Hamilton Kilwinning No.7 ?

The Grand Lodge of Scotland Website contains many interesting articles on Freemasonry. This month we look at the unusual circumstances surrounding the numbering of Lodges.

Lodge Hamilton Kilwinning No.7, the oldest Lodge in our Province was not always so numbered. It is generally acknowledged that Freemasonry was introduced into    Scotland with the building of the famous abbeys in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Many of the oldest Lodges had lost their ancient records and manuscripts. When the Grand Lodge of Scotland was established in 1736 and when the laws and customs were standardised, it became incumbent upon each Scottish Lodge to prove its antiquity. The method of numbering the Lodge under Grand Lodge was to acknowledge their relative precedence and to leave their antiquity an open question. It will be appreciated that numbering on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland could only be based on the production of records to Grand Lodge. Application by Hamilton Kilwinning was made to Grand Lodge for a Charter of Constitution in January 1771 and the Charter was granted in March of the same year. Some records appear to be missing and no reference to a Lodge number can be found at that period but in November 1789, eighteen years later, the Secretary produced a letter from Robert Meekly, Grand Clerk, informing the Brethren that Lodge Hamilton Kilwinning was No. 167 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

In November 1804 it was agreed that application should be made to Grand Lodge to procure a change of number to 10, this being the number in the Kilwinning records. The application was unsuccessful. In December 1806 the Lodge presented a petition to Lord Archibald Hamilton requesting that he might use his influence in obtaining for the Lodge their ancient number.

This approach having no effect, the Brethren decided upon open rebellion. The minute of 1^st December 1808 states, “By order of the Master a vote of the Lodge was regularly taken whether or not the word “Kilwinning” should be erased from the Diploma Plate of the Lodge, when it was agreed by a great majority that the title of the Lodge in future shall be “Hamilton Lodge No.10”.

By 1816 Glasgow Kilwinning Lodges had assumed the numbers 4 and 7 , even more senior numbers than 10 and the Hamilton Tyler's sword was drawn and sharpened.

Bro. Robert Aiton, Town Clerk of Hamilton agreed to undertake negotiations and interviews necessary to put the Glasgow usurpers in their proper numbers. The case ends with the minute “at a meeting dated 8^th. August 1816 the R.W. Master produced a certificate from the Grand Lodge certifying that the Hamilton Kilwinning Lodge No.10 is now the Hamilton Lodge No.7 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. This meeting was very happy at the promotion”. 

Before the year was out, however, the Hamilton Lodge was again fighting for a number more senior than No.7, that of No.4. Robert Aiton was again entrusted with negotiations, which, however proved to be unsuccessful. Although the Hamilton Lodge was more senior, nevertheless, Lodge Glasgow Kilwinning No.4, were also `bonnie fechters`

and they tenaciously upheld their right to their number 4 at an Annual General Meeting of Grand Lodge when the New Roll had been approved.

Robert Aiton was accorded a resolution of thanks for his `diligence and assiduity` in pursuing the tasks entrusted to him. The final shot in the dispute between the Glasgow and Hamilton Lodges is a viciously polite letter in the Hamilton minutes written by the Master of Glasgow Kilwinning No.4. Looking back over the years, and considering the relative facts of the case, it would appear that if the Hamilton Lodge had acted more promptly and pressed their claim more forcibly, the Hamilton Lodge would today be No.4; for the point in dispute was not that the Glasgow Lodge was the more senior Lodge but rather that it was first in its claim to No.4 on the Roll of Grand Lodge.