Prestonian Lectures from Quatuor Coronati
On 19 May 2023 the Board of General Purposes announced that Dr Ric Berman, PGSwdB, would be the 2024 Prestonian Lecturer. His lecture is titled ‘The Second Grand Lodge: The Grand Lodge of Ireland, the London Irish and Antients Freemasonry‘. It is the second time he has served as Prestonian lecturer.
On 31 May 2024 the Board announced the appointment of His Hon. Judge Simon Medland, KC, PGSwdB, as Prestonian Lecturer for 2025. Bro. Medland’s Lecture will be titled “Our Friends in the North”, a reflection on the growth of freemasonry from its early, proto-masonic beginnings in Chester, Cheshire and nearby Provinces.
The Prestonian Lecture is the only lecture given under the authority of the United Grand Lodge of England. William Preston (1742-1818), regarded as the foremost Masonic educator of his time, left a legacy to provide for an Annual Lectureship. The preamble to the list of Prestonian Lectures which appears in each United Grand Lodge of England Masonic Year Book is set out below:
‘During his lifetime William Preston developed an elaborate system of masonic instruction which was practised in association with the Lodge of Antiquity of which he was at one time Master. At his death in 1818, Preston bequeathed to Grand Lodge the sum of £300 for the perpetuation of his system of instruction… Lectures in accordance with this system were delivered from 1820 until 1862, when the Lectureship was permitted to lapse. In 1924 the Prestonian Lectureship was revived with a modification to the original Scheme, the lecturer now submitting a Masonic subject of his own selection, and with the exception of the war years, 1940-1946, regular appointments have been made annually since 1924 to the present day.’
The Metropolitan Grand Master and Provincial & District Grand Masters submit names of possible lecturers for consideration. Those put forward provide a synopsis of their proposed lecture for review and the lecturer is selected the following May and announced in June at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge; the lodges and/or associations that are awarded the privilege of hosting the lecture are announced in December at the Quarterly Communication.
Members of Quatuor Coronati Lodge form the majority of Prestonian Lecturers. Their research receives recognition worldwide and several undertake international lecture tours.
Lodges wishing to host a QC Lodge Prestonian Lecturer should email secretary@quatuorcoronati.com and/or queries@quatuorcoronati.com
