What actually happened at the Goose and Gridiron in 1717?

Four existing London lodges assembled at the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in St. Paul’s Churchyard on St. John the Baptist’s Day, June 24, 1717 1. The United Grand Lodge of England notes that the representatives constituted themselves as a Grand Lodge. These four founding lodges did not hold warrants from a central authority, but functioned by immemorial constitution and recognized tradition extending beyond memory 1.

By a majority of hands, the assembly elected Anthony Sayer, the oldest Master present, as their first Grand Master 1. The United Grand Lodge of England reports that the representatives elected Grand Wardens, appointing Capt. Joseph Elliot and Jacob Lamball, a carpenter, to those offices 1. The United Grand Lodge of England further records that the assembly resolved to revive the Annual Feast and Quarterly Communications, establishing the governance structure of the newly formed Grand Lodge.

James Anderson’s account of the 1717 meeting at the Goose and Gridiron, published in his 1738 edition of the Constitutions, is the primary source for the event, but its historical reliability is widely questioned. Albert C. Mackey notes that Anderson’s second edition serves as the only authority for the details of the 1717 organization, from which later writers derived their accounts 1. However, Arthur Edward Waite observes that where Anderson is unsupported by outside evidence, it is prudent to infer that he was dreaming, noting that details such as early quarterly communications were likely antedated 2. Carl Claudy similarly characterizes Anderson’s historical record as fanciful and wholly erroneous 3.

Scholarly criticism highlights major inconsistencies in the narrative. Quatuor Coronati Lodge notes that external evidence shows no contemporary press or pamphlet mentions of a 1717 meeting at the Goose and Gridiron between 1721 and 1738. Quatuor Coronati Lodge further records that Anderson was not present at the meeting, and that his account relies on Jacob Lamball, whose credibility as a witness is questioned due to inconsistencies in his status at the time. Scholars cited by Quatuor Coronati Lodge, including Professors Andrew Prescott and Susan Mitchell Sommers, view the story as a fabrication by Anderson, whose historical accounts display a repeated pattern of falsification undertaken with the connivance of Desaguliers.

From an early internal perspective, Laurence Dermott argued that Anderson’s account described a self-created assembly defective in form, as ancient law required five lodges rather than four to constitute a Grand Lodge 4. Research published on the 1723 Constitutions website notes Professor David Stevenson's view that the 1738 Constitutions serves as a principal source for the establishment of Grand Lodge, even while acknowledging Anderson's heavy emphasis on constructing a masonic history of antiquity. In contrast, the United Grand Lodge of England officially recognizes June 24, 1717, at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern as the date four London lodges met to form the first Grand Lodge.

Before assembling at the Goose and Gridiron on June 24, 1717, the representatives of the four founding lodges—which met at the Goose and Gridiron, the Crown, the Apple-Tree Tavern, and the Rummer and Grapes—along with several older brethren, held a preliminary meeting at the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden 215. The United Grand Lodge of England states that the four lodges met together at the Apple-Tree Tavern in 1716, placed the oldest Master Mason in the chair, constituted themselves a Grand Lodge pro tempore in due form, and resolved to hold an annual assembly and feast and choose a Grand Master from among themselves. Traditional printed accounts date this initial organizational gathering to February 1717 215.

At this preliminary meeting, the brethren voted the oldest Master Mason present into the chair and agreed to revive the fraternity's annual assembly and feast alongside its quarterly communications 215. They selected the Goose and Gridiron as the venue for the June 24 festival in compliment to the oldest lodge, which held its meetings at that tavern 15.

During the years immediately preceding these events, London lodges had experienced a severe decline in membership and regular activity 5. As Sir Christopher Wren grew elderly and infirm, annual festivals were neglected and several lodges ceased meeting regularly 15. To reverse this decline, a proposition was adopted—originating at the lodge at St. Paul's—to extend membership beyond operative masons to men of various other professions 5. Prior to establishing a centralized Grand Lodge, these four bodies operated by immemorial custom, exercising an inherent privilege to assemble and conduct lodge business without needing warrants of constitution 5.

The year 1717 serves as the dividing line between traditional operative origins and modern speculative Freemasonry 3. Carl Claudy characterizes 1717 as the boundary between an expiring Craft and one growing with new vitality, marking the shift away from lingering operative practices toward a purely speculative fraternity 3. Prior to this period, history rests largely on traditional accounts or manuscripts whose authenticity remains unproven 1.

The United Grand Lodge of England marks June 1717 as the creation of the Premier Grand Lodge, which was established to organize the Craft, coordinate local lodges, and provide leadership under a Grand Master. Because it established central governance, the United Grand Lodge of England regards this original body as the Mother Grand Lodge of organised Freemasonry. Subsequent structural features of modern Freemasonry, including the development of the three-degree system, similarly trace their origins to the English arrangement established after 1717 6.

While later critics such as Laurence Dermott argued that the 1717 assembly represented a departure or discontinuance of ancient usages rather than a genuine revival 4, the event established the framework for permanent organizational record-keeping and governance 23. Consequently, 1717 remains recognized as the foundational date of the modern institution 31.