As with Craft Freemasonry, there is debate as to the origins of
the Royal Arch, not helped by the paucity of surviving evidence.
From that evidence we know that the Royal Arch was known in London,
York and Dublin by the late 1730s. In extant Lodge Minute Books
of the 1750s we know that the Royal Arch was being worked within
Craft Lodges under both the premier and the Antients Grand Lodges
in England, and in Lodges under the Grand Lodges of Ireland and
Scotland.
The first Grand Chapter
The Minute Book exists, in the Grand Chapter archives, of an independent
Chapter meeting in London in 1765. The first Minute is dated 22
March 1765, and the Minutes show the Chapter to have met at the
Turk's Head Tavern, Gerrard Street, Soho on the second Friday of
every month.
At its meeting on 11 June 1766 the Chapter exalted the Grand Master
of the premier Grand Lodge, Cadwallader, 9th Lord Blayney, who immediately
became its First Principal. The Chapter had been drawing its membership
from the senior members of the premier Grand Lodge, and therein
lay a problem. The Grand Lodge regarded the Royal Arch as an innovation,
additional to the Craft, and began to object to its being worked
in Lodges. The Chapter meeting at the Turk's Head provided a solution.
At its meeting on 22 July 1766 the Companions present, including
Lord Blayney, signed a beautifully engrossed and illuminated document,
now known as the Charter of Compact, by which they converted themselves
into The Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter of the Royal Arch of
Jerusalem, the first Grand Chapter in the world.
From its inception the Grand Chapter had a dual function: being
the regulatory body for the Royal Arch, as practised by members
under the premier Grand Lodge, and continuing to act as a private
Chapter regularly exalting new members. The Charter of Compact as
well as being the authority for the Chapter to act as a Grand Chapter
also included the first eleven rules for the government of the Royal
Arch, covering regalia and jewels, the qualification for admission,
the chartering of new Chapters and the fees for a Charter, a seal
for the Grand Chapter, meetings of the Grand Chapter and the election
of Grand Officers.
It took the new Grand Chapter a little time to begin its regulatory
work. The first seven charters for new Chapters wee issued in 1769,
two for London and one each in Manchester, Portsmouth, Burnley,
Colne, Bury and Bristol. The preponderance of Chapters in Lancashire
was undoubtedly due to the influence of John Allen, a signatory
of the Charter of Compact, First Grand Principal in 1772 and Provincial
Grand Master for Lancashire 1769 - 1806. By 1813 the Grand Chapter
had chartered 120 Chapters to meet in England, Wales and territories
overseas. The Chapters were given their own names and numbers, separate
from the Lodges from which they drew their membership. They were
supposed to make an annual return of members to the Grand Chapter
but the rule was rarely observed until the passing of the Unlawful
Societies Act of 1799, under which they had to make an annual return
to the local Clerk of the Peace, which they then copied to the Grand
Chapter.
To stimulate the growth of the Royal Arch the office of Grand Superintendent
in and over a Province was introduced in 1778 when John Allen was
appointed to Lancashire and Cheshire; Thomas Dunckerley to Essex
and the Isle of Wight; Capt George Smith for Kent; and William Spencer
for Yorkshire. Dunckerley was to become almost ubiquitous as a Grand
Superintendent being appointed to eighteen Provinces, from Durham
in the North to Cornwall in the West. The Provinces were based on
the then existing Counties.
Connections between the Royal Family and the English Royal Arch
began in 1772 when, on 12 December, in the Grand Chapter acting
as a private Chapter HRH Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland (brother
to King George III) was exalted. In 1774 he was elected Grand Patron
of the Royal Arch, a portrait of him in his robes for that office
still hangs in Freemasons' Hall. In 1776 he was elected First Grand
Principal and was annually re - elected to that office until 1785
when, because of his duties as Grand Master of the premier Grand
Lodge, he asked to be released from office but was continued as
Grand Patron. On his death, in 1790, he was succeeded as Grand Patron
by his nephew HRH William, Duke of Clarence (later HM King William
IV), who remained as Grand Patron until 1817.
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