IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GBR 1991 SGC
Held at: Museum of Freemasonry
Title: Supreme Grand Chapter of England
Date(s): [1746] - 2004
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 91 boxes; 116 volumes; 2 folders
Name of creator(s): Supreme Grand Chapter of England
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Supreme Grand Chapter, responsible for the governance of Royal Arch freemasonry in England and Wales and in Chapters overseas meeting under the English Constitution, came into existence on 18 March 1817. However evidence for working the Royal Arch degree exists from the 1730’s, with the first printed reference occurring in 1744. In addition to the three Craft degrees by the 1750’s this degree was conferred on a regular basis in England, Scotland and Ireland. From its formation in 1751, lodges meeting under the jurisdiction of the Antients or Atholl Grand Lodge also conferred Royal Arch and other Masonic degrees. The Antients formed a Grand Chapter in 1771 which met infrequently and did not create formal minutes, appoint separate officers or operate independently from its Grand Lodge. However the Antients Grand Lodge created and maintained separate registers of royal arch membership returns with an index, covering the period c.1746 to 1819.
The Moderns (or premier) Grand Lodge, formed in 1717, preferred to retain a distinction between Craft and Royal Arch freemasonry. While Antients’ Grand Lodges conferred the Royal Arch degree with consent and approval, the Moderns Grand Lodge did not acknowledge it openly and considered it an innovation representing irregular Masonic practice. In consequence several leading members who wished to do this additional degree established an Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter in 1765, in which the Moderns’ Grand Master, Lord Blayney, was exalted on 11 June the following year. A Charter of Compact dated 22 July 1766 constituted this new body as the Grand and Royal Chapter of the Royal Arch of Jerusalem. It met monthly at the Turk’s Head Tavern, Gerrard Street, Soho, from 12 June 1765 until November 1770, and then at various inns before relocating to the new Freemasons’ Hall in December 1775. Minutes, including names of new members exalted between 1769 and 1819, survive from 1765 and by laws were issued from December 1766. It only began to function as a governing body or Council from 13 January 1769, when it constituted three sub-ordinate Chapters and commissioned an official seal the following month. From 1801 the Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter met twice a year and during its existence it was also referred to as the Grand Lodge of Royal Arch Masons, the Grand and Royal Chapter of Jerusalem, the Most Grand and Royal Chapter, Royal Arch Grand Chapter, the Grand and Royal Arch Chapter of the Royal Arch of Jerusalem and the Supreme Grand and Royal Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, with no fewer than eight alterations to its official title.
Thomas Dunckerley (1724-1795) was a driving force behind the early development of the Grand Chapter, serving as a Royal Arch Superintendent in eighteen Provinces. Chapters working under the Charter of Compact welcomed members from both Antients’ and Moderns’ lodges. By September 1771 the new Moderns’ Grand Secretary, William Dickey complained of abuses and sought a meeting of Lodge Masters and Past Masters to discuss the future of the Grand Chapter. Some reforms took place in November 1773, when it was decided that the Chapter membership should be restricted to Masters and Past Masters, excluding those who had merely ‘passed the Chair’. Many lodge members considered Grand Lodge had no right to restrict them from becoming Royal Arch freemasons. By 1781 the formation of twenty five individual Chapters had been approved, mainly in the Provinces but only three in London. Two years later, thirty five Chapters were meeting but representation by members on its governing body remained limited, despite the formation of a General Convention in April 1784. Calls for reform were followed by unsuccessful attempts to separate the administrative functions of Grand Chapter from its role as a private Chapter that continued to exalt candidates and rehearse ceremonies. Grand Chapter experienced a period of stagnation between 1797 and 1800 but began to renew its activities from 1801, with the appointment of Arthur, 1st Earl of Mountnorris, as First Grand Principal. This revitalisation continued after Lord Moira, Acting Grand Master of the Moderns Grand Lodge under the Prince of Wales, was exalted in June 1803 and became First Grand Principal the following year. Moira resigned in 1810 to enable the Duke of Sussex to become First Grand Principal. Grand Chapter continued to perform both administrative and ceremonial functions until 1817, with the last exaltation of a member taking place on 12 March 1812 and a final Royal Arch ceremony worked on 17 May 1813.
At its last regular meeting on 30 November 1813, Grand Chapter announced the proposed Union between the Moderns’ and Antients’ Grand Lodges. Negotiations concerning the merger between the two Grand Lodges included an acknowledgement of the existence of Royal Arch freemasonry in the Articles of Union, representing the perfection of the Master’s Degree. The final meeting of the Supreme Grand and Royal Chapter took place on 18 March 1817, when the body that became known as the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, responsible for the governance of Royal Arch freemasonry, was formed. The laws and regulations of the new body were approved in May 1817, confirming that every Chapter had to be attached to a Craft Lodge and that no Lodge could form a Chapter without obtaining a Charter to attach to its Craft Warrant. In 1818 a Committee was appointed to regularise the installation ceremonies for Chapter officers, known as Principals. By February 1819 the Committee reported that Principals and Past Principals in London Chapters had been installed regularly but further ceremonies continued into 1824. In 1820 Grand Chapter permitted the installation of Principals and Past Principals in country and foreign Chapters. The first set of printed laws and Regulations appeared in 1823, including a list of 198 Chapters that had become attached to a Lodge.
The new administrative body was entitled initially the United Grand Chapter but from February 1822 it became known as the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England. This indicated that the new body was not in effect a Union between two distinct Grand Chapters, but an amalgamation between the Moderns’ Supreme Grand and Royal Chapter and some Antients’ Royal Arch members. In 1834 and 1835 the Duke of Sussex, First Grand Principal, appointed leading members of the Supreme Grand Chapter to form a Chapter of Promulgation in order to regularise Royal Arch ceremonies. Royal Arch freemasonry incorporates unique symbolism and terminology. The term Brother, as used by Craft lodge members, continued to be used by Royal Arch freemasons until c.1778-1779, when the term Companion appears in Chapter minutes. The symbols Z, H and J for the three Chapter Principals or officers were already in use by 1765. The T and H symbols used in Royal Arch freemasonry, later referred to as the Triple Tau symbol, derive from the Latin phrase, Templum Hierosolimae, or Temple of Jerusalem.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Consists of records created by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England and its predecessor bodies, the Moderns’ and Antients’ Grand Lodges, to administer Royal Arch freemasonry. Includes minutes of meetings or Convocations of the Supreme Grand Chapter and its General Purposes Committee, signature books, agenda books, records relating to the Chapter of Promulgation, cash books, ledgers, annual returns, membership registers, installation returns, registers of Principals, Chapter petitions, registers of Patents, papers of working parties, indexes and extracts with associated records and correspondence.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged into four Series of records, Governance, Finance, Membership and Administration.
Conditions governing access:
No access to be given without the prior permission of the Director of the Museum of Freemasonry. Some archives in this collection are subject to restricted access periods, with access conditions specified at the series, sub-series or item level catalogue record.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No reproductions to be made without the prior permission of the Director of the Museum of Freemasonry and in conjunction with the Photography Policy observed by the Museum of Freemasonry.
Finding aids:
Full details of items are available on our online catalogue
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The records of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England and its predecessor bodies were deposited with the Library and Museum of Freemasonry.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Publication note:
Further historical information about the development of the Supreme Grand Chapter is located in: Grand Lodge 1717-1967: Appendix E The Supreme Grand Chapter of England by A R Hewitt pp 280-290, The United Grand Lodge of England, Oxford University Press 1967, Library ref: BE 105 UNI; The Supreme Grand Chapter of England: a brief history from Lord Blayney to the Duke of Sussex, London, 1966 by A R Hewitt, Library ref: BE 335 HEW; The History of English Freemasonry: Chapter 7 The English Royal Arch pp.109-124, London, 1994 by John Hamill, Library ref: BE 50 HAM; Freemasons’ book of the Royal Arch, London, 1957, 1969, 1970 by Bernard E. Jones, Library ref: BE 308 JON; History of Royal Arch Masonry vols 1-3 issued under authority of the General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Trenton, Missouri, USA, 1956, by Everett R Turnbull and Ray V Denslow, Library ref: BE 308 TUR
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: 09/11/2011