Page 27 - Essex Mason (Issue 87) Online Version

Additional Orders

The Royal Order of Scotland

The Province of East Anglia

he Royal Order of Scotland is essentially Christian in character. As with Craft Masonry, the
exact origins of the Order and its ritual are shrouded in antiquity. It differs from modern
TCraft Masonry and does not fit into any sequence with other Orders.
It will come as no surprise that the Order is governed from Edinburgh where Grand Lodge is
situated. Subordinate to this are Provincial Grand Lodges throughout the world, however there are
no Private Lodges.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of East Anglia meets on three occasions in the year; Colchester in April, Newmarket in May and
Lowestoft for the Installation Meeting in September. The Province encompasses Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and North Essex
as far as Chelmsford.
Qualification for membership requires that a potential candidate must have been
a Master Mason for five years and upwards. In practice each Province lays down
its own requirements, for example some demand that a candidate has attained 30
degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Rite. In East Anglia candidates are usually
limited to brethren who have been Master Masons for at least five years and have
shown a keen interest in Freemasonry beyond their craft lodge.
The Province of East Anglia usually “Advances & Promotes” two candidates per
meeting and entry may be protracted as there are about two hundred Lodges from
which to draw candidates.
Documentary proof in the archives of Grand Lodge gives rise to the assertion that,
with the exception of the craft, the Royal Order of Scotland is the oldest unchanged
ritual of speculative masonry, for there is written evidence that a number of Lodges
of the Order were active in London as early as 1741 and the ritual has never been changed.
When the first Grand Lodge of the Order was formed in Edinburgh in 1768, the King of Scots was made the Hereditary Grand Master.
There are two degrees conferred respectively in the Provincial Grand Chapter and the Provincial Grand Lodge, and in the order “the
Heredom of the Kilwinning” and “Knighthood of the Rosy Cross”.

The Wardens undertake some of the most lengthy and difficult ritual in freemasonry and the Provincial Grand Master plays a full part,
although he is usually assisted by the Deputy and Substitute Provincial Grand Masters and Past Holders of those officers.
In the first degree, the candidate is invested with a white apron edged with crimson and a sash or baldrick of a similar colour. This is
worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. The apron is later replaced, and the candidate is invested with a green sash or
baldrick. This is worn over the right shoulder and under the left arm. A breast jewel of seven stars and an armband of thistle green
edged with gold and which bears the motto “Virtue et Silentio”.
In these degrees, masonry is depicted in a purely Christian aspect. A large part of the ritual is couched in quaint old doggerel verse
and is worked mainly by question and answer, as in the Craft Lectures, but embracing elements and references found in many other
degrees. This Order will be of interest to brethren who profess the Christian Faith and who have maintained a dedicated & genuine
interest in Freemasonry over several years.
Details for the current Provincial Grand Secretary, Bro. RJ Robertson are to be found in the various Provincial Year Books. Anyone
requiring more information about the Order should contact him with their enquiries.
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