why did UGLE reject recognizing the Mark degree in 1856

The Board of General Purposes initially recommended acknowledging the Mark degree in March 1856, reporting to the United Grand Lodge of England that it served as a link between the Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees and did not conflict with ancient landmarks. However, at the quarterly communication on 5 June 1856, members voted against confirming the Board's minutes on constitutional grounds.

The decision turned on the 1813 Act of Union, which declared that pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees only, including the Royal Arch. Opponents argued that Grand Lodge possessed no power to alter this fundamental definition or add a new degree to the Craft. The non-confirmation left the Mark degree unrecognized by the United Grand Lodge of England and led directly to the formation of the independent Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons on 23 June 1856, as recorded by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of East Lancashire.

Following the rejection of the Mark degree by the United Grand Lodge of England, brethren who wished to preserve the working formed an independent governing body. The first meeting of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales took place on 23 June 1856, with the 2nd Lord Leigh taking office as its first Grand Master, as the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons states.

W. J. Hughan observed that because the 1813 Articles of Union formally excluded the Mark degree from the recognized series of Craft degrees, the creation of a dedicated Grand Lodge was justified to take under its protection those lodges actively practicing the ceremony 1. This separate governance permitted the degree to preserve its heritage, which descends from centuries of operative stonecutters placing their personal marks on completed work as well as early speculative lodge practices recorded as far back as the seventeenth century 1.