Alongside trade and migration, Britain’s military regiments carried Freemasonry across the seas, with Freemasonry becoming integral to much of Britain’s Empire. This was not restricted to the England’s ‘Moderns’ and ‘Antients’ Grand Lodges. Between 1732 and 1813, the Grand Lodge of Ireland and later the Grand Lodge of Scotland issued over 200 regimental lodge warrants.

A List of British Military Lodges

Jessica Harland-Jacobs noted correctly that “Freemasonry’s Enlightenment philosophy promoted equality, humanity and tolerance, and, as it developed globally, the Craft underpinned a common moral belief system. While contradictory views on race and ethnicity were present, so was cosmopolitanism and ideas of global citizenship, which led to the admission of indigenous peoples across the globe.”

Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Builders of Empire: Freemasonry and British Imperialism (2007)

Photography © The Old Stables Press