400th Anniversary

The 400th Anniversary
of the
Oldest Masonic Records in the World.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland is custodian of the oldest Lodge records in the world being those of Aitchison's Haven. The first entry in the Minute Books of that Lodge is dated 9th January 1598. Prior to 1602 the Scottish New Year began on 25th March. By modern reckoning, therefore, the anniversary will not take place until 9th January 1999. It must be said immediately that this Lodge no longer exists. The oldest records of a Lodge which is in existence still are those belonging to The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No.1. The existing minutes of that Lodge commence on 31st July 1599.

THE BOOK OF THE LODGE OF AITCHISON'S HAVEN,1598-1764

By
THE LATE BROTHER R. E. WALLACE-JAMES, P. M.
Lodge St John Kilwinning, No. 57

(From 1852, when the Lodge became dormant, the Minute Book was in the possession of the descendants of one of the last members of the Lodge. It was put up for sale by auction in July 1980 and purchased by Grand Lodge.)

Aitchison's Haven would be searched for in vain in any modern map, and even locally the name is all but unknown. It lay to the east of Musselburgh between Levenhall and the little harbour of Morrison's Haven in the County of Midlothian. It had its origin from a Charter of King James V dated 1526 and in all probability the Lodge would date from about that time. By this Charter the Monks of Newbattle were authorised to form a harbour within the lands then belonging to them, for the purpose of shipping the coal won, even at that early period, from the extensive coalfields of the Barony of Prestongrange. The harbour was first called the Millhaven and it is referred to under this name in the earlier Minutes. The name was afterwards changed to that of Aitchison's Haven. Of the actual foundation of the Lodge, however, we have no trace in the Minute Book.

The Minute Book consists of some seventy-five written pages, bound (though the pages are now loose) in sheepskin, and measures about 15 by 5¾ inches. The edges of the leaves are more or less tattered, as might naturally be expected, and though in one or two places a few words are illegible the writing is in good condition and, from its archaic appearance, there can be no doubt of the genuineness of the manuscript being, as it purports to be, the Minute Book of the old Lodge of Aitchison's Haven. The volume is designated as "The Buik of the Actis and Ordinans of the Nobile Maisteris and fellows of Craft of the Ludg of Aitchison's heavine," and contains a "catalogue of the names of the fellows of Craft that ar presently in the Zeir of God 1598. "

The five earliest Minutes ante-date the famous Minute of "Ultimo Julij 1599' of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No. l. Like its famous compeer, the chronological sequence of the Minutes leaves much to be desired, the same page in many instances containing Minutes widely separated in date for instance, following the Minute of 2nd January 1600, on the same page, appear Minutes of 27th December l669 and 27th December 1670. No doubt the clerk at that time, finding a blank half page, economically utilised the space by writing these Minutes there, and took credit to himself for so doing.

The very first Minute is particularly interesting from the fact that it contains the names of three signatories to the first of the St Clair Charters, who signed as representing the Lodge of Aitchison's Haven namely: George Aitoun, John Fender and Thomas Petticruif. Brother D. Murray Lyon in his transcript of the St Clair Charter, or rather we should perhaps say in copying the earlier transcript as found in Laurie's History of Freemasonry, gives the name of one of the signatories as "Jo Fwsetter". This is clearly a mistake for "John Fender" as may be seen by a reference to the Charter itself as well as to the fact being corroborated by the Minute above referred to. The Minutes of the Lodge show that this John Fender was at that date the Warden of the Lodge.

Like all other old Scottish Trade Incorporations the Lodge was at first ruled and governed by a Warden and a Deacon with a Clerk to attend to the clerical work, an office for which it was sometimes a little difficult to find an occupant. Later the relative position of the two principal office-bearers was reversed, the senior office-bearer being the Deacon with the Warden as second in command. It is not until the year 1825, in a subsequent Minute Book, that we first find the senior office-bearer designated as "Master". By the fourth decade of the eighteenth century we have Managers, Key-keepers and other office-bearers, including the Keeper of the Mort-cloth, added to the executive of the Lodge. In the early days of the seventeenth century it was unusual in many country places to bury the dead in coffins, and the corpse on its way to the grave was covered with a pall (of black velvet or other material) which belonged usually to the Kirk Session of the Parish, though many Societies possessed their own. The cloth was hired out for the use of the parishioners or members of the societies and this was a source of considerable income to the owners of it, the hire varying according to whether the deceased was a member of the craft or a stranger.

The meetings of the Lodge were held at various places in the neighbourhood Musselburgh, Fisherrow, Inveresk Kirk, Prestonpans and Dalkeith - as well as at the home base, Aitchison's Haven. For many years the meeting place was Prestonpans or Musselburgh. As a rule there was only one meeting in each year, upon St John's Day, 27th December, but we have several Minutes of incidental meetings. Some of these were meetings of "a pairt of the companie" or of the Committee and at many of them we find that members were admitted to the craft. When, however, members were admitted at such meetings we usually find that at a subsequent regular meeting these brethren were "re-entered and passed" - for instance, under date 27th Decr: 1734 "Re-entered one Adam Ritchardson entered at Dalkeith June the 24th day 1734." There seems to have been nothing irregular in such a method of entering members and from other sources we know that it was a very general custom throughout Scotland at that time.

Continually we have instances in the Minutes of brethren adhibiting their Mason's Marks or of such marks being engrossed, while we are told that the brother had "payit his cess for his buking" or "hes payit his Buiking silver" or "payit for his mark". The earliest recorded mark appears under the date 28th Dec. 1603. These marks were chosen by, or assigned to, the members of the Company when they were entered apprentices and did not constitute, as we now know it, a separate degree. At this early date there is no trace of anything but one degree, for although there are repeated references in the Minutes to prentices, fellows of Craft and maisteris, all these grades of operative workmen were present not only when members were entered, but also when prentices were admitted as fellows of craft. The terms "fellow craft" and "maister" were simply distinctions in an operative sense implying that the apprentice had served the requisite time and had thus completed his Indenture. It did not refer to any degree in a speculative meaning of the term as we now use it.

At the opening of the minutes we find that the fee payable by an intrant was twenty shillings and, in addition, he had to supply gloves to every master present. In the case of the entry of a freeman's son the fee was modified to ten shillings, though the gloves were in such a case also demanded. Of course it must be kept in mind that the money was Scots, that is only one twelfth of its sterling equivalent, consequently twenty shillings equalled only one shilling and eight pence, but here again we must take into account the relative purchasing power of these sums then and now before we can make any satisfactory comparison. As to the material and price of the gloves the Minutes leave us entirely in the dark and we have only contemporary records available if we would proceed with our investigations in this line. We learn, however, from the Minutes of the Lodge of Melrose, that in 1695 the price of gloves presented by prentices there was to be four shillings, while fellow crafts had to give gloves of the value of five shillings per pair.

From the Minutes we find that apprentices on being admitted chose two brethren as tutors or instructors - "tendars" or "intenders" as we find them repeatedly called. In the earlier pages there are many instances of the terms of service of apprentices being recorded, with the names of their masters and their cautioners:

for instance: " xxvii day of Decr: 1612 Ye quhilk day befoir ye said Ludg Johne Aytoun soun to Wm. Aytoun and hes bund him self to his said father ye space of vii zeiris and ane zeir swa [illegible] and [illegible] to serve his mother [illegible] te said space gif god take his father. "

Again under 3rd Jan. 1614, "befor ye said Ludge Ninian Munguinerie son to Ninian Mungumerie hes bund himself to [illegible] ye space of nyne zeiris and shall serve his father and mother undoring ye said space."

And under the same date as the last, "The quhilk day befoir ye said Ludg Johne Petticruif soun to Hendrie Petticruif and hes bund himself to his said father ye space of aucht zeiris and shall his mother during his prentischip gif his father sall inlek."

From these entries we learn that the term of the apprenticeship varies, and also the fact that in the event of the decease of the master to whom he was bound his widow, or in the cases above quoted the apprentice's mother, was to have right to his services until the termination of the indenture. From this it is clearly evident that the Lodge at this time whatever it may have become later, was of a strictly operative character. We do not say that its members were drawn exclusively from the operative class, though undoubtedly it was the case with the large majority, but we have instances of others. For example in 1672 " Alexr: Seaton brother germane to the Right Honorabill Earll of Winton entered prenteis & fellow of Craft."

And again in 1693 "Master Robert Cubie student and [illegible] to be a preacher of the Gospell hath made entered prentise & fellow of Craft and hath payd his booking silver." The fee in this case, it is interesting to note, was paid. Robert Cubie was not admitted gratis as became the custom later, at least in Scotland, when a clergyman was admitted a member of the order.

The Earl of Winton just mentioned was George, the fifth Earl, who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Preston and was sentenced to death in 1716. He, however, managed to escape from the Tower of London and proceeded to Rome where he died in 1749. Among the many interesting manuscripts preserved in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland are the Minutes of a Lodge of Scottish Freemasons existing in Rome in the years 1735,1736 and 1737, from which we find that the Earl of Winton was himself admitted a Mason under the name (which he assumed on his attainder) of George Seaton Winton at a meeting held at Joseppe's, in the Corso, Rome, on l6th August 1735.

(See Hughan's The Jacobite Lodge at Rome.1735-7. published by the Lodge of Research. Leicester.1910.)

Another item of interest is that in this Minute Book we have a copy of the Schaw Statutes engrossed. These "Statutis and Ordinanceis to be obserwitte within this realme sett doun be William Schaw, Maister of the said Craft with the consent of the maisteris efter specifeit" were drawn up by William Schaw in the year 1598 and a copy was sent to all the Lodges for their guidance. William Schaw was born in 1550 and was in the year 1584 appointed "Maister of Wark" by King James VI. He held the appointment until his death in 1602. The copy in this Minute Book differs very little from that found in other Minute Books, and the differences may all be attributed to errors of the copyist. We find in these Minutes one or two cases of breach of these "Statutis and Ordinanceis" recorded, and of fines imposed in consequence thereof - as for example, " upon the xx day of November the Zeir of God 1599 the brither bein convenitt and find that Wm. Miler haid offendit or: actis qr: for he was convictit in xl lib conform to ye general actis and bindis him self never to haif ane prentice heirefter w'out the consent of the Maister, of the Ludg of Aitchisons haven."

And again under date " the vii day of Januarie the zeir of God 1600.
. . and fund Thomas [illegible] to haif ane cowan in his Companie... qr for it was ordinit yt: he should pay X lib for his offense."

It is not our intention to write a complete transcript of the Minute Book but to give a copy of some of the earlier and more interesting Minutes.

Before reverting to the Minutes themselves we might point out that the earliest Minute is dated 9th January 1598 and the latest in l764, covering a period of over 160 years. The subsequent Minute Book, the one to which Brother D. Murray Lyon refers, is said to date from 1636. This statement requires some slight explanation. It is true that the Book commences with a copy of the Falkland Statutes which are dated the 26th day of October 1636, together with a copy of the Schaw Statutes of 1599, the Old Charges of date 1666, and various other writings to which Brother Murray Lyon makes reference in his History of Freemasonry, but the regular Minutes of the Lodge only begin from the year 1769 and extend to December 1852, when the Lodge become dormant and was subsequently declared extinct. There is thus no overlapping of Minutes in the two books as might at first be supposed. The older Book (that is, the now purchased one) is exclusively a Minute Book, while the Book to which Brother Murray Lyon refers has originally been used at one end as a Register in which are recorded various Statutes and Ordinances affecting Freemasonry, together with the Lodge finances, including bills due to the Lodge, loans granted by the Lodge, annual reports as to the contents of the box, and in general accounts and financial matters. At the other end of the Book, on turning it upside down, the regular Minutes from 1769 are found.

With these introductory remarks we now give the following Minutes in chronological order.