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District Grand Lodge & Madras - Connected History
FREEMASONRY first arrived in India during the time of the East India Company; Most Lodges of those days were military Lodges, which moved with their Regiments. No details are available in the District Grand Lodge relating to those Lodges. There may be some records available in the Grand Lodge Library.
In respect of those long ago years of the dim and distant past, it would suffice therefore to quote from the work of that great Masonic historian, R F Gould whose “History of Freemasonry” is a standard book of reference of the years from 1752, when Captain Edmund Pascal was appointed the first Provincial Grand Master down to 1866 when this came to be designated “the District Grand Lodge”. This is what Gould has to say.
Provincial Grand Masters on The Coast of Coromandel of Madras or of Presidency of Madras
1767
Captain Edmund Pascal.
1786
Brigadier-General Mathew Horne
1790
John Chamier, M.C.S
1806
Terence Gahagan, M.D. (Acting)
1812
Herbert Compton, Barrister-at-Law (Acting)
1813
Herbert Compton (afterwards Hon.Sir.Herbert Compton Kt.Puisne Judge, Bombay)
1814
Richard Jebb, LL.D. Barrister-at-law (Acting)
1820
George Lys (Acting)
1826
Sir Herbert Compton.
1840
The Right Hon’ble John Baron Elphinstone,G.C.H. Governor of Madras
1852
Robert Hudleston Williamson, M.C.S
District Grand Masters Of The District Grand Lodge Of Madras
1856
Lieut.Col. Willam Pitt MacDonald, Madras Army (First District Grand Master.
1867
Arthur MacDonald Ritchie, B.A., Barrister-at-Law
1875
John Miller, Barrister-at-Law
1879
Major Aubery William Ogilvie Saunders, Royal Scots Fusiliers
1884
Arthur Morell Saunders
1888
The Right Hon’ble Lord Conne mara, G.C.I.E., Governor of Madras.
1891
Sir George Montagomere John Moore, K.T., C.I.E
1901
The Right Hon’ble Lord Ampthill, G.C.I.E. Governor of Madras
1906
The Hon’ble Herbert Bradley, G.S.I., I.C.S
1910
1910 The Hon’ble Sir Murray Hammick, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., I.C.S
1914
Hon’ble Lewllyn E.Buckley, C.S.I., I.C.S
1933
Sir George Townsend Boag, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., I.C.S
1946
Tiruchendurai Venkataraman Muthukrishna Aiyer, B.A. B.L.
1967
Lt.Col. G.S.Gill, C.I.E., O.B.E., I.M.S. (Retd.)
1978
Arumana Parameswaran Tampi, B.A.
2001
Kumar Ravindra Nath Menon, M.A. (Oxon)
2011
Theophilus Arputharaj Devagnanam, FIIPE
2025
Mathew Joseph, MBA
