Antient

Antient. This is simply a variant spelling of Ancient (q.v.) and has no technical or hidden meaning whatever. A number of writers have sought to attach considerable importance to it, especially, to make it appear that Antient is technically appropriate to identify the Grand Lodge formed in 1751 and commonly called the Ancient Grand Lodge of England. For many years Henry Sadler was considered the foremost expert on that Grand Lodge, for it was he who discovered the fact of its origin in Irish Lodges instead of its being the result of a schism in the premier Grand Lodge, but he seems to have passed an opinion on that body’s later records without the same patient and careful investigation. He said: ”For purposes of distinctiveness we retain the obsolete spelling of Antient, wherever we use the word in a technical sense, as referring to Dermott’s Grand Lodge.” But the misspelling of a name is neither a proper nor a necessary method of distinctiveness. It would be just as sensible and less misleading to spell a name backwards, thus, securing distinctiveness that would catch the eye unerringly! The name Antient was no more used by, attached to, or indicative of the Ancient than it was of the Modern Grand Lodge.

This question was thoroughly investigated by Ivor Grantham, Librarian of the Grand Lodge of England, and his report is set forth in A. Q. C., Vol. LXIV, pp. 76-78 (1953). Throughout the 62 years of the life of the Grand Lodge of 1751, its minutes and records use the term, Ancient, exclusively, with the exception of four individual instances in 1764, 1765, 1766, and 1792. That name appeared consistently as Ancient throughout all editions of Dermott’s Ahiman Rezon up to the Union of 1813; and the name of the body just prior to the Union was Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, according to the Old Institutions. The fact is that the Moderns spelled the word Antient more than did their younger rivals, and even in their Books of Constitutions. While Ancient was used in Anderson’s Constitutions of 1738, the Book of Constitutions of 1756 and that of 1784 employed Antient. (See ENGLAND, GRAND LODGE OF, ACCORDING TO THE OLD INSTITUTIONS, where the concluding paragraph of the articles in A.Q.C. is quoted:)

”But another strange fact confronts us which is that, after the Union of 1813, the United Grand Lodge used this variant spelling more erratically than did either of its component bodies. The Act of Union dated November 25, 1813 called the new body United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of England. It was proclaimed as formed December 27, 1813 as Ancient. But the minutes for March, May, June, and September, 1814 used Antient. The Duke of Sussex was proclaimed in May, 1814 Grand Master of Antient Freemasons of England, but on December 27 of the same year, he was proclaimed as Grand Master of Ancient Freemasons of England. In the General Regulations published in 1815 and forming a part of the first Book of Constitutions after the Union, the name was given as The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England. The proceedings for April 24, 1816 include neither Ancient nor Antient in the name. In certificates issued in 1813, the name was United Grand Lodge of England; certificates of 1819 used United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England; and, in 1923, United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England. In a grant of arms of 1919, the name was The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England. Prior to 1923, the Seal bore the title, United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of England, but, since that year, the seal has read: The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England.”

It only remains to be said that the present name and Seal of that body now reads United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England.

Macoy Collector's Note: Coil sets the record straight on the orthography of ”Antient” vs ”Ancient,” demonstrating that the spelling variations were often erratic rather than intentional technical distinctions between the rival Grand Lodges.