Ancient History of Haddington Lodge (1676) of Fraternity of Gardeners

The Haddington Lodge (1676) was the foundational lodge of the Ancient Order of Free Gardeners, a fraternal organization for working gardeners and landowners. The lodge served as a primitie form of trade union, providing its members with practical training, ethial guidance, and mutual aid.

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Origins and early purpose

In the 17th century, many gardeners in Scotland were small landowners and farmers who could not obtain the status of an official guild. To organize themselves, they modeled their association after the stonemasons' guilds, which also used the "lodge" structure.

The Haddington Lodge was formed on August 16, 1676. Its earliest surviving record, known as the "Interjunctions for ye Fraternity of Gardiners of East Lothian," laid out 15 rules for the brotherhood. The statutes show the lodge's interest in sharing botanical knowledge and advancing horticulture.

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Free Gardeners vs. Freemasons

While the Haddington Lodge is the oldest known Free Gardener lodge, the Free Gardeners remained independent of the Freemasons. The structure and history of both organizations, however, show many similarities. For example, the aprons of some Free Gardeners are very similar to those worn by Scottish Freemasons.

Decline and enduring legacy

The Order of Free Gardeners largely declined in the 20th century. However, the Haddington Lodge left an important legacy:

Pioneering floral exhibitions: The lodges of gardeners were the first to organize formal floral exhibitions in Scotland, beginning in 1772.
Preserving history: The earliest known records of the order, detailing the beginnings of the fraternal association, come from the 1676 minutes of the Haddington Lodge.
Influencing other fraternal societies: The history of the Free Gardeners is thought to shed light on the development of other fraternal orders, including Freemasonry.

Reaching its peak: By the mid-19th century, the Free Gardeners movement had grown significantly in Scotland, numbering over 10,000 members across more than 50 lodges in the Lothian area alone.
Decline of Friendly Societies: The introduction of the United Kingdom's welfare state in the mid-20th century rendered many friendly societies, including the Free Gardeners, obsolete.
Dissolution: After falling attendance, the Haddington Lodge's last members formally dissolved the fraternity on February 22, 1953. Other Free Gardener lodges followed suit over the following decades.

Decline and dissolution

Archival information

While the exact schedule is not available, the lodge's earliest surviving document is its minute book, which began on August 16, 1676. Historians have used the archives of the Haddington Lodge and others to study the movement.

The minutes of the lodge continued until 1939, after which attendance declined until the lodge's dissolution in 1953