Brief History of Royal Arch Masonry Early Grand No's in Ayrshire

Ayrshire has had a long and colourful sojourn in the annuls of Royal Arch Masonry. We hope you find the following short historical facts interesting. First, you may wonder how your chapter has a double number. Here is the explanation.

For example, Loudoun Royal Arch Chapter No. 251 Early Grand No. 6 was founded in 1822 when the brethren of Loudoun applied to the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland for a charter or warrant of authority to enable them to work the Royal Arch degrees (there is no ruling body at that time in Scotland). They received a positive reply to their application and immediately started work after being given the identity of Early Grand No. 60 of Ireland.

In 1817, the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland was founded. The companions of the Loudoun chapter, along with the companions of other Early Grand Chapters, decided, rightly or wrongly, to ignore the Edinburgh-based body and remain loyal to the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland.

Those Early Grand Chapters remained so until 1826, when they decided to apply to their supreme body in Ireland requesting permission to start an Early Grand Encampment in Scotland. Permission was granted, and Loudoun ceased to be Early Grand No. 60 of Ireland and became Early Grand No. 6 of Scotland. At first, only four or five chapters were involved, but within a short space of time, their numbers had grown considerably and reached a total of 21.

Those chapters carried on as the Early Grand Encampment until 1895 (EG 6 was 73 years old by then), when, due to circumstances, it was decided to apply for amalgamation to the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland. The principal reason was to allow the Companions of Early Grand Chapters to be fully embraced by the chapters within the Supreme Grand Chapter and to be accepted as candidates for further orders in masonry. It is known that at one time, the Early Grand Encampment worked up to 47 degrees. However, only 43 of these worked, and 3 did not work.

After much discussion, both bodies settled their differences, with the Early Grand Chapters finally becoming part of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland. Here, we were left with chapters formed much later than the early grand chapters, which had a lower number. These chapters were, rightly so, unwilling to change their numbers to sort out proper seniority, so the Supreme Chapter decreed that the chapters already under their jurisdiction would retain their numbers, and new numbers would be allocated to the early grand chapters.

Those early grand chapters that amalgamated were allocated Nos. 249 – 257. Here is a list of the chapters concerned.

• No. 249 Moira Union Kilmarnock E.G. No. 2 – E.G.I. No. 33
• No. 250 Ayr E.G. No. 3 – E.G.I. No. 39
• No. 251 Loudoun E.G. No. 6 – E.G.I. No. 60
• No. 252 Stewarton (Dormant 1896 erased 1916) E.G. No. 7 - E.G.I. No. 63
• No. 253 Hurlford E.G. No. 17
• No. 254 Boswell (Sorn) Amalgamated with 148 in 1913E.G. No. 18
• No. 255 Irvine E.G. No. 19
• No. 256 Fairfield Govan amalgamated with 117 in 1896E.G. No. 20
• No. 257 St. John Parkhead GlasgowE.G. No. 21

The concession given to the Early Grand Chapters was that they were allowed to retain their early grand number at the end of their new number. (e.g. 251 EG No. 6). Companions, be proud of the part Ayrshire Chapters played in the heritage and continue our ancient tradition by constantly referring to your connection to the Early Grand Encampment. 

It is also a fact that if an early grand chapter goes dormant later and wishes to start up again, it can no longer refer to its Early Grand Number. This was one of the conditions laid down by the

Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland.

This is a condensed extract from the history of Loudoun Royal Arch Chapter No. 251 EG 6 written by Past Provincial Superintendent Johnny Mitchell.