Royal & Select Masters

The Grand Council of the Order of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales
and its Districts and Councils Overseas

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RSM Jones 300The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales and its Districts and Councils Overseas was formally constituted on 29 July 1873 by four Councils chartered just two years earlier by the Grand Council of New York.

They organised themselves into a Sovereign body under the Patronage of the Rev. Canon G.R. Portal, a Past Grand Master of Mark Master Masons, who was Installed as the Grand Master of the Order. By the turn of the century there were twenty seven Councils and a similar number Consecrated by the end of the second world war. The Order then grew rapidly with the number on the Roll at the end of 2013 being over 250 Councils.

The Degrees in the Order - four in total - are often referred to as the 'Cryptic Degrees', and the Order sometimes as 'Cryptic'. The ceremonies complete the Solomonic legend as they prove the essential link between the Degrees of Mark Mason, the Raising in Craft, and The Royal Arch.

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Herbert de Losinga was Bishop of Thetford c.1090 – c.1095 until he moved the see to Norwich c.1095, remaining Bishop of Norwich until his death in 1119. He was also responsible for the founding of the Church of St Nicholas in Great Yarmouth and Norwich School.

In 1919 a Petition was signed and presented to the then Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, Richard Loveland Loveland, KC, requesting a Warrant be granted to form a Council of Royal and Select Masters, to meet in Norwich, under the name, style and title of Herbert de Losinga Council No. 33. The Warrant was granted and signed on the 2 September 1919.

The Council now meets in Great Yarmouth and on Monday 9 September 2019 the Companions of the Council were joined - in the splendid surroundings of the main Temple at the Masonic Royal Assembly Rooms - by The Most Illustrious Grand Master, Kessick John Jones; The Right Illustrious District Grand Master, Peter Thomas Coles; and many other distinguished Companions and visitors, to celebrate the Centenary of the Council.

The meeting was presided over by the Thrice Illustrious Master, Ill.Comp. Mike Hall; Deputy Master, Comp. Colin Farrington and Principal Conductor of the Work, Comp. Mike Jessett and a precis of the Council’s history was delivered by V.Ill.Comp. Chris Bowles, JP.

 

Pictured left to right are Comp. Colin Farrington, V.Ill.Comp. Geoff Spencer, M.Ill.Comp. Kessick Jones, Ill.Comp. Mike Hall, R.Ill.Comp. Peter Coles, Ill.Comp. Ken Healey and Comp. Mike Jessett

Rulers

M.Ill.Comp. Kessick J. Jones
Grand Master

R.Ill.Comp. His Hon Ian D. G. Alexander, KC
Deputy Grand Master

R.Ill.Comp. Paul A. Norman
Grand Principal Conductor of the Work

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