when was the first grand lodge formed

The first Grand Lodge was formed in London in 1717 14. Representatives from four London lodges—meeting respectively at the Goose and Gridiron Alehouse, the Crown Alehouse, the Apple-Tree Tavern, and the Rummer and Grapes Tavern—gathered at the Apple-Tree Tavern in late 1716 or early 1717 to constitute a temporary Grand Lodge 1354. On June 24, 1717, being St. John the Baptist's Day, they held an assembly and feast at the Goose and Gridiron, electing Anthony Sayer as Grand Master and appointing Grand Wardens 354.

In the Craft, this 1717 assembly marked the historical dividing line between operative Masonry and a purely speculative fraternity, establishing a central organization where lodges had previously functioned independently 14. Because Masonry was already active throughout Great Britain and Ireland, these four lodges initially possessed jurisdiction only over themselves 3.

Laurence Dermott, writing on behalf of the rival Grand Lodge of Ancients, later challenged the regularity of the 1717 body, contending that ancient Masonic custom required the presence of at least five regular lodges to constitute a valid Grand Lodge 5. Arthur Edward Waite similarly notes that James Anderson's account in the 1738 Book of Constitutions likely retrofitted later administrative claims—such as regular quarterly communications and wider territorial authority—onto a modest local gathering 3.

Despite these contemporary and subsequent criticisms, 1717 stands as the founding date of the premier Grand Lodge in London, which preceded the establishment of other historic bodies such as the Grand Lodge of All England at York in 1725 24.