Historical Origins of the Mark Degree | Freemasonry Matters (2024)

The Mark is a ceremony or degree[sometimes called the ‘friendly’ degree], conferrable today only to MasterMasons and forms part of a hierarchical organization. In Craft Masonry, it wasquite a late innovation making its appearance during the mid-1700s. However, wedo know that Operative Masons, without any kind of ceremony, were taking marks150 years before the Mark came into use as part of that particular ceremony.

The Mason’s mark featured in longlost degrees or grades, with names such as Mark Master, Mark Man, Mark Ark Linkand Chain, Fugitive Mark, Cain’s Mark, Christian Mark and Travelling Mark. Howand when the Mark degree, as we acknowledge it, began, is still a matter ofdebate.

The “Mark” referred to in the titleof the Degree takes its name from the mark or symbol which the stonemasons usedto identify their own work, so that he may be entitledto receive his wages. These marks can still be found in many Cathedrals [see below] and similar buildings of architecturalsignificance, some of which may be over 1000 years old.

The Mark degree instructs you howthat learning can be most usefully and judiciously employed for our own honour.The themes of the Mark degree include regularity, diligence, discipline and ajustifiable, but humble, pride in work well done.

The Mark Degreeconveys moral and ethical lessons using a ritualised allegory revolving around the building of King Solomon’s Temple. The events ofthe degree require the candidate to undertake the role of a Fellowcraft. Thedegree thus may be seen as an extension of the Fellowcraft Degree and thephilosophical lessons conveyed are appropriate to that stage in a candidate’sMasonic development.

REGALIA

The regalia of the Mark degreeincludes a special Masonic apron.

This was designed and adopted bythe Bon Accord Mark Lodge [see later] which was responsible for the adoption ofthis special Masonic apron, modified from the standard Masonic apron, with atrimming of maroon [ dark red] and blue. Later, was added a breast jewelshowing the keystone.

Mark lodges have a special coin,known as a Mark penny, for payment of wages. These are now collector items.

On occasion, a lecture is givenusing a tracing board [for examples, see end of article], which contains symbolsfrom which lessons can be drawn. The tracing board includes the method ofdecoding the Masonic cipher.

The earliestOfficial reference to the Mason’s Mark is the Schaw Statutes dated 28th December1598. They were commissioned by King James VI of Scotland [soon to be James Iof England] & promulgated by William Schaw, Master of Work to the Crown ofScotland and Warden General of the Mason craft. From this code of twenty-tworegulations, the thirteenth item is of relevance, & I quote, using modernspelling.

Item:… that no Master of Fellow of Craft be received nor admitted without thenumber of six Masters and two Entered Apprentices, the Warden of that lodge(i.e. the Master) being one of the said six, and that the day of the receivingof the said Fellow or Craft or Master be orderly booked and his name andMark inserted in the said book with the names of his sixadmitters.Providing always that no man be admitted without an essay (test) andsufficient trial of his skill an worthiness in his vocation and craft.

This regulationrequired that F.C.’s and Masters were to have their names and Marks recorded onthe day of their admission to those grades, but the custom was extended toapprentices, for at least the next fifty years. It seems that the SchawStatutes were intended to be used as guidelines rather than law, and the minutesof that period reveal that there were innumerable breaches.

At the LodgeMary’s Chapel of Edinburgh, the first recorded admission of a Fellowcraft was on17th January 1600; done in the presence of an insufficient quorum of fiveMasters, and although the candidate had “done his deutie”.to the contentment ofthe dekin warden & maistris (which was the customary formula), no mark was takenby the candidate. This well known old Lodge never kept a ‘Mark’ book butoccasional pages were set aside in the Minute Book with appropriateconnotations.

For example, thenames of entered prentysis and their markes 1648 followed by a list of ten E.A.s who were made E.A. in 1647, 1648, and 1649, with their marks were appended.There are also eight names of F.C.s. whose E. A. date is unknown. The list thencontinues with E.A.s and F.C.s from 1652 onwards, with marks. There areseparate lists of this kind for various years between 1646 and 1690. Veryrarely do we find records of the “mark” being paid for. The usual fee was “oneMark Scots money” approximately equivalent to one day’s wages of a trainedmason. We know that the Lodges of Kilwinning and Peebles charged 13s 4d Scots[equivalent then to 1s 1d Sterling] for each mark. Terminology used included the words “given”, “given out”, “chosen”, “taken”, taken out”, received”, “booked”and “paid for”.

The minutes ofLodge Mother Kilwinning also contain a large number of marks for both E.A.s andF.C.s but records of payment for the marks are comparatively rare, e.g.:”20 Dec.1674. The said day, John Smith. was admitted and entered prentise and has payedto the box his bookeing money.and also has payed for his mark which is alfollows.” Here, at Kilwinning the fee for registering the mark was “onemark Scots money”.

At the Lodge ofAberdeen, a handsome Mark Book was kept from 1670 onwards and in it can be founda list of the names and marks of all the Master Masons and apprentices of theLodge in 1670, in the order of their admission, followed by a continuous list oflater entrants, and a collection of regulations under the heading “Laws andStatutes for masons gathered out of their old writings”. Here again “one markpiece” is specified as the fee for taking a mason’s mark. It is important toadd that during the 1670’s, the Lodge of Aberdeen already had a substantialnon-operative membership, including two noblemen (Earls), a minister ofreligion, merchants and tradesmen.

It is necessary toemphasise that throughout all the early minutes as well as those quoted above,there, there is never the least hint of any kind of ceremony accompanying thetaking of a Mark. In those days when [even apprentice] brethren attending lodgewere expected to sign the Minutes, the Marks were generally used for thatpurpose. Doubtless, they were also used for marking stones, perhaps forassessing wages for completed piecework, or as a check on spoiled stones, but alarge proportion of the brethren never troubled to take the Mark.

The earliest known minuted & documented reference tothe Mark Degree in England was in the record of a meeting of the Royal ArchChapter of Friendship No 3, held at the George Tavern in Portsmouth, on 1September 1769. It records that Thomas Dunckerley (a natural, but illegitimate,son of George II- then Prince of Wales) brought the Warrant or Charter for thatChapter and “having lately rec’d the Mark” [and we do not know from where hegot the degree] he made six of the brethren “Mark Masons” and “Mark Masters”.At that same meeting he taught them how to use the Masonic cypher (in which thisminute is written) and authorised them to make F.C.s into Mark Masons, and M.Msinto Mark Masons. These minutes were written in code or cipher, and state: –“having lately rec’d the ‘Mark’ he made the bre’n ‘Mark Masons’ and ‘MarkMasters’. Thomas Dunckerley And each chuse their ‘Mark’, viz. … Z (interlacedtriangles) … He also told us of this mann’r of writing (code or cipher) whichis to be used in the degree.”

Note the mentionof a double Mark: Dunkerley acknowledged them first as Mark Men [Masons] andthen advanced them as Mark Masters. Both degrees are combined in today’smodern ritual. One becomes a Mark Master when the ‘secrets’ have beencommunicated. As a Mark Master, the second degree tracing board and aspects ofthe third degree traditional history begin to make more sense as the operativecontext is made clear. The ashlars and the lewis [pulley lift], often ignoredwithin a Craft Lodge, may be explained and, above all, the keystone of the RoyalArch Chapter’s mystic arch is of central importance.

I would like to point out that the subject of the MasonicCipher of squares, angles and triangles, forms a separate lecture. I do howeverdisagree with the import of the pulley [lewis]. In my opinion the word ‘lewis’is derived from the son of King George 2nd, namely, Frederick Lewis, 15thPrince of Wales (1707-1751), heir to the throne. This Prince entered the Craftin 1737 at a lodge in the Palace of Kew and became the first Royal Freemason.He introduced all his sons into Freemasonry and from this action, that the termLewis is almost certainly derived. The word ‘lewis’ did not existin the Masonic lexicon prior to the above Masonic introductions.

Subsequent minutesmentioned on record from the UK are from the years 1770 onwards. In 1775 weacknowledge the first known Mark Mason certificate which was issued in Ireland.Thus, taking all the above into account, there appears an indication by itswidespread observance that this degree was being worked for some time prior tothis period.

Around 1965, acopy of the 1723 Book of Constitutions was discovered that had belonged to anunattached lodge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Stitched in the book were 28 pagescontaining manuscript notes, bye -laws, etc. followed by some blank pages. Onthe last inserted page, which is the loose end paper, is the following:

“Newcastle,January the 19, 1756-Then Being meet Part of the Body of the Lodge theytaking it to their Serious Consideration. That no member of the Saide LodgeShall be Made a Mark Masone without paying the Sum of one (e) Mark Scots andthat for the propigation of the Pedestal, as Witnessed the aforesaid Dateby.Wardens: John Maxwell Master, Tos Provund, Robert McVicear.

The above is theearliest known reference to the Mark as a ceremony. The final mason’s Markrecorded in the Kilwinning minutes was in 1766. In Edinburgh Mary’s Chapel, thefinal Mark was in 1713.

The Fellow-craftdegree was not affected by the emergence of the “Mark Degrees”. It would appearthat they were a late speculative innovation, loosely linked to the F.C. degreesimply because mason’s marks were originally prescribed for Fellow-crafts.

Charity is one ofthe central pillars of the whole Masonic structure and the Mark Degree fullyembraces this principle. The Mark is the only Order beyond the Craft inFreemasonry that has its own Fund of Benevolence. This is organised by GrandMark Lodge and makes additional grants to petitioners and to non-Masoniccharities, with a focus on relief being given without delay.

A most fittingstatement is contained in the closing address at the Ceremony of Advancementthat urges: – “Do justice, love mercy, practise charity, maintain harmony andendeavour to live in unity and brotherly love”. These few words can bestdescribe the nature of those Brethren who are Mark Master Masons. Put simply –Mark Well. We are very fortunate that we are able to share the pleasure of beingassociated with a Masonic Order that encapsulates a happy and friendly spiritand for which it is well recognised.

After the threedegrees of Craft Freemasonry, we are requested to “make a daily advancement inMasonic knowledge” as instructed in the Charge after Initiation. Today theUnited Grand Lodge actively encourages Master Masons to ‘complete the thirddegree’ by seeking exaltation in a Royal Arch Chapter.

Many masonsworldwide will be unaware that the English position of the Mark Degree issomehow somewhat different to ‘pure’ Freemasonry and as such unique as practisedunder the UGLE and its districts overseas. Such is the end result of eighteenthand nineteenth-century Masonic in-fighting!

In England one mayproceed to Royal Arch without contemplating the Mark Degree; Under the IrishConstitution, the Mark Degree is taken in a Royal Arch Chapter, while inScotland, the Mark can be received in two ways: either within a Royal ArchChapter, or separately, in a Craft Lodge. However, no-one under Scottish or Irishjurisdictions can be exalted as a Royal Arch Mason without previously havingbeen advanced as a Mark Master Mason.

Indeed the MarkDegree is the most popular degree outside the Craft, there being over 45,000brethren in over 1,680 Mark lodges in England alone.

In the UnitedStates, the Mark is conferred in a Royal Arch Chapter within the eleven degreeYork Rite as the first of three degrees – Mark, (Virtual) Past Master and MostExcellent Master – which lead to the Chapter; once again, the Mark is anessential preliminary to the Royal Arch.

In Israel, onehas to advance via the Mark degree and Excellent Master before attaining therank of Companion.Bearing in mindthe Masonic complexities of additional Degrees from the Scottish Rite I thinkthis is the correct way to go.

The history of theDegree, as you can observe, is a fascinating subject for research in its ownright, with the present structure having been established following the adoptionof the 1813 articles of the United Grand Lodge of England, which excluded theDegree from being worked by Craft Lodges.

THE GRAND LODGEOF MARK MASTER MASONS

Summary

The Grand Lodge ofMark Master Masons was formed on 23rd June 1856. In 1855senior Freemasons who were involved in the Bon Accord Mark Lodge of Londonsuggested that the Mark degree should be considered part of ordinaryFreemasonry. This suggestion failed to win approval from the United Grand Lodgeof England at its meeting on 4 June 1856. The PremierGrand Lodge, which had been formed in London in 1717, only recognised the threeCraft Degrees, and subsequently wanting nothing to do with any other form ofmasonry, not even the Royal Arch.

History

Such resolutions hadled to the formation of a rival Grand Lodge in 1751 which styled itself “theAntients” on the basis that the masonry they practised predated that of thePremier Grand Lodge, who they dubbed “the Moderns”. Lodges under the Antientswere permitted to confer any degree under their Craft Warrant and the Royal Archand Mark were two such degrees, together with others. In other words we had apolite but political Masonic ‘civil war’! This was finally resolved with the aidof Royalty, namely the Royal brothers Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussexand Edward Augustus, the Duke of Kentby the formation ofthe United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, following extensive negotiations andhuge compromises between the two Grand Lodges. The Duke of Sussex then becamethe overall Grand Master.

However regarding thesupplementary degrees the only one which succeeded in remaining under patronagewas the Royal Arch, which, until very recently, was described as the completionof the third degree, although that has all changed now.

The Mark degree beganto flourish to the extent that the United Grand Lodge almost recognised it, evenpassing a resolution to that effect in March 1856. Unfortunately, this wasrescinded on a technicality at the following Quarterly Communication asmentioned above.

Following thisrejection of Mark Masonry by the United Grand Lodge of England, a meeting ofMark Masons belonging to Craft Lodges and Royal ArchChapters decided to fight & continued conferring the Mark degree as they hadalways done, or, alternatively they set up unauthorised Mark Lodges for thepurpose. Others sought warrants from North of the border where the Mark hadbecome a prerequisite for admission into the Royal Arch.But never say die!

The Markenthusiasts were, as we say, ‘on a roll’, & they decided to setup their own separate Grand Mark Master Lodge for England,Wales and the Colonies. Within threeweeks of the Grand Lodge’s final rejection of recognition, this was achieved inlate June 1856 with Lord Leigh, the then Craft Provincial Grand Master ofWarwickshire as its Grand Master.

An aside – the Degreeof Royal Ark Mariner [& its Royal Ark Council] operates under the aegis of theGrand Lodge of Mark Master Masons since 1871, even though there is no definitiveconnection between them. The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England andWales and its Districts and Lodges Overseas, now has over 1,500 Mark and 900Royal Ark Mariner Lodges situated in 45 different countries throughout theworld. There are 41 Provinces in England and Wales, 27 Districts overseas andthree groups of Lodges under Grand Inspectors.

Today the MarkDegree is administered from its headquarters at Mark Masons Hall, St James’sStreet, near to St James’s Palace, London. The Grand Master is H.R.H PrinceMichael of Kent, who is supported by the Pro Grand Master, the Deputy GrandMaster and the Assistant Grand Master and with the full backing of his brother,HRH the Duke of Kent, Grand Master of the United GrandLodge of England.

Today no brotherwho takes the Mark will see his ‘Masonic career’ cut short, as did happen in thedistant past!

I shall nowconclude with the following question.

Why shouldFreemasons actively seek the Mark? An obvious and sensible reason is that MarkMasonry is probably the only tangible link with our operative predecessors; thatof each Mason receiving and using a distinctive mark. Secondly the language andsymbolism of the Craft revolves around building in general and the constructionof King Solomon’s Temple in particular.

Thirdly MarkMasons make a particular pledge to receive a brother’s mark, under certainconditions. And finally there is the message of a brotherhood existing withinthe Temple bounds.

As a Mark MasterMason he is actively involved in the actual and speculative construction of the Temple, experiencing at the same time both the joys and sorrows of his ownMasonic journey, as well as the culpability of man and a need to be humblebefore God .

We should all‘mark well’.

Below are two MarkMason Tracing Boards. Above both arches is inscribed a sentence in Hebrew takenfrom Psalm 118: “Even ma’asu haBonim hayeta lerosh pina”, which translatedmeans “The stone the Builders rejected became the corner stone”. Note theworking tools of the Degree and the ‘key’ to the Masonic cipher.

Acknowledgements

All available Masonic sites on theInternet

“History of The Lodge of Edinburgh,(Mary’s Chapel, No.1)” by David Murray Lyon; Gresham Pub, Co., 1900

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