The Archives Of The York Union Lodge.

of parchment containing the . names of tlnrty-six Master Masons of the Lodge of York , July 7 th , 1734 . But on that clay , according to a minutebook still at Yoi'k , " The ancient and independent constitution of Free and Accepted Masons ,

belonging to the city of York , was this day revived by six surviving members of the Fraternity , by the Grand Lodge being opened and held at the house of Mr . Henry Howard , " and " where it was further agreed , that it should be continued and

held there only the second and last Monday of every month . " On the opening page , we read this title : — " 17 th March , 1761 . Minute-book belonging to the Ancient Society of Free and Accepted Masons , of the Grand Lodge of all England , held at the City of York , 17 th March , 1761 , to 27 th March , 1774 . "

Francis Drake was G . M . of this revived Grand Lodge , and G . Reynolds , D . G . M . ; G . Coates , : S . G . W . ; T . Mason , J . G . W . ; J . Tasker , G-. T . and G . S . ; C . Coulton and W . M . Crofts . This minute book records the proceedings of

these 14 years . We find there the installation of more than one G . M ., and many interesting facts are recorded . On some future occasion I propose to send you a few extracts from this minute-book . By the term Grand Lodge , we must not merely

understand an aggregate of Masons of other lodges , as we do now . For this Grand Lodge was , in truth , a private lodge , as we should say ; and , though with off-shoots at Rotherham , Ripon , Scarborough , Doncaster , & c , and in the Regiment of Enniskillen Dragoons , initiated , passed , and raised . But the dissensions of the Craft , which

then prevailed south , had also reached the north , . as a warrant is still to be read in the archives of the Union Lodge , of date 1762 , by which Aberdour , G . M . of the Southern Grand Lodge , or the ' ' '' nominal Grand Lodge , " as the York Masons

call it in their addresses and manifestoes , authorises a lodge to be opened and held at the Punch Bowl , Stone-gate , York . In 1775 twenty rules and regulations are recorded as having been drawn up and signed by

eighty-eight brethren , whose names are given , ¦ with their actual signatures , "for the private regulations of the Craft . " These rules are curious in themselves , and well deserve to subsequently noticed . A note is written on this document ,

" Grand Lodge met at Xmasse , Ed . Bell , Master . " In 1777 some of the York brethren obtained a warrant from Sir Thomas Tailored . Prov . G . M .

of Yorkshire , under the Duke of Montagu , G . M ., to hold a lodge at York , called the Union Lodge . This Provincial Graud Lodge of Yorkshire is called , in another document , the Apollo Lodge , under the constitutions of the " nominal Grand

Lodge . " From 1777 to the present time , I believe , the records exist in unbroken order of the present Union Lodge . There is among the papers and documents a

very long and curious correspondence between the York Grand Lodge and the Lodge of Antiquity in London , in 1778 . Though the authority of the York Grand Lodge was openly repudiated in York itself by many brethren , as appears by a curious

draft of a proposed manifesto , the York Grand Lodge proposed to re-organise the immemorial authority of the Lodge of Antiquity , and to give a warrant to sixteen brethren named , the fifth being Wm . Preston , to form a " Grand Lodge of

Free and Accepted Masons South of the Trent . The form of this proposed warrant or charter is still at York . Whether this warrant , clearly extra vires , ever was granted , does not clearly appear , though the

correspondence is very protracted , but there is a letter from a brother in London , in 1810 , to Lord Hawke , then G . M . of the York Masons , asking , in behalf of the Lodge of Antiquity , for a certified copy of such warrant , as the original had

become decayed and "illegible . " In addition to these many letters and documents , which I can only just allude to now , there are also the accounts of the Grand Lodge , beginning in June , 1777 , and ending October 9 th , 1795 .

Over and above these interesting records relating to the Craft Grand Lodge , we have also , at York , the account book of the York Grand Royal Arch Chapter ( but no minute-book ) , beginning April 29 th , 1768 , and ending about 1780 or a little later .

We have found certificates in which the Royal Arch is called the fourth degree , and evidences are there to prove that at that time , at any rate , the connection between Craft Masonry and the Royal Arch was fully established and distinctly upheld .

In 1780 , we find the first records relating to the Masonic Knights Templar of York , " belonging to the York Grand Lodge . " It seems probable that they had been informally in existence a little previously , though not long , as in 1780 , the copy of an original warrant , to hold