Order of Free Gardeners
The Order of Free Gardeners is a fraternal society that was founded in Scotland in the middle of the 17th century and later spread to England and Ireland.
Like numerous other friendly societies of the time, its principal aim was the sharing of secret knowledge linked to the profession and mutual aid.
In 1956, due to falling attendances in Scotland, the Grand Lodge charter was transferred to Cape Town, South Africa.
Although the Free Gardeners have always remained independent of Freemasonry, the history and organisation of the two orders show numerous similarities.
[1] The most ancient evidence of the order is a record of the minutes of the Haddington lodge, opened 16 August 1676, which begins with a compilation of fifteen rules called Interjunctions for ye Fraternity of Gardiners of East Lothian.
It organised co-operation between members, provided practical training and ethical development, and supported the poor, widows, and orphans.
[3] About 1715, a lodge similar to Haddington was founded in Dunfermline, supported by two members of the local aristocracy, the Earl of Moray and the Marquess of Tweeddale.
Unlike the Free Gardeners, they did not have a charitable role, mutual help, or rituals, and they would accept anybody, male or female, who paid their dues.
[3] The social protection laws weakened the attraction of mutual aid, before the National Insurance Act 1946 removed their entire purpose.
[9] As of 2013, The Grand United Order of Free Gardeners still operates in Victoria, Australia from the East Kew Masonic Centre.
[10] The oldest known mention of the existence of an initiation secret in this order appears on 28 January 1726, when the fraternity studied an internal complaint that accused one of its members of defaming certain of its officers in saying they could not correctly give its words and signs.
Minutes of the lodges show that the ritual of the order progressively developed, from a fairly basic ceremony of transmission of the 'Word' at its very beginnings, to a system of three grades similar to that of Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century.
[13] On numerous objects of the order dating from the very beginning of the 20th century, one finds an emblem composed of a square, a compass and a grafting knife.
Rapidly, the membership grew and the social level rose—to the point that the professional gardeners no longer formed the majority of new members—but the recruitment remained local.
In both orders also, certain lodges open very rapidly to 'accepted' members and in particular to the local nobility, whereas others, like that of Haddington for the Free Gardeners and that of Edinburgh for the Freemasons, are more reticent.
The largest group of Free Gardeners who later became Freemasons joined the Kilwinning Scots Arms Masonic lodge founded in 1729.
[16] The inspiration came from a visit to the Melbourne branch of the Free Gardeners, situated in Elizabeth Street, one block north of the Victoria Market.
