Organised Freemasonry became established on 24 June 1717 when four London lodges came together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale House, St Paul’s Churchyard and formed themselves into the first Grand Lodge in the world.
Initially the Grand Lodge was simply an annual feast for lodges in London, but in 1721 John, Duke of Montagu was elected Grand Master and the Grand Lodge met in ‘quarterly communication’ and began to establish itself as a regulatory body, attracting to it lodges meeting outside London.
By 1730 the Grand Lodge had over 100 lodges in England and Wales under its control and had begun to spread Freemasonry abroad, with lodges meeting in Madrid and Calcutta.
For historical reasons separate Grand Lodges were formed in Ireland (1725) and Scotland (1736). Between them the ‘home’ Grand Lodges took Freemasonry around the globe. From the 1730s lodges were set up in Europe, the West Indies, North America and India.
In the later 18th and the 19th centuries British Freemasonry was taken to the Mid and Far East, Australasia, Africa and South America, mirroring the development of the British Empire.
The premier Grand Lodge of England continued developing in the 1730s and 1740s without any opposition. There had been considerable public interest – meetings were advertised and reported on in the growing number of local newspapers – more especially in what the ceremonies of Freemasonry were.
Enterprising journalists and pamphleteers were not slow to produce ‘exposures’ of what they believed were the ‘secrets’ of Freemasonry. Publicity increased interest and a growing number of aristocrats, landed gentry and professional men began to seek admission.
In 1737 the first Royal Freemason was made – Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, son of King George II.