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The Order of Free Gardeners, today almost extinct, is a fraternal society founded in Scotland in the middle of the 17th Century and which later spread into England and Ireland. Like numerous other friendly societies of the time, its principal aim at the end of the 17th Century and during the whole of the 18th Century was the sharing of knowledge – indeed secrets – linked to the profession, as well as mutual aid. In the 19th Century, its activities of mutual insurance became predominant. At the end of the 20th Century, it was almost entirely extinct.

Although the Free Gardeners remained always independent of Freemasonry, the history and the organization of the two orders show numerous similarities that shed light on the historical research on the birth of the latter[1].

Arms of the Order of Free Gardeners
Arms of the Order of Free Gardeners

Contents

[edit] History

The most ancient evidence of the order is a record of the minutes of the Haddington lodge, opened 16 August 1676, which begins with a compilation of fifteen rules called Interjunctions for ye Fraternity of Gardiners of East Lothian[2].

Scotland was at this time subjected to civil unrest and intermittent famines. The rich landowners were interested in Renaissance architecture and in work of the designed gardens of their vast estates. The first members of the Haddington lodge were not however gardeners by profession but rather small landowners and farmers who practised gardening for pleasure. Not practicing an urban profession, they could not obtain the status of a guild and modelled their organization on that of the Masons, who had a form of organization, additional and independent of their guild: the lodge. [3].

This organization put in place in Haddington could be viewed as a primitive form of union, organizing cooperation between its members, their practical training, their ethical development and the help destined for the poor, widows and orphans from the association. The lodges of gardeners will also be the first to organize floral exhibitions, from 1772[3].

About 1715, a lodge similar to that of Haddington was founded in Dunfermline and there was supported since its beginnings by two members of the local aristocracy, the Earl of Moray and the Marquis of Tweedale. From its origin, it admits among its members numerous non-gardners. It creates a charitable society to benefit the widows, orphans and poor of the lodge, sponsors a horse race and organizes an annual horticultural fair before transforming itself little by little into a mutual aid society. It achieves a strength of 212 members from 1721[3].

The two lodges of Haddington and Dunfermline made the choice of expanding their geographical district of recruitment widely without authorizing the creation of new lodges. It is only in 1796 that three new lodges were created: at Arbroath, Bothwell & Cumbnathan[4].

In the course of the 18th Century, about twenty other lodges were created, always in Scotland and, on the 6 November 1849, a meeting was organized between them in a view to create a Grand Lodge. Establishments then took place at an accelerated pace and this Grand Lodge gathered in Edinburgh, in 1859, representatives from more than a hundred lodges, including three established in the USA.

At the peak of the movement, one counted more than 10000 Free Gardeners for the Lothians alone collected in more than 50 lodges[5].

Success helping, “competing” horticultural societies appeared during the 19th Century. Unlike the Free Gardners, they did not have a charitable role, mutual help, nor rituals, and they accept anybody, man or woman who paid their dues.

In the 20th Century, the two World Wars called up most of the members. The economic crisis of 1929 weakened the charitable capacities[3]. The social protection laws weakened the attraction of the activities of associative mutual aid, before the “national insurance act” of 1946 removed their entire purpose[4]. Even before the Second World War, the number of deaths exceeded the number of admissions. In 1939, the minutes of the Haddington lodge were interupted until 1952, when its eight last members attempted in vain to relaunch it[3]. Despite the recruitment of new members, the Haddington fraternity pronounced its dissolution on 22 February 1953[6]. The Dunfermline lodge lasted until the middle of the 1980s[7].

These disappearances were making themselves felt in a sociological movement very much more vast as in 1950 there existed some 30000 Friendly Societies in all the UK, while in 2000, there were no more than 150[8].

In 2000, the research of R. Cooper counted no more than a single lodge (in Bristol) for Great Britain, but mentioned the survival of the Order of Free Gardner in the Antilles (Caribbean British Order of Free Gardners) and in Australia[3].

In 2002, a conservation society was created in Scotland with aims of research and conservation of the traditions of this Order and some lodges were revived on this occasion[9].

[edit] Ritual

One finds no trace of rituals or of knowledge reserved to the initated in the documents of the fraternity dating from the end of the 17th Century, however, the interest rapidly shown by the members of the aristocracy suggests that this association did not exclusively deal with mutual assurance[10].

The oldest known mention of the existence of an initiation secret in this order shows up on 28 jan 1726, the date when the fraternity studied an internal complaint accusing one of its member of having defamed certain of its officers in saying that they weren’t capable of correctly giving its words and signs. In 1772 other documents established that the fraternity of the Free Gardeners had “Words” and “Secrets”. In 1848 one finds mention of a teaching, in the form of "Signs, Secrets and Grips". Historians have at their disposal complete rituals of the Apprentice, Companion and Master dating from 1930. The minutes of the lodges show that the ritual of the order progressively developed, from a fairly basic ceremony of transmission of the "Word" at its very beginnings, to a system of three grades similar to that of Freemasonry at the end of the 19th Century[10].

A conference of 1873 indicates that Free Gardening used the cultivation of soil as the symbol of the culture of the spirit in intelligence and virtue and made reference to the Garden of Eden[10].

  • The admission ritual of the Free Gardeners apprentices shows very many similarities to that of Freemason apprentices. Adam could thus symbolically be the first Free Gardener. There is made use of the compass, the square, to which is added the knife, presented as "the simplest tool of gardening", allowing "pruning the vices and making cuttings from the virtues". At the end of this ceremony, the apprentice received the apron of his grade[10].
  • The second degree made reference to Noah, the "second Gardener" and made the Companion symbolically accomplish a voyage which lead him towards the Garden of Eden then towards that of Gethsemani[10].
  • The third degree made reference to Solomon, the "third Gardener", and to the symbol of the olive tree[10].

The aprons are of two types:

  • Long aprons, reaching the ankle, embroidered with numerous symbols relating to the legends of the order[11].
  • Shorter aprons, with a semi-circular bib, strongly resembling the aprons of the Freemasons of Scotland[12]. That of the president is embroidered with the letters P, G, H, E, initials of the four rivers of the Garden of Eden[13], and A, N, S, initials of Adam, Noah and Solomon[11], to which is added the letter O[14].


Generally, the symbolism utilized by the Free Gardeners seems to have been strongly influenced during the 19th Century by that of Freemasonry[15].

On numerous objects of the order dating from the very beginning of the 20th Century, one finds an emblem composed of a square, a compass and a grafting knife. As there is not a trace of this emblem in the earlier documents, it is probable that it had also been inspired lately by that of Freemasonry[4].

[edit] The First Members

There is little information on the professions of the members before the end of the 17th Century. During this period, one finds in the Haddington lodge in addition to the gardners, merchants, tailors and public writers. All the members of the lodge are originally from the county. On the other hand, the lodge at Dunferline, former capital of Scotland, prided itself on counting among its members "numerous renowned persons of Edinburgh, as well as East Lothian including the Marquis of Tweedale, the count of Haddington, Lord William Hay etc"[4].

The first record of the Dunfermline lodge was established in 1716 with the signatures of 214 members. At this time, the membership was composed of a majority of gardeners by trade but also numerous artisans as well as two members of the local aristocracy. Rapidly, the membership grew, the social level rose, to the point that the professional gardeners no longer formed the majority of the new members, but the recrtuiment remained local. In 1721, 101 new members of all social statuses were admitted into the lodge, from gardeners and butchers to the Duke of Athole. The following years see a fairly large number of aristocrats become initiated in Free Gardening in the Dunfermline lodge, even while they remain on the edge of the Haddington lodge which remains mainly active. Most of these people possess famous gardens. Starting from 1736, the date of the creation of the (Masonic) Grand Lodge of Scotland, this tendency ceased and there were no more initiations of aristocrats in the Dunferline lodge[4].

Religiously, all the members of this time are Protestants and belong to the Church of Scotland. Politically, on the other hand, there were all types[4].

[edit] Comparisons with Freemasonry

In the 1720s, there existed in Scotland a profusion of socieities, fraternities and clubs. Freemasonry and the Order of Free Gardners are only those which spread the furtherest and lasted the longest[4].

Those two orders present important similarities concerning their organization and development. Both were born in Scotland in the middle of the 17th Century in groups of professionals workers who very quickly accepted among them members from other professions. In both cases, members of the original profession became minorities from the beginning of the 18th Century. In both orders also, certain lodges open very rapidly to "accepted" members and in particular to the local nobility, whereas others[16] are more reticent[4].

Almost all known members who belonged to the two orders were Free Gardners before becoming Freemasons. The largest group of free gardners who became afterwards Freemasons joined the "Kilwinning Scots Arms" Masonic lodge founded in 1729. There were new members of the free gardeners Dunfermline lodge. None of them were gardeners by trade, they were aristocrats and soldiers[4].

Freemasonry expanded quite rapidly in England, then, after the creation of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717, across the entire world. On the other hand the Order of Free Gardeners remained principally Scottish. In both cases, the Scottish lodges seemed to have difficulties grouping together into larger structures called Grand Lodges. Concerning the Order of Free Gardeners the first Grand Lodge was only formed in 1849, and 15 lodges remained independent until the disappearance of the order. In both cases, it is in particular the lodges founded before their Grand Lodge which will remain the most reticent to renounce their independence[4].

[edit] Miscellaneous

Free Gardeners are mentioned in passing in The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien:

  • The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command Samwise Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings, Part III, p. 206.

[edit] Notes and References of the Article

  1. ^ Robert L.D. Cooper, Les francs-jardiniers Ivoire Clair(ed) (2000) 2-8
  2. ^ Interjunctions for ye Fraternity of Gardiners of East Lothian
  3. ^ a b c d e f R. Cooper, op.cit., pp. 11-24
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j R. Cooper, op.cit., pp. 87-93
  5. ^ Free Gardeners of the Lothians and Fife at historyshelf.org (consulted 8 April 2007)
  6. ^ The Fraternity of Gardeners of East Lothian at HistroyShelf.org (checked 8 April 2007)
  7. ^ The Society of Gardeners in and about Dunfermline at HistroyShelf.org (checked 8 April 2007)
  8. ^ Article Friendly societies at HistoryShelf.org (checked 8 April 2007)
  9. ^ Adelphi Bluebell Lodge. (consulted 13/03/2007).
  10. ^ a b c d e f R. Cooper, op. cit. , pp. 27-40
  11. ^ a b Regalia et Ritual and symbols (checked 19 March 2007)
  12. ^ R. Cooper, op. cit., p. 45
  13. ^ Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel et Euphrate
  14. ^ Probably for "Olive"
  15. ^ Article Free Gardeners and Freemasons at historyshelf.org. (Consulted 18 March 2007)
  16. ^ Like that of Haddington for the Free Gardeners and that of Edinburgh for the Freemasons.

[edit] See Also

[edit] Bibilographic Resources

[edit] Works Used in the Writing of This Article

  • Robert L.D. Cooper, Les francs-jardiniers Ivoire Clair(ed) (2000)isbn=2-913882-05-6
  • Site the Free Gardeners at historyshelf.org. (Consulted 18 March 2007)

[edit] Other Bibilographic Resources

  • W. Gow A Historical Sketch from the Records of the Ancient Society of Gardeners, Dunfermline (1910)

[edit] Related Articles

[edit] Links and External Documents