The Mark Master Degree

The Mark Master Degree by M.E.C. Stephen Forster P.Z. Past Grand Supervisor, Honorary Grand Superintendent. Grand Lodge of Scotland When attempting to determine the evolution of any branch of Freemasonry it is essential to recognise that the speculative Orders existing today developed from two distinct sources. The first being the acts, functions, laws and regulations of our operative antecedents and the second, the innovations produced by the fertile imaginations of early gentlemen masons. The latter, as we have repeatedly observed, were not constrained by any limit as to the character of the material they employed in creating rituals and therefore many Masonic rituals carry the imprint of the Orders of Chivalry, Rosicrucianism, the Kabbala, various religious aspects etc., etc. and little of the practical elements of the craft of the stone mason. With the ceremonial of the Mark Master Degree however we do have a ritual which was greatly influenced by the actual work practices and regulations of our operative forebears. According to the findings made at archaeological digs in Egypt and Iraq, historians have found masons' marks on pyramids and temples which are dated to the fourth millennium B. C. Therefore, operative masons were cutting their marks on stones some 6000 years ago. If we now take a chronological leap of almost 5000 years we find that in Scotland, masons' marks have been found on stone work in the Church of the Holy Trinity at St. Andrews which was erected in the year 1122, at the Cathedral of St. Magnus at Kirkwall, completed in 1137 and at the Abbeys of St. Mary and St. Bridget and the Church of St. Athernase in Fife, all of which date from circa 1245. There are numerous other examples of masons' marks occurring in Scotland. While the primary reason for a mason using his mark was to identify his work, his mark, in many instances, was also his signature. In the 14 th and 15 th centuries, when only the high born and ecclesiastics were literate, the design of a mason's mark, usually cut into stone, was also accepted as the equivalent of a legal signature. Due to this usage of his mark, both as a key to his employment and as a means of legal identification, it became imperative that no two marks, at least within a specific area, were identical and therefore the form and use of individual marks fell under the control of operative lodges and later, the Masons' Guilds. In order to illustrate the importance placed upon the use of such marks we need only refer to the Torgau Regulations, a document drawn up by 1

operative masons at Torgau in Germany in 1462. These regulations, comprising some 160 clauses, contained specific rules governing masons marks with respect to apprentices, fellows and wardens within lodges. Others referred to the use of marks used by travelling masons and how they should be proved. Again in Scotland, we have a further insight into regulations governing masons' marks as in 1598 William Schaw, Master of Work, writing his Statutes for the Government of the Masons' Craft stated: "That on the day of receiving of the said Fellow of Craft or Master, he be orderly booked and his mark insertit in the said book." During the 16 th and 17 th centuries the use of operative masons' marks was at its peak but after the year 1730 the practice appears to have gone into a decline and Lodge Mother Kilwinning, which had been of an operative nature for at least 150 years, recorded no new marks after 1750. If we examine the history of the Mark Master ceremony within Speculative Freemasonry it rapidly becomes apparent that few degrees have suffered from the whims of popularity as has this degree. Since its appearance circa the mid 18 th century it has survived periods of extreme neglect while at other times, no less than three Grand Bodies claimed control over it! No specific date can be cited as to the genesis of the Mark Master ceremony although the Graham MS of 1726 appears to contain references to the traditional history of the ceremony. However in the year 1758 Lodge Doric Kitwinning No. 68 approved Bye Laws of which the 12 th Article specified: "That any member that is admitted into the Lodge as an entrid Apprentice to pay nine shillings sterling to the Box and sixpince to the Tyler and one shilling and sixpince for passing to a felow craft and two shillings for raising to Master and one shilling and a pinie halfpinie for being made a Mark Master." The Minute of St. John's Operative Lodge No. 69, Banff, of July 7 th, 1778 states that: "...the Degrees of Mark Man and Mark Master were conferred on Fellow Crafts and Master Masons." [Respectively? - SF] Some of our English Brethren lay claim to the creation of the Mark Master based on the oft quoted reference that Thomas Dunkerley conferred the degrees of Mark Man and Mark Master within a Royal Arch Chapter held at the George Tavern in Portsmouth on September 1 st 1769. Although this meeting pre-dated the Banff Minute by a period of some years it was subsequent to the record of Lodge No. 68. It is interesting to note that Dunkerley recorded that just before conferring the Mark Degrees at 2

Portsmouth he had made a trip to "North Britain" which, in the speech of the time was often used as an idiom for Scotland. It is therefore possible that it was during a sojourn north of the border that Dunkerley first became acquainted with the ceremonies! From 1780 an increasing number of Scottish Lodges, and Lodges in the North of England, began to work the new Mark ceremonies with many of them conferring the degrees according to their own rituals. Of the few rituals that have survived, none appear to be the forerunners of the modern ceremony. For the thirty-year period between 1790 and 1820 we are particularly bereft of references to the Mark Degree. This to some extent was probably due to the continued issuance during the 1790s, by the Grand Lodge in Scotland, of letters condemning the so called "higher degrees", which culminated in an Edict of the 26 th May 1800 stating that: "Henceforth, Grand Lodge would recognise only the three Degrees of Craft Masonry." There can be little doubt that such an exhortation by Grand Lodge would cause some Lodges to cease working the Mark ceremony while those Lodges which continued to do so would certainly work sub rosa and would not be inclined to record such events in their Minute Books. We do know that Encampments of the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland working in Scotland conferred a Mark Degree at this time but since its ritual was completely different from that now worked by the S.G.R.A.C.S. it also cannot have been the precursor of our current ceremony. Our Irish Brethren claim that Lodge 2 in Dublin introduced the modern Mark Ceremony to the United Kingdom. John Fowler, the extremely astute Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, obtained a ritual of a Mark Master Degree from the U.S.A. in 1825. He introduced the ceremony into Lodge 2 in December of that year and over the next 30 years the Lodge worked the degree continuously. We cannot accept with any certainly that the degree now worked in Scotland was that promulgated by Fowler, however neither can the suggestion be rejected out of hand. What we do know is that the Grand Lodge of Scotland reaffirmed its position against other ceremonies in August 1817, that the Supreme Grand R. A. Chapter of Scotland was formed on the 28 of that month to give protection to the Royal Arch Degrees but without acceptance of the Mark Degree and that no Masonic Authority in England accepted the Mark Degree as a regular ceremony. Therefore in the whole of the United Kingdom it was only in Ireland that the Mark Master could be conferred without censure. The future of the degree therefore must have been bleak and Its continued existence in Scotland was probably only due to the fact that a few Lodges ignored the Grand Lodge dictum and surreptitiously continued to work the ceremony. 3

Perhaps because of the attitude of Grand Lodge, it is thought that some R. A. Companions may have approached Grand Chapter in the late 1830s, voicing their concerns as to the future of the Mark Degree. Unfortunately the records of Grand Chapter are silent as to any initial negotiations until, on December 21 st 1842, Grand Chapter granted the right to daughter Chapters to work the Mark Master Degree if they so desired and some three years later issued an instruction that the ceremony would be included as part of the R. A. series. There was some initial resistance to the degree, especially by Companions in Aberdeenshire, but within a short space of time the Mark Degree had, at last, found a place of Masonic respectability in the United Kingdom. Within just a few years however Scottish Freemasonry and the Mark Degree became embroiled in a jurisdictional dispute. Interesting though the full historical details are, we do not have the space to review them here. Suffice to say that actions by the Bon Accord R. A. Chapter in Aberdeen in granting an illegal warrant to form a Mark Lodge in London resulted in a furore involving the Grand Lodge of England, Supreme Grand Chapter in Edinburgh and the London Bon Accord Mark Masters' Lodge. The upshot of this was that some regrettable comments emanating from the Grand Lodge in London and a refusal to act on the recommendations of its own Board of General Purposes, led to founding of the Grand Mark Lodge in London on June 23 rd, 1856. This should have eventually paved the way for a calm, gradual acceptance of the Mark Degree in England and Wales but yet again, this proved to be wishful thinking. Just five days prior to the establishment of the new Grand Mark Lodge, the S.G.R.A.C. of Scotland had warranted St. Mark's Lodge No. I (SC) to meet in London. Grand Chapter, holding the opinion that since the new Grand Body had been the offspring of the illegal London Bon Accord Mark Lodge, refused to recognise the English body. To be fair to the Grand Chapter in Edinburgh, it should be remembered that Grand Mark Lodge was not exactly received with open arms by the Masonic establishment in London and indeed a letter from Grand Chapter in London to its sister in Edinburgh, described the new Body as being, "Bom in sin and shapen in iniquity". Edinburgh eventually issued 21 warrants to form Mark Master Lodges in England and Wales and it was not until June 1879 that the Scottish Grand Chapter relinquished authority over these Lodges and recognised the English Grand Mark Lodge. Those events in London in the mid 1850s were not the only clouds on the horizon for the Mark Degree and given its somewhat difficult existence in Scotland it should probably be no surprise that further trouble lay ahead. The Lodge of Journeymen Masons in Glasgow, having had its Charter suspended in 1860 for working the Mark Degree, laid an Appeal before Grand Lodge on the basis that: "... no new or additional degree was being worked, rather that 4

the Mark Degree simply completed the hitherto unfinished Second or Fellow of Craft Degree." Accompanying the Appeal, the Glasgow Lodge submitted certain documents and a copy of the ritual employed and on examination of these papers, and probably due to the fact that then, as now, the Scottish Craft had no standard ritual, Grand Committee was compelled to admit that the ritual submitted to them was in fact, a continuation part of the ceremony of the Second Degree. The subsequent decision to accept the Mark Degree left Grand Lodge with even greater problems. After many years of denial of the Mark, not only had a complete about turn been effected by permitting Craft Lodges to work the ceremony, Grand Lodge had, as a result of this decision, taken under their authority a ceremony that was already under the superintendence of the Grand Chapter. Fortunately, joint consultative committees were formed and as a result Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter issued the Concordat of November 1860, recognising each other's right to confer the Mark Master Degree. The Concordat lead to one anomaly however which remains with us until this day. Grand Lodge having made its acceptance of the Mark Degree on the basis that "it was a continuing part of the Second Degree", declared after a few months: "...that the (Mark) degree should only be conferred upon Master Masons to prevent confusion." (Author's underlining). Whose confusion is not stated but I would suggest that this form of wording was employed to avoid the embarrassment of Grand Lodge simply admitting that it had forgotten to take into consideration the fact that all candidates for the Mark Master Degree in R. A. Chapters had to be Master Masons! There is another fact, which is of interest to Scottish Freemasons. This is that it is a general regulation of Orders of Freemasonry around the world that the presiding officer in any Masonic body is entitled to perform such duties only after he has been subjected to some form of Installation Ceremony. The only two exceptions I have come across are both found in Scottish Freemasonry where the Mark Master in a Craft Lodge and the Most Excellent Master in the Royal Arch hold office without the benefit of Installation. Students of Masonic research will also find a plethora of "Mark" ceremonies that have been worked in times gone by, especially in the 19 th century, included among these are, The Fugitive Mark, The Christian Mark, Cain's Mark, Ark, Mark and Link Mason, Black Mark etc. Needless to say, almost all of these are now no more than historical examples of the uninhibited penmanship of Masonic authors of the past. To conclude, a brief comparison of the Mark Degree under the three home Constitutions may be of interest. As previously noted the office bearers of Mark Lodges held within Craft Lodges in Scotland are not elected, appointed 5

or installed but merely act in Mark offices at the discretion of the R.W. Master of the Lodge. In Scotland, in Mark Lodges convened within Craft Lodges and R. A. Chapters, the Master is denominated as Right Worshipful Mark Master, In English Mark Lodges as Worshipful Master and in Ireland as Very Worshipful Master. In England, in Mark Lodges holding of Grand Mark Lodge, unless under dispensation, the Master Elect must have served one year as a Warden and have been installed as Master of a Craft Lodge. In Mark Lodges under the Scottish Grand Chapter, the R.W. Mark Master may only be installed after having been installed as First Principal of the Chapter, while in Ireland, Installation as V. W. Master precedes that as Excellent King in the Chapter. In England, Mark Masters wear aprons edged with a ribbon of crimson, two inches wide, with a light blue centre ribbon one inch wide. Member s aprons are decorated with three rosettes while Installed and Past Mark Masters may have levels in place of the rosettes. Irish Mark aprons are similar to those used in England with this difference; that scarlet is used instead of crimson and the position of the scarlet and blue on the ribbons is transposed. Neither Grand Lodge nor Grand Chapter in Scotland stipulate a design of Mark regalia and although the latter does recommend collar jewels it does not mention the collars to which they should be attached! Craft Lodges often work the Mark ceremony in Fellow of Craft, or long operative style aprons while in Royal Arch Mark Lodges, often the only change made is that the R. A. sash is removed. In Lodges and Chapters of the Scottish Constitutions working overseas, probably due to the influence of inter-constitutional visitations, English style regalia is the norm. English and Irish Mark collars are identical in size but show the colour variations found on the Aprons and while gauntlets are used by some of the older English Mark Lodges, they are not employed in Scotland or Ireland. Scottish and English Mark Masons have had the advantage of printed rituals for both the Ceremony of Advancement and Installation of the Master for many years but in Ireland, this was not the case until recently. Previously, numbered skeleton rituals were issued to the registrars of Chapters, and their use was governed by very stringent regulations as to the safekeeping and possession of these documents. Grand and District Chapters of Instruction are periodically called to demonstrate, and ensure adherence to, the standard Irish working. Unfortunately, as we have seen, it has been impossible to determine an exact date when the current ritual came into use in Scotland. The evidence available indicates that this would have been some time in the I 830s and that apart from a few grammatical corrections, the ritual used today is identical to that adopted by Grand Chapter in 1845. 6

It is unusual for an author to be able to insert a personal note into any investigation, especially one that centres on a period over 150 years ago, but in this case there is an exception to the rule! As stated previously, Bro. John Fowler was very much a power in Lodge No. 2 Dublin when he was the Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland and was mainly responsible for the Mark Degree conferrals worked in that Lodge. A report of a Meeting of Lodge 2 held on February 17 th 1837 states as follows: "A conferring of the degree of Mark Master Mason was this evening holden under warrant No. 2. The ceremonies of this beautiful degree were gone through on the present occasion by Bro. Fowler, with his usual correctness." Eleven candidates were advanced that evening, four being members of the Grand Master's Lodge, Dublin. They were Brothers Forster, Wauchob, Meade and Norman. Brother Forster was an Englishman in the service of the Duke of Leinster (GM of Ireland 1813-1874), at that time resident in Dublin. He was an English Freemason active within the Masonic circle in Dublin and he was also my Great-Great-Great Uncle. We Forsters have been making our Marks for a long time! 7