Difference between revisions of "James Anderson"
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== Ministry and writing == | == Ministry and writing == | ||
Anderson came from Aberdeen and ministered to Presbyterian congregations in London. He was associated with the Swallow Street congregation from 1710 and later with Lisle Street. His writing extended beyond Freemasonry to genealogy and history.<ref name="qc" /> Modern biographical research places his Masonic activities within this wider career as a clergyman, author and unsuccessful speculator.<ref>Susan Mitchell Sommers and Andrew Prescott, “New light on the life of James Anderson”, in John Wade (ed.), ''Reflections on Three Hundred Years of Freemasonry'' (Lewis Masonic, 2017), [https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/135120/ bibliographic record and abstract], University of Glasgow.</ref> | Anderson came from Aberdeen and ministered to Presbyterian congregations in London. He was associated with the Swallow Street congregation from 1710 and later with Lisle Street. His writing extended beyond Freemasonry to genealogy and history.<ref name="qc" /> Modern biographical research places his Masonic activities within this wider career as a clergyman, author and unsuccessful speculator.<ref>Susan Mitchell Sommers and Andrew Prescott, “New light on the life of James Anderson”, in John Wade (ed.), ''Reflections on Three Hundred Years of Freemasonry'' (Lewis Masonic, 2017), [https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/135120/ bibliographic record and abstract], University of Glasgow.</ref> | ||
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| + | == Royal Genealogies == | ||
| + | Anderson's historical writing included ''Royal Genealogies'', published in London in 1732 and printed for him by James Bettenham. The volume contains 812 numbered pages, with additional preliminary and index material. It arranges the descent of emperors, kings and princes in genealogical tables.<ref>James Anderson, [https://books.google.com/books/about/Royal_Genealogies.html?id=6MoFqiCC4VMC ''Royal Genealogies''] (1732), digitised copy from the National Library of Scotland; [https://search.worldcat.org/title/367947400 WorldCat catalogue record], publication details.</ref> | ||
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| + | The title divides the work into two parts. The first begins with a chronology from the creation of the world and follows early ruling families towards the age of Charlemagne; the second continues European royal genealogies and ends with the British Isles. Its stated starting point in Adam belongs to the biblical framework Anderson used to organise ancient history.<ref>Karen Grudzien Baston, [https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/6417/3/BastonAppendides.pdf ''The Library of Charles Areskine (1680–1763)''], PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh (2011), appendix A, entry FM 39, pp. 57–58, transcribing the 1732 title; ESTC T133816.</ref> | ||
== The Constitutions == | == The Constitutions == | ||
Latest revision as of 15:06, 2 October 2026
James Anderson (died 1739) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and writer associated with the first two printed Books of Constitutions of the London Grand Lodge, issued in 1723 and 1738. His place in Masonic history rests chiefly on those publications and their accounts of the fraternity's past.[1]
Ministry and writing
Anderson came from Aberdeen and ministered to Presbyterian congregations in London. He was associated with the Swallow Street congregation from 1710 and later with Lisle Street. His writing extended beyond Freemasonry to genealogy and history.[1] Modern biographical research places his Masonic activities within this wider career as a clergyman, author and unsuccessful speculator.[2]
Royal Genealogies
Anderson's historical writing included Royal Genealogies, published in London in 1732 and printed for him by James Bettenham. The volume contains 812 numbered pages, with additional preliminary and index material. It arranges the descent of emperors, kings and princes in genealogical tables.[3]
The title divides the work into two parts. The first begins with a chronology from the creation of the world and follows early ruling families towards the age of Charlemagne; the second continues European royal genealogies and ends with the British Isles. Its stated starting point in Adam belongs to the biblical framework Anderson used to organise ancient history.[4]
The Constitutions
The 1723 Constitutions combines a traditional history, Charges, General Regulations and songs. Anderson's name appears in the book as its author, but the publication was a collaborative undertaking. John Theophilus Desaguliers supplied the dedication, and George Payne was credited with compiling the General Regulations. Historians differ over how much of the work, particularly the Charges, should be attributed to Anderson personally.[1]
The expanded 1738 edition is a separate historical source. Its account of the earlier Grand Lodge cannot simply be treated as a record written at the time of every event it describes. Lionel Vibert's study compares the 1723 book's approval statements with Anderson's later account of its preparation and examines changes between the editions.[5]
Assessing his work
Anderson's history carried forward the practice of giving masonry an ancient lineage. Its biblical and classical narrative belongs beside The Old Charges in the study of the Craft's traditions. It should be distinguished from evidence supplied by contemporary minutes, correspondence and surviving manuscripts.[1]
A portrait reproduced under Anderson's name in some Masonic publications actually depicts the agricultural writer James Anderson (1739–1808). The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon's biographical page identifies this error.[6]
See also
- The formation of the first Grand Lodge
- Sources for studying early Freemasonry
- The 1723 Constitutions
- John Theophilus Desaguliers
- William Preston
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Rev. James Anderson, 1723 Constitutions research website. Accessed 29 September 2026.
- ↑ Susan Mitchell Sommers and Andrew Prescott, “New light on the life of James Anderson”, in John Wade (ed.), Reflections on Three Hundred Years of Freemasonry (Lewis Masonic, 2017), bibliographic record and abstract, University of Glasgow.
- ↑ James Anderson, Royal Genealogies (1732), digitised copy from the National Library of Scotland; WorldCat catalogue record, publication details.
- ↑ Karen Grudzien Baston, The Library of Charles Areskine (1680–1763), PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh (2011), appendix A, entry FM 39, pp. 57–58, transcribing the 1732 title; ESTC T133816.
- ↑ Lionel Vibert, Anderson's Constitutions of 1723, reproduced by the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.
- ↑ Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, James Anderson, including the note on the misidentified portrait.
Chronology: Timeline of early Freemasonry
Documents: The Old Charges · The Regius manuscript · The Cooke manuscript · The Schaw Statutes · The St Clair Charters · The 1723 Constitutions
Scottish lodges and ideas: William Schaw · Early Scottish lodges · Lodge Mother Kilwinning · Mary's Chapel · Canongate Kilwinning · Haughfoot Lodge · Operative and speculative Freemasonry · The art of memory and Freemasonry · Freemasonry and the Royal Society · The Templar theory of Masonic origins
People: Robert Moray · John Theophilus Desaguliers · James Anderson · William Preston · Andrew Michael Ramsay
Chivalric systems: The Strict Observance · Karl Gotthelf von Hund · Lyon (1778) · Wilhelmsbad (1782) · Jean-Baptiste Willermoz · Rectified Scottish Rite
English Grand Lodges: Formation of the first Grand Lodge · Antients and Moderns · Laurence Dermott · Ahiman Rezon · The Union of 1813
Ireland, Scotland and overseas: Early Irish Freemasonry · Grand Lodge of Scotland · Military and travelling lodges
France and the Jacobites: Early French Freemasonry · Freemasonry and the Jacobites
Atlantic connections: Benjamin Franklin · The Lodge of the Nine Sisters · George Washington · Paul Revere · African Lodge No. 459 · Prince Hall
Research: Sources for studying early Freemasonry · Masonic museums and libraries
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