William Preston

William Preston, from the twelfth edition of Illustrations of Masonry (1812).

William Preston (1742–1818) was a Scottish Masonic writer and lecturer, best known for Illustrations of Masonry and for a system of lectures developed with members of the Lodge of Antiquity in London. His name is also preserved in the annual Prestonian Lecture.^[1]

Printing career

Preston's working life was in the book trade. He assisted the classical scholar Thomas Ruddiman in Edinburgh and was apprenticed to Ruddiman's brother Walter, a printer. In 1760 he moved to London with introductions to William Strahan, who employed him to correct printed proofs. Strahan later left him an annuity.^[2]

Under Strahan's son Andrew, Preston worked as chief reader and general superintendent of the printing business. He became a partner in 1804. His Masonic writing and teaching thus developed alongside a long career in preparing and producing books.^[2]

Business records survive in the British Library's Strahan Papers. The collection includes accounts and other papers of the Strahans, Preston and their associates, and has been used by historians of the printing firm. It offers evidence of the professional setting in which Preston worked.^[3]

Masonic career

Born in Edinburgh, Preston entered Freemasonry in 1763 and became Master of the Lodge of Antiquity in 1774. He devoted much of his Masonic work to collecting, arranging and teaching the fraternity's explanations of its principles.^[4]

His career also involved a dispute over the authority and privileges of Antiquity, one of the old London lodges. The controversy beginning in 1777 led to his suspension and a division within the lodge. Preston and his supporters were eventually reconciled with Grand Lodge in 1789.^[4] This episode belongs to the institutional history of the period covered by Antients and Moderns.

Illustrations of Masonry

Illustrations of Masonry first appeared in 1772 and was enlarged through successive editions. Sir John Soane's Museum holds the twelfth edition, published in 1812, whose title identifies Preston as a Past Master of Antiquity. The museum's catalogue records historical material, songs and an engraved portrait of the author.^[5]

The book and Preston's lecture system formed related parts of his educational work. The lectures arranged Masonic instruction into a developed sequence.^[1]

The Prestonian Lecture

At his death Preston left £300 to support an annual delivery of his lectures. The original lectureship operated from 1820 until 1862 and then lapsed. Grand Lodge revived it in 1924 on a changed basis: the appointed lecturer could choose a Masonic subject. The modern Prestonian Lecture is consequently a named research lecture, rather than an annual recitation of Preston's original system.^[1]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Quatuor Coronati, Prestonian Lecturers, including the account of the lectureship reproduced from the United Grand Lodge of England's Year Book. Accessed 29 September 2026.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Henry Richard Tedder, “Preston, William (1742–1818)”, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 46 (1896).
↑ British Library, Strahan Papers, Add MS 48800–48918, collection description.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, William Preston, historical biography. Accessed 29 September 2026.
↑ Sir John Soane's Museum, Illustrations of masonry … The twelfth edition, with considerable additions, catalogue record for the 1812 edition. Accessed 29 September 2026.