Freemasonry can date it's orgins from over 300 years ago. In Leicestershire, Freemasonry has been in existence since the Eighteenth Century and in 2019 celebrated it's 150th anniversary. It must, however, be remembered that at that time there was no unified governing body for what we call “the Craft.”

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There were two principal contending organisations; the “Premier Grand Lodge” which dated from 1717 when it was set up in London, and which was nicknamed “the Moderns” because it had introduced certain innovations into Masonic ritual, and the “Athol Grand Lodge” which, although younger, being founded in 1751, was called “the Antients” because it rejected the innovations and claimed to practice an older and purer form of ritual. We have descendants of both traditions within our Province today.

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The earliest Lodge in Leicester was warranted by “the Moderns” in 1739, though it seems to have ceased to function by 1744. Another “Modern” Lodge was warranted in 1754, but this too seems to have ceased to work by 1768. In 1761 “the Antients” warranted a Lodge to work in Leicester which seems to have been closely associated with the local militia, but this also foundered, though a second “Antient” Lodge warranted in the same year continued to meet and was in regular existence until 1790, when there was a disagreement with the Athol Grand Lodge and some members petitioned the “Moderns” for a new warrant, and that led to the birth of the oldest Lodge in the Province, St John`s, which now bears the number 279. Thus one stream of our tradition came into being. The original Lodge under the Antients carried on in Leicester until around 1814, when it seems to have finally ceased to meet.

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Meanwhile in Hinckley another tradition began. Various members of the Leicester Lodge which had met under “the Antient” jurisdiction in 1803 obtained a warrant then numbered 47 and dating from 1756, which had at one time belonged to a Lodge in Macclesfield.

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This was a necessary step at the time because both Grand Lodges could only re-issue dormant Warrants because of the law regarding clandestine societies which prohibited new Lodges or meetings other than existing Masonic Lodges. Therefore the Hinckley Lodge, now known as “Knights of Malta” and numbered No.50, still traces its roots back to “the Antients” and thus when the two rival Grand Lodges merged in 1813, we had representatives of both traditions in our Province. The practice of appointing a Provincial Grand Master for a Province was, however, very much a feature of the work of “the Moderns” and we now turn to the way in which the appointment of Provincial Grand Masters has led to the knitting together of our two counties of Leicestershire and Rutland into one Masonic Province.

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