History

In 1747 Grand Lodge formed a system of Provinces, each in the charge of a Provincial Grand Master. Bro John Baillie, WS, was appointed to be responsible for the lodges of Old Inverness, St Andrew Inverness, Fort William, Killmollymock, Cumberland Kilwinning Inverness, and the Duke of Norfolk’s Lodge, a Lodge of a regiment stationed at Inverness. John Baillie, or Bailly, had long given service to the Old Inverness Lodge as their proxy at Grand Lodge.

In 1756 another appointment was necessary to replace John Baillie and Grand Lodge defined more precisely the duties expected of a Provincial Grand Master. Their minute of 1756 reads: ‘upon the motion from the Chair, that in order to have the affairs of Grand Lodge put upon a better footing it would be proper and necessary that Provincial Grand Masters should be appointed to visit the several distant lodges, examine their books and report’ . Grand Lodge went on to appoint Sir William Dunbar of Westfield as Provincial Master of Old Inverness, St Andrew Inverness, Cumberland Kilwinning Inverness, Killmolymock, Dyke, Forres, Huntly and Banff. He did not have responsibility for Fort William or St Kilda Lodges, in fact the Lodge of Fort William at this time thought itself under the direct control of Grand Lodge. 

In 1801 James Brodie of Brodie appears as Provincial Grand Master of Inverness and Ross. In 1827 William Brodie of Brodie was appointed as Provincial Grand Master. By 1837 only Old Inverness which had merged with Lodge St Andrew and Lodge Fort William were active in the present Inverness-shire area . St Mary’s Caledonian was formed in 1843, followed by Lodge Spey in 1872, and Lodge St Andrew,  Ardersier in 1877. 

In 1890 Sir Henry MacAndrew, a PM of Old Inverness was appointed as Provincial Grand Master of Inverness-shire, now reduced to the area of the present province. Since those days it has been a story of steady development, the Province now consists of 15 Lodges covering a large area of the Highlands of Scotland.