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Concordat with Grand Lodges of
Ireland and Scotland
A Concordat was drawn up in 1905 between
representatives of the three Grand Lodges,
the English deputation being led by MW
Bro. the Earl Amherst, Pro Grand Master.
It was adopted by the Grand Lodge and
published in the Grand Lodge Proceedings
for September, 1905.
Recent experience where new Grand
Lodges have been formed out of Lodges
drawn from the three Constitutions has
shown that the present requirements of the
Concordat in relation to recognition are
unduly restrictive in today’s conditions.
Representatives of the three Grand
Lodges, when they met in August 2005,
agreed to the insertion of a phrase allowing
for the relaxation of the strict requirements
of the Concordat by agreement in individual
cases. The Board has decided to republish
the Concordat in full as follows with the
new phrase underlined:
At a conference held in Committee Room
No. 14, House of Commons, on Thursday,
29th June, 1905, between Delegates
from the Grand Lodges of England,
Ireland and Scotland.
Present: MW Bro. Earl Amherst, Pro
Grand Master of England, in the Chair.
England: RW Bro. The Rt. Hon. T F
Halsey MP, Deputy Grand Master; VW
Bro John Strachan KC, Grand Registrar;
VW Bro. Sir Arthur Collins KC, President,
Board of General Purposes and VW Bro.
Sir Edward Letchworth, Grand Secretary.
Ireland: VW Bro. J Chetwode Crawley
LL.D., Grand Secretary of Grand Lodge of
Ireland and VW Bro. H E Flavelle, Deputy
Grand Secretary.
Scotland: MW Bro. The Hon. C M Ramsay,
Grand Master Mason; RW Bro. The Hon.
James Hozier MP, Past Grand Master; RW
Bro. J D G Dalrymple of Woodhead, Past
Grand Master Depute; VW Bro. W Officer,
Chairman of Foreign and Colonial
Committee and RW Bro. David Reid,
Grand Secretary.
The following resolutions were agreed to:
1. The three Grand Lodges agree that any
member of the Order who may be suspended
or expelled in one jurisdiction shall not,
while so disqualified, be permitted to remain
a member of or to visit or join any Lodge
under the jurisdiction of the others: and each
Grand Lodge shall cause notice of all decrees
of suspension or expulsion to be sent to the
other Grand Lodges. And in case of such
decrees being made abroad, the District or
Provincial Authorities acting, shall also notify
the neighbouring District or Provincial
Authorities of all three jurisdictions.
2. In each of the three jurisdictions, a duly
installed Master under either of the other
Constitutions shall, if not otherwise
disqualified, be entitled to be present at
a Board of Installed Masters, and to form
one of the quorum; but not to preside
therein or to install a Master, unless
requested to do so by the Board.
Nor can a Visiting Master or Past Master
of another Constitution preside in the Lodge
he is visiting. In case there is not present a
Master or a Past Master duly qualified under
the home jurisdiction, then and then only
the officer in charge of the Lodge may
request a Master or Past Master under one
of the other two Constitutions to perform
any ceremony which the Warden is not
competent to perform.
This agreement is not to interfere with
the right of the Worshipful Master of a
Lodge to invite a member of the Lodge
or a visiting Master or Past Master of any
of the three Constitutions to perform any
ceremony without assuming the Chair.
3. The question of recognising a new Grand
Lodge in any Colony or other territory in
which the three Grand Lodges have equal
jurisdiction and have
Warranted Lodges working therein, shall
not be taken into consideration unless at
least two-thirds of the Lodges under each
jurisdiction or such other proportion as the
three Grand Lodges shall agree in the light
of local circumstances have signified their
adhesion to such new body; and such
recognition shall only be granted by
agreement of the three Grand Lodges.
After the recognition of such new Grand
Lodge as a sovereign body, the respective
authorities of the three Grand Lodges will
surrender their rights to warrant new Lodges
within the Jurisdiction of the new body,
provided always that the rights of Lodges
not adhering to the new body shall be fully
safeguarded.
Prestonian Lectures for 2006
The Board has considered applications
for the delivery of the official Prestonian
Lectures in 2006 and has decided that these
should be given under the auspices of the
following: Saint Paul’s No. 374 (Montreal
and Halifax), FitzRoy Lodge No. 569
(London). Reserve Forces Lodge of
Northumbria No. 2666 (Northumberland),
Old Wellingtonian Lodge No. 3404
(London), Harlequins Lodge No. 5793
(South Wales, Eastern Division). The
Lecturer, W Bro G S Angell, states that
the title of the Lecture will be The Victoria
Cross – Freemasons’ Band of Brothers.
Grand Lodge of Armenia
The Grand Lodge of the District of
Columbia, the Grande Loge Nationale
Française and the Grand Lodge of Russia
consecrated the Grand Lodge of Armenia on
30 July 2002, from three Lodges which had
been warranted by each of those Grand
Lodges for that purpose.
It having shown that it is a descendant of
duly recognised Grand Lodges and that it
conforms to the Basic Principles for Grand
Lodge Recognition, the Board, having no
reason to believe that it will not maintain a
regular path, recommends that it be
recognised.
A resolution to this effect was approved.
Electronic communication
of summonses
In December 2000 the Grand Lodge
approved a recommendation from the
Board that in those cases where the secretary
of a Lodge was able and willing to despatch
summonses by e-mail, it should be sufficient
compliance with the requirements of the
Book of Constitutions if summonses were
sent by e-mail to those members who had
requested it. It was stipulated that any such
request should be made in writing and on
an annual basis.
The Board has given further consideration
to the matter, having regard to the everincreasing
use of e-mail as a means of
communication, and now recommends
that a written request, once made, need
not be renewed annually, but should
continue in force until further notice
to the secretary of the Lodge.
Moreover, the written request may
itself be sent by e-mail. Every member
who has not asked for summonses to be
sent by e-mail must continue to receive
them by post, and it is essential that at least
one printed copy of each summons be
retained by the Lodge for its records.
In addition, any summons required
to be sent to the relevant Masonic Authority
must be sent in printed form unless
electronic transmission has been requested.
Amalgamations
The Board has received reports that the
following Lodges have resolved to surrender
their Warrants:
(a) Lodge of Prudence No. 2114, Allerton
Lodge No. 6653 and Warbreck Lodge
No. 6976 in order to amalgamate
with Walton Lodge No. 1086
(West Lancashire);
(b) Lodge of Precision No. 3842 in order
to amalgamate with Clerkenwell Lodge
No. 1964 (London);
(c) Progress Lodge No. 4016 in order to
amalgamate with Monton Lodge No.
6361 (West Lancashire);
(d) Landmark Lodge No. 5411 in order
to amalgamate with Commonweal
Lodge No. 5332 (East Lancashire);
(e) Woodford Lodge No. 6276, Olive
Branch Lodge No. 6277 and Anvil Lodge
No. 7427 in order to amalgamate with
Lodge of St Thomas No. 5497
(Cheshire);
(f) Lodge of Benevolence No. 6340 in order
to amalgamate with Progress Lodge No.
4120 (West Lancashire);
(g) Wilmere Lodge No. 8472 in order to
amalgamate with Goodwill Lodge No.
3896 (West Lancashire).
A Resolution from the Board that the
Lodges be removed from the register in
order to effect the respective amalgamations
was approved.
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MQ Magazine
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