Royal & Select Masters

The Grand Council of the Order of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales
and its Districts and Councils Overseas

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RSM Jones 300The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales and its Districts and Councils Overseas was formally constituted on 29 July 1873 by four Councils chartered just two years earlier by the Grand Council of New York.

They organised themselves into a Sovereign body under the Patronage of the Rev. Canon G.R. Portal, a Past Grand Master of Mark Master Masons, who was Installed as the Grand Master of the Order. By the turn of the century there were twenty seven Councils and a similar number Consecrated by the end of the second world war. The Order then grew rapidly with the number on the Roll at the end of 2013 being over 250 Councils.

The Degrees in the Order - four in total - are often referred to as the 'Cryptic Degrees', and the Order sometimes as 'Cryptic'. The ceremonies complete the Solomonic legend as they prove the essential link between the Degrees of Mark Mason, the Raising in Craft, and The Royal Arch.

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Royal & Select Masters

Address by The Most Illustrious Grand Master - 2018

Address by The Most Illustrious Grand Master
Kessick John Jones
to the Annual Assembly of Grand Council
Tuesday 17 April 2018

Companions, I welcome you most warmly to our Annual meeting of Grand Council. I am delighted to see such a splendid attendance, being especially conscious of the fact that many of you have travelled great distances to be here, and of course have to get back home afterwards. I thank you for that, and look forward to further sharing your company at our celebratory luncheon later.

I begin my address by congratulating all those whom I have invested as this year’s Grand Officers, or whom I have promoted or appointed to Past Grand Rank. Both promotions and appointments carry with them additional RSM Jones 800responsibility as well as new dignity and I wish you all good fortune, and I am confident, that you will continue to increase your efforts in championing every aspect of Cryptic Masonry. In underlining this, and with the kind permission of Michael Herbert, I will steal a phrase from the SMSA Ritual – meliora praesumo – I look for better things to come.

So I urge the new Grand Officers to keep up the momentum, dispense light and instruction to your junior colleagues, continue to set higher standards and reflect upon this – If the sky’s the limit – then why are there footprints on the moon!

Very shortly I intend to give you a brief snapshot of our joint activities during the past year, which have been quite considerable. During all of these activities I have been loyally supported by a diligent and enthusiastic Team of Active Grand Officers. Headed by the Deputy Grand Master and the Grand P.C.W., they have all performed their individual roles to great effect, but at the same time acted as an integral part of a Team. This Team have carried out many ceremonies in various parts of the country, often travelling at their own personal expense. These occasions have proved to be of great satisfaction to our various hosts and of course to my personal delight. I emphasise the importance of the Team ethic by quoting a little-known writer named Vesta M. Kelly; she said “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things – but just look what they can do when they stick together!”.

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  1. Address by The Most Illustrious Grand Master