapitre du Choix au 18^e siècle (22 janvier 1779-4 mai 1789)’, Travaux de Villard de Honnecourt X: 112-121.

1991. Neville Cryer. ‘A Fresh Look at the Harodim’, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 91: 116-155.

1994. Alain Bernheim, Les Débuts de la Franc-Maçonnerie à Genève et en Suisse, Slatkine: Genève.

1996. Trevor Stewart. ‘The H.R.D.M. – A fourth visitation to a curious 18th century Masonic phenomenon from the North East region of England’, Acta Macionica 6: 43-93 (with contributions of Pierre Noël and Guy Schrans).

NOTES

[1] Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 16 (1903): 52.

[2] Alain Bernheim, ‘Did Early “High” or Ecossais Degrees originate in France ?’, Heredom 5 (1996): 87-113. Read online at http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/bernheim17.html

[3] See the Bibliography.

[4] Hughan had “made a pilgrimage to Edinburgh in July 1867 in order (as a member), to examine the records of the Royal Order” for himself (Hughan 1891: 836).

[5] Editor-in-Chief was Henry Leonard Stillson (1842-1913).

[6] A History of the Royal Order of Scotland was issued in 1924 by Egbert Fox-Thomas (see Bibliography). In 1960, under the title Report and Historical Survey, the Royal Order of Scotland issued a pamphlet of 48 pages for private circulation which included two short essays: ‘Some Notes on the Early Records of the Order’ by George Draffen (9-17) and ‘William Mitchell, Provincial Grand Master at The Hague, 1750’ by R. S. Lindsay (19-25). The pamphlet was kindly sent to me by the present Grand Secretary of the Order. Norman Hackney, Deputy P.G.M. East Anglia, had begun in 1951 to write a history of the Order which went through successive versions. The last one was printed in 1966 for private circulation under the title The Royal Order of Heredom of Kilwinning. In the dedication to Lord Elgin, the author describes his book as “Historical, Critical, and Rambling Notes”. About one half of its ninety-nine pages is devoted to the Order’s ritual with long quotes from the Flather MS.

[7] Introduction to Lindsay 1972.

[8] Lyon 1900: 343. On the same page, Murray Lyon wrote: “The paternity of the Royal Order is now pretty generally attributed to a Jacobite knight named Andrew Ramsay, a devoted follower of the Pretender, and famous as the fabricator of certain rites inaugurated in France about 1735-40, and through the propagation of which it was hoped the fallen fortunes of the Stuarts would be retrieved”. Lindsay dismissed the idea that the Royal Order could have originated in France (Lindsay 1972: 29-32).

[9] Lindsay 1972: 37. In his review of Lindsay’s book, A. R. Hewitt does not question the above statement: “It will be a revelation to many that in spite of its title, the Order is English in origin, having been founded in London as early as 1741, probably earlier” (Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 83: 329).

[10] Draffen 1960: 14 & 15. The (unpublished) Laws of 1767 included “the first specific mention of the King of Scotland as Grand Master of the Order” (Lindsay 1972: 70).

[11] Draffen 1951: 97. The most interesting remark about the “4 other degrees”, not mentioned in Lindsay’s MS, was added in the book by Milborne (Lindsay 1972: 84-85).

[12] Patent granted to Jean Matheus, 1 May 1786 (quoted in English in Thory, Histoire du Grand Orient de France: 173-177).

[13] Identical wording on both the Certificate sent to Matheus, 11 December 1786 (Lindsay 1972: 95), and on the Patent in favors [sic] of Pierre Marc Dupuy [...] at Chamberry [sic] dated At Edinburgh the fourth day of April One thousand seven hundred and Eighty Eight AM 5788 (Archives Départementales de la Savoie, F12, 65-66, f° 3).

[14] Which is somewhat different from Lindsay’s summary: “The use of the term ‘The Royal Order of Scotland’ now commonly used to designate the Order is only found after the present Grand Lodge of the Order was established in Edinburgh in 1767. Before that the Order was known as the Heredom of Kilwinning” (Lindsay 1972: 27).

[15] Text quoted in Draffen 1977: 23.

[16] The clippings were discovered by F. W. Levander who published them in 1916 (F. W. Levander, ‘The “Collectanea” of the Rev. Daniel Lysons, F.R.S., F.S.A.’, Part II, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 29: 26). Lysons was an English topographer born in 1762 who “possessed an enormous collection of cuttings from newspapers” (Levander, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 28: 36).

[17] In Dutch, ‘s Gravenhage or den Haag ; in French, La Haye.

[18] Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 29 (1916): 26. Also Lindsay 1972: 26.

[19] James Anderson The New Book of Constitutions (1738): 109.

[20] It met previously at the George and Dragon, also in Portland-street, Oxford Market. About this Lodge’s meeting-places, see Lane 1895: 38 and QCA XII: 15, note [a], and 53, note [a]. The Lodge stays second on the manuscript Lists of 1723 and 1725. Its Members accepted a "Constitution" from Grand Lodge 27 February 1723, by reason of which it became No. 11 in the enumeration of 1729 (Lane 1895: 38). In 1768, it took the name of Lodge of Fortitude and in 1818 that of Lodge of Fortitude and Old Cumberland. It is presently No. 12. Grand Master Anthony Sayer (~1672-1742) stays as a member in the manuscript lists of 1723, 1725 and 1730 (QCA X: 3, 22, 154) at that time the Lodge met at the Queens’ Head in Knaves Acre.

[21] See engraved Lists of Lodges for 1723, 1725, 1729, 1745, 1764 reproduced in Calvert 1920.

[22] See below the “List of Regular Chapters according to Seniority” given to Mitchell in 1750. 11 December 1743 (O. S.) was the 2d Sunday of the month.

[23] Both names as given in Lyon 1900: 343 and Lindsay 1972: 7. However Lindsay writes: “Jonas Kluck (or more properly Jacobus Jonas Klock)” without any explanation (Lindsay 1972: 60).

[24] Only the first paragraph of the petition is quoted by Hackney, however with a different wording: “The Right Worshipful Sir Robert R.L.F. Knight of the R.Y.C.S.: Provincial Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honble. Order of the H.R.D.M. of K.L.W.N.N.G. in So. Brit., the Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens and the rest of the Right Worshl. Grand Officers of the said Order” (Hackney 1966 : 75).

[25] Fully quoted in Lindsay 1972: 47-48. Summarized thus by Murray Lyon: “In July 1750, William Mitchell, a native of Scotland, and a teacher of languages at the Hague, and Jonas Kluck, a merchant there, presented a petition to the Provincial Grand Master in ‘South Britain,’ in which they stated that they and other residents at the Hague were members of the Order, and craved power to erect a Provincial Grand Lodge there.” (Lyon 1900: 343-344).

[26] Characteristics represent an idiosyncratic peculiarity of the Royal Order. Each member receives one at the time of his admission, some are termed official (attached to office-bearers), others classical or additional. They are chosen among specific words, such as Relief, Nobility, Freedom, Fidelity, Sincerity, written in capital letters followed with a full stop and suppressing all vowels except Y, as showed on documents reproduced in this paper (R.L.F., N.B.L.T.Y., F.R.D.M., F.D.L.T.Y., S.N.C.R.T.Y.). The heading of the tenth document from the Records of the H.R.D.M., quoted below, show that in 1750 there were “Nine Classical and Additional or Extra Characteristicks of the Grand Chapter (called the Grand Lodge)”. That list was unfortunately destroyed in Edinburgh (Lindsay 1972: 56). Writing words such as H.R.D.M. for Heredom, K.L.W.N.N.G. for Kilwinning, S.N.H.D.R.M. for Sanhedrim or R.S.C.S. for Rosy Cross is another peculiarity of the Order.

[27] The wording of the Grand Secretary’s certification at the end of Mitchell’s patent quoted below shows that a ‘Grand Register’ existed in 1750. Since it is not extant any more, one cannot ascertain if it included a list of members. The extant Register delivered in London to Mitchell, opens with Mitchell’s and Kluck’s names merely followed with those of members entered in Edinburgh some ten years later.

[28] This is nothing but Lindsay’s deduction, unsupported by evidence.

[29] Lindsay 1972: 60-61. In The names of Brethren who are members of the Royal Chapter at Edinburgh (one of the H.R.D.M. Records mentioned below), a note opposite Mitchell’s name states he joined the Order “In France & England the years 1749 and 1750”. This brought Hackney to write: “Mitchell claimed to have received the Degree of Rose Croix de Heredom in 1749, presumably in France“ (Hackney 1966: 25). Words to the same effect were probably included in the 1954 ms version of his essay which he sent to Draffen (Hackney 1966: 5) who in turn sent it to Lindsay and resulted in the latter writing: “The only possible explanation of this is that what he obtained in France in 1749 was the Ecossais Degree of Rose Croix which he believed was the same thing as the Royal Order’s Degree of Rosy Cross” (Lindsay 1960: 24). In his book, Lindsay wrote that “Scotland knew nothing at all about the French Rose Croix degree until from about 1800...” (Lindsay 1972: 86). However in 1956, Draffen was “pretty certain”, from evidence submitted to him by Lindsay himself, “that the other degrees to which William Gibb refered [in his already quoted letter from 21 October 1782] are those of Royal Arch and Rose Croix” (Draffen 1956: 110).

[30] “Par le pouvoir que j’ay reçu, moi grand maître Ecossais, chevalier de l’Epée et de Rose-Croix, je te constitue [...]” (Steel-Maret 1893-1896, Archives Secrètes de la Franc-Maçonnerie – Reprint Slatkine: Genève-Paris 1985, p. 27). The original document is not extant any more.

[31] Kloss, Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Frankreich, I (1852): 286. Peuvret, a member of the Royal Order’ Chapitre du Choix in Paris, resigned from it on 15 January 1788 (Pierre Girard-Augry 1974: 118) and died 8 September 1800 (Lenning, Encyclopädie der Freimaurerei, F.A. Brockhaus: Leipzig 1828, Band III: 96). Also see Thory, Acta Latomorum (1815), I: 205.

[32] Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, FM⁴ 79.

[33] Lyon 1900: 344.

[34] A Chapter of the Order was founded there in December 1743. The first mention of a Lodge meeting at the Golden Horse Shoe (N° 56, 1729 numeration, founded in 1728) is met with on 29 November 1754 in Grand Lodge Minutes (QCA XII: 82).

[35] Lindsay 1972: 48.

[36] Lyon 1900: 344-345. See the comparison between Murray Lyon’s version and those of Hughan 1891 and Lindsay 1972 in Appendix III 1.

[37] Lindsay 1972: 47 & 48.

[38] Lindsay 1972: 39.

[39] Lyon 1900: 344 and the Poole-revised edition (1951) of Gould’s History (iv: 219) have 5758 instead of 5753.

[40] Some of the spellings and abbreviations included in the Instructions and in the Diploma (text reproduced after Lindsay 1972: 42-44 and 45-46) are quaint. See the comparison between his version of the latter and those of Murray Lyon 1900 and Hackney 1966 in Appendix III 2. The word ‘Deploma’ is found only in Hackney who stresses the point that “the spelling and abbreviations are as they appeared in 1750” in the documents he transcribes (Hackney 1961: 75).

[41] An Index stays at the end of the ledger (Lindsay 1972: 56)

[42] Lindsay 1972: 46.

[43] In 1891, Hughan reproduced the list, adding numbers to it, up to the Chapter founded at Brest in July 1788, which was Nr. 18 (Hughan 1891: 836-837). Presumably, this represents the original state of the document he saw at Edinburgh, namely the list given to Mitchell in London and brought by him to Edinburgh, upon which new Chapters were added until the Order stopped meeting in 1794. In a short paper issued in 1951, Draffen mentions that “At the conclusion of hostilities the Provincial Grand Master of France reported (in 1810) that he had issued a further twelve charters and requested Grand Lodge to homologate his action.”, a report not mentioned elsewhere, from which Draffen probably culled sixteen more bodies up to Chapter [Nr. 34] founded 1810 at Livourne (Draffen 1951: 326). Lindsay, and Draffen added the more recent bodies of the Order up to the time their respective books were issued (Lindsay 1972: 111-115, Draffen 1977: 94-98).

[44] See Note 28.

[45] “The entries recording [Chapter] No. 8 are in a hand different from that of the Provincial Grand Secretary at London. They are probably in Mitchell’s own hand [...]” (Lindsay 1972: 51).

[46] ‘White Boar’s Head’ in Hughan 1891: 836.

[47] ‘Deptford in Kent’ (Deepford in the older maps) is now a south-eastern borough of London. About early Lodges in Deptford, see J. Percy Simpson, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 21: 42.

[48] Accordingly, when Mitchell arrived in London, the Order had not founded any new body for more than five years.

[49] Only circumstancial evidence is available about the Chapter at The Hague and that founded in 1752 at Norfolk (Virginia), which was added on the original list from 1750.

[50] Likely the report submitted by George Arnott Walker Arnott on 21 February 1843 at a meeting of the Order in Edinburgh (see Lindsay 1972: 107).

[51] Lyon 1900: 346.

[52] Lindsay 1972: 61 & note 1.

[53] Letter from 5 September 1994.

[54] Both announcements were first reproduced in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 29: 26 (see Note 16). The 1753 announcement is mentioned but not quoted by Lindsay (Lindsay 1972: 60, 63, 64).

[55] A ‘Modern’ lodge (founded 29 August 1739 as N° 187, became N° 176 one year later) met at the same place from September 1751 till 1777 (QCA XII: 55). It was named Lodge of Sincerity in 1779 (Lane 1895: 83).

[56] “Did the Order in England suddenly become extinct, or voluntarily closed down ?” (Lindsay 1972: 63).

[57] See the genealogy of Edinburgh Lodges up to 1751 in Appendix II.

[58] Mitchell’s visits became known to masonic students thanks to Adam Muir Mackay, a PM of Lodge St David, Nr. 36 (S. C.), who published a short paper, ‘Notes on the Royal Order of Scotland’, in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 22 (1909): 59-61. The paper reproduced extracts from the Minute-Book of his Lodge, originally named Canongate Kilwinning from Leith (Leith, the port of Edinburgh, was incorporated with the city in 1920), which changed its name into that of St David in 1756. Besides two Mitchell’s visits in 1753, Mackay records nine further ones in 1754, two in 1755, one on 9 June 1756 (“first recorded visit to Lodge St. David of a Deputation of the Royal Order”), then on 19 June 1764 (“We were visited on this occasion by the R^t Worshipfull B^r Mitchell & a number of Brethren of the Royal Order in plain Clothing”) and on 18 March 1765 (“we were visited by B^r Jas. Ker, and a considerabler number of the Knights & Brethren of the Royal Order of Scots Masonry who had all due honours paid them, and returned a proper acknowledgement therefor to our Lodge”). James Ker, Secretary of Lodge St. David, is described by Mackay as “Keeper of the Records in Laigh Paliament Ho”, by Murray Lyon as “Keeper of the Registers, Lauriston“ in 1773 (Lyon 1900: 346-347 & 346n, who always writes the name as ‘‘Kerr’’). James Ker was elected Deputy Governor of the Order on 4 July 1767.

[59] “The earliest recorded minute of election” (Draffen 1977: 111).

[60] Lyon 1900: 346. This is again the Arnott report (see Note 50).

[61] Lindsay 1972: 69. If tThe Chapter’s Minutes are ever published, they may explain why Murray Lyon mentions 1777 and Lindsay 1787.

[62] Draffen 1960: 12.

[63] Jean Matheus (27 July 1754-1823), son of J. Daniel Matheus and Anne-Barbe Müller, was born in Walsheim near Neustadt, Palatinate (not “in German Switzerland” as asserted in Lindsay 1972: 88). He married Marie-Sophie-Christiane Rupp in 1784 at Speyer and went to Rouen wheir both their children, Jean-Daniel and a daughter, were born in 1785 and 1787 (private communication from Eric Saunier ; also see Saunier’s entry Mathéus in Encyclopédie de la Franc-Maçonnerie, La Pochotèque: Paris 2000). Matheus was WM of Lodge L’Ardente Amitié in Roeun (see Alain Le Bihan, Loges et Chapitres de la Grande Loge et du Grand Orient de France (2^e moitié du XVIII^e siècle). Bibliothèque nationale: Paris 1967, pp. 202-203, with bibliographical elements). In his last letter to the Order (20 December 1815), Matheus mentions that his son, a member of the Grand Chapter at Rouen, is in England and “will be getting in touch with Edinburgh” (Lindsay 1972: 101).

[64] The date is remarkable since the same one is ascribed to the Grand Constitutions of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, said in the Circular throughout the two Hemispheres (Charleston, 4 December 1802) to have been signed by Frederic.

[65] “On 3^rd September 1788, Matheus acknowledged receipt of the ‘Grand Lecture,’ and said that he ‘is now going to busy myself in translating it’” (Lindsay 1972: 98).

[66] Thory who was Thirsatha of a Royal Order’s Chapitre du Choix in Paris, gives a List of the French Chapters of the Order, in which he omits the Provincial Grand Lodge at Chambéry (Histoire du Grand Orient de France: 173). A Chapter which does not appear in any list published either in Scotland or in France, was founded through Chambéry in 1800 at Geneva, then a department of the French Empire (Bernheim 1994: 377-380).

[67] The history of the Chapitre du Choix, was written after its Minute-Books by Pierre Girard-Augry.

[68] Draffen 1977: 4 & 102. Dr Morison (1780-1849), founded the Supreme Council for Scotland in 1848,. He was born in Scotland and died in Paris. His biography stays at the head of the Catalogue (1904) of the Library of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and in George Draffen’s Inaugural paper before Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 1957 (Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 71: 3-8). Mistakes of the 1904 biography stay corrected in Lindsay 1958: 61-69.

[69] “When the Order resumed labour at Edinburgh, only two former members were left” (Lindsay 1972: 9), which is wrong as showed by Draffen (Draffen 1977: 2).

[70] Langley lies about 20 miles West from London.

[71] Lindsay 1972: 106.

[72] Lindsay 1972 : 104, note 1. Draffen 1977 : 8.

[73] Lindsay 1972 : 9.

[74] Not ‘1848’ as in Draffen 1977: 4.

[75] Draffen, Inaugural Address (8 November 1957), Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 71: 5.

[76] Lindsay 1972: 9. The Edinburgh archives also include the ritual which originally belonged to La douce Harmonie Chapter, founded 4 October 1787 at Aix-en-Provence (Hackney 1966: 81).

[77] Hackney 1966: 80 & 83. Nothing shows that Mitchell was supplied with a ritual.

[78] Lindsay 1972: 41, 45, 46.

[79] Hughan 1891: 839. Hughan adds: “A fac-simile of this seal may be found in Brother Lyon’s history of the ‘Lodge of Edinburgh’ (p. 309), and is rather perplexing in character. If the contraction does not mean Provisional, but Provincial Grand Master, we are face to face with another difficulty ; for, if ‘Provincial G. M.,’ where, and of what antiquity, was the governing body ?” Hughan refers to the 1873 ed. of Murray Lyon’s history. The seal is not reproduced in the Tercentenary edition (1900).

[80] Lindsay 1972: 46.

[81] Lindsay 1972: 59.

[82] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Portcullis is one of the four poursuivants of the College of Arms, or Herald’s College, in England.

[83] Lindsay 1960: 20. Lindsay does not state here that the sealed document is the Instructions, which he did in his book. In the book however the Instructions are not termed a copy, whereas other documents are.

[84] Lindsay 1972: 45.

[85] Burke’s Peerage shows that Sir James Livingstone was elevated to the peerage of Scotland as Viscount Newburgh, 13 September 1647. His grand-daughter, Charlotte-Maria (1694-1775), married Charles Radcliffe (1693-1746), Grand Master of Freemasons in the Kingdom of France.

[86] Draffen 1977: 92.

[87] Lindsay 1972: 108.

[88] Lindsay 1972: 108-109.

[89] Enoch T. Carson, ‘The History of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry in the United States’, in: The American Addenda to Gould’s History of Freemasonry, John C. Yorston & Company: New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago 1889, 635-636.

[90] “In July, 1867, I made a pilgrimage to Edinburgh in order (as a member) to examine the records of the Royal Order for myself [...] Several pages of my notes, taken on that occasion, are now before me, and will be utilized for the present chapter.” (Hughan 1891: 836).

[91] Deploma is spelled three times with an ‘e’ on that page by Hackney and accordingly can hardly be a misprint.