Is the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity older than the District of Madras?

A Provincial Grand Master for Madras was first appointed in 1766 2, whereas Lodge Perfect Unanimity No. 1 was formed in 1786 when the body previously known as Provincial Grand Lodge No. 152 was reconstituted under that name following a union of Athole and Regular Masons on the Coromandel coast 1.

The administrative entity itself thus predates the lodge, though the formal designation "District Grand Lodge" was not used at that early date. Overseas jurisdictions under the Grand Lodge of England were originally designated as Provinces; the term "District" was only introduced in 1866 to distinguish overseas bodies from English domestic provinces 2. Perfect Unanimity remains recognized as the senior lodge of the district 1.