What are the historical practices of membership selection in Freemasonry?

Historical membership selection in the Craft requires a candidate to be proposed by a lodge member at least one meeting prior to initiation, supplying his personal details, occupation, residence, and a financial deposit to secure the application 3. This advance proposal allows the lodge to conduct a strict private enquiry into his moral character, reputation, and financial standing 3.

Internal and external qualifications govern admission to the Craft 1. Internal requisites demand that the candidate apply purely of his own free will, uninfluenced by mercenary motives and holding a favorable opinion of the institution 1. External qualifications require him to be a mature, free-born man of irreproachable conduct who holds a belief in a Supreme Being and possesses adequate physical and mental capacity 12. In American Craft lodges, custom generally dictates that a candidate apply to the lodge nearest his residence, whereas European practice historically placed no such restriction on nonresidents 1. Following the 1813 Union, the Constitutions of the United Grand Lodge of England made literacy an explicit requirement for Craft initiation by requiring candidates to sign a written declaration, excluding anyone unable to write 2.

Candidates for membership were required to be of mature age and good standing in the community, with admission granted only through proposal and ballot, as the United Grand Lodge of England states. In historical Craft practice, candidates for initiation and joining could be balloted for together, though balloting simultaneously for subscribing and honorary members was deemed inappropriate, as the United Grand Lodge of England notes. The election process demanded strict adherence to the ballot, and local lodge irregularities or ballot-rigging against candidates were subject to formal reprimand by the Grand Master, as the United Grand Lodge of England records.