The Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord
The Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord was first introduced into this country by His Honour Judge Frederick Adolphus Philbrick KC, in 1889. The Order was derived from 18th Century documents in the Amsterdam Masonic Archives in the Netherlands.
Candidates were required to be Princes of the Order of the Secret Monitor and also be members of the Fund of Benevolence of that Order and the elaborate rituals and dress codes required to attend the early Consistories and Senatus commanded the interest of senior members of many of the Masonic Orders.
As time passed, however, membership of the Order languished and by the early 20th century, it ceased to exist at all, except as an archive in the vaults of Mark Masons Hall.
The archive was discovered during building work at Mark Masons Hall late last century, but it was found that many of the documents containing the Rituals of the Order were badly damaged by water. There followed a period of painstaking reconstruction of the lost material by Worthy Brothers Ian Currans, Brian Wareham and Ron Leavers among others.
The Scarlet Cord Conclave No 500 in the Order of Secret Monitor was consecrated in 2006 by the then Grand Supreme Ruler of the Order of The Secret Monitor, Most Worthy Brother Peter Glyn Williams, with the authority to transpose itself into a Consistory and confer Grades of the Scarlet Cord upon senior members of the Order of Secret Monitor.
Over the next four years, the Order’s popularity developed rapidly, and 62 Secret Monitor Conclaves, dedicated to the Scarlet Cord were consecrated.
By 2010, the Order had grown sufficiently to become a Sovereign Body, and on 21 July the new Order was inaugurated at Freemasons’ Hall in London.
The Conclaves were re-dedicated as Consistories, each receiving a new number and suffix “TI” referring to “Time Immemorial”, and formed into 16 Provinces of 3 or more Consistories and 12 smaller Inspectorates.
The Order has continued to grow and presently has 28 Provinces and over 125 Consistories now on the Roll of the Grand Senatus.
I am grateful to Provincial Grand Senatus of London for this; their History and acknowledge their copyright.