How did Freemasonry come to Madras?

Madras received its initial Masonic lodge in 1752 with the establishment of Lodge No. 222 EC 1, which does not appear to have received a name, as noted by the Regional Grand Lodge of South India. The arrival of the Craft on the Coast of Coromandel coincided with a broader era of expansion brought by English merchants, soldiers, and sailors, who were later followed by Irish and Scottish Masons 1.

Another lodge at Madras was chartered from England in 1755 1. Structural governance followed in 1766, when Captain Edmond Pascal was appointed as Provincial Grand Master 1. Early returns from 1769 list three lodges established at Madras 2. Although two of these dropped from the roll, the first was revived in 1786 as the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity, holding the designation of No. 1 on the Coast of Coromandel 2.

Local governance involved distinct traditions, leading to a union of two Masonic bodies in Madras in 1786 2. Following this amalgamation, local lodges continued using the Atholl system of working, overseen by provincial officers who included an acting Grand Master, a Grand Orator, and a Grand Architect 2.

Madras hosted the earliest recorded lodge on the Coast of Coromandel, established in 1752 1. Official returns from 1769 record three lodges active at Madras, numbered 1, 2, and 3 on the local roll (and designated 353, 354, and 355 in wider registration) 2.

By the late eighteenth century, local administrative records showed these early units shifting. In the Grand Lodge records by 1793, the second and third Madras lodges had dropped from the active rolls, while the first lodge was revived in 1786 as the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity, designated No. 1 on the Coast of Coromandel 2. During this era, rival system structures merged; following the union of the two local Masonic bodies at Madras in 1786, the Atholl system of working continued to be maintained in the region 2.

Lodge charters and warrants expanded across the Coromandel region over subsequent centuries. In Visakhapatnam, Lodge Coromandel No. 186 was warranted on 20 July 1968 and consecrated on 17 August 1968 under the Grand Lodge of India, according to the Regional Grand Lodge of South India.

Further expansion occurred in the Mark Master Mason and Royal Ark Mariner degrees. The Grand Lodge of India records that Mark Lodge Coromandel No. 18 in Vijayawada was warranted on 17 January 1915. In the Royal Ark Mariner Order, Royal Ark Mariner Lodge Coromandel No. 18 was warranted on 1 September 1992 and consecrated on 30 October 1992 in Vijayawada, as noted by the Regional Grand Lodge of South India.

Local reconciliation between the Antients and the Moderns on the Coast of Coromandel was achieved through the intervention of Brigadier-General Home, Provincial Grand Master on the Coast of Coromandel. Through his efforts, the rival local bodies agreed upon Articles of Union to unite the Antients and Moderns locally, forming Lodge Perfect Unanimity (No. 1 / No. 150) in 1787, as recorded in C. H. Malden's A History of Freemasonry on the Coast of Coromandel.

Under this local settlement within the Craft, the united Madras brethren remained in full communion with the Grand Lodge of the Moderns, yet adopted and worked according to the method of the Antients 2. The Atholl system of working was thus continued in Madras following the union 2.

In the Craft, the earliest five lodges warranted by the Regular Grand Lodge of England on the Coromandel Coast between 1752 and 1768 left no surviving returns or local records and ceased to exist. The first lodge formed specifically within Madras city, established at Fort St. George in 1767, likewise ceased to exist in 1791.

Later returns in the Craft reflect these structural shifts across the region. Official Grand Lodge listings from 1769 recorded three early lodges at Madras, designated local Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (and 353, 354, and 355 globally) 2. By 1793, the second and third Madras lodges had dropped off the active rolls entirely 2.

Regarding the Atholl working in the Craft, an Atholl Lodge established at Madras surrendered its powers in 1785 and accepted the United Provincial Grand Lodge. This resulted in the consecration of the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity in 1786 (designated No. 1 on the Coast of Coromandel and later revived as No. 199 in 1793) 2. This united body survives to the present day as Lodge of Perfect Unanimity No. 150 EC under the District Grand Lodge of Madras.