District Grand Master's Message
Mark Masonry is and has been an appendant Order of freemasonry. Our history is steeped in tradition and our Order traces its origin to the myths and legends of the three Great Abrahamic Faiths of the Ancient Middle East. A central message of Mark Masonry is that initial setbacks and disappointments ought not to stand in the way of pursuit of perfection and desire for betterment. This message is the theme of the Hiramic legend that underpins our ceremonies, where a stone, once rejected by the builders, becomes the headstone of the building.
The Mark degree has been worked within Lodges and Chapters in England since about 1723. In fact, the United Grand Lodge of England recognised the Mark degree at its Quarterly Communication in March 1856, as a “graceful appendage” to the Fellow Crafts degree. However, a sudden reversal took place at the next meeting and the purport of the minutes of the earlier meeting went unfulfilled.
The matter did not, however, end there. The records of Bon Accord Lodge (T.I.) confirm that within 14 days or so of the about-turn, the brethren of Bon Accord (which was founded on 17 September 1851) met and resolved that a Grand Mark Masters Lodge for England and its Dependencies be forthwith established. Soon, the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters was established on 23 June 1856 and Lord Leigh, who was then the WM of Bon Accord Lodge, was elected the Grand Master.
In our part of the world, the first Mark Lodge, the Gottlieb Mark Lodge No. 382 EC, was founded in 1887. The second Mark Lodge – the first in Singapore – Edaljee Khory No. 436 EC was consecrated on 7 August 1891. With the establishment of two further Mark Lodges in Malaya, Batu Bertanda Mark Lodge No. 609 EC in Selangor on 31 March 1910 and the Perak Mark Lodge No. 663 EC in Ipoh in November 1916, the first Mark District of Malaya came into being.