[Anon.], e Pocket Companion and History of Free-Masons (1754)

Charity has always been a fundamental issue for English, Scottish and Irish Freemasons alike. It was entrusted to a Committee of Charity at a very early stage.

In an age when welfare was unknown, when each individual had to fend for himself in case of disease or loss of employment and when a lot of widows found themselves totally destitute, charity was vital. Yet the Grand Lodge was aware of the pitfalls to be avoided: the number of applications had to be

restricted to avoid a nancial crisis. One of the easiest solutions was to make sure the candidates for Masonry could a ord the required fees and were unlikely to claim assistance. Hence the necessity to enquire about candidates, not only to make sure of their morality but also to check their social status. e Committee of Charity was so important it became a fully- edged body with more and more prerogatives throughout the eighteenth century. As early as 1733 it was entrusted with o cial business.4 It prepared the work for the Grand Lodge, suggesting amendments which were then voted at Quarterly Communications, i.e. the Grand Lodge assemblies, every four months. For instance, the same year as the publication of the Pocket Companion, the Committee of Charity recommended three articles, the rst one concerning the necessary approval of the Grand Lodge before a lodge was removed, the second one banning masonic regalia during funeral processions and the third one prohibiting the attendance at irregular meetings, i.e. the meetings of Antient Masons, under the threat to be barred from charity.5