Grand East of the Netherlands

Order of Freemasons

The Order of Freemasons has its origins in England, where there was first talk of an umbrella organisation of lodges in 1717.
The Dutch Grand Lodge, an umbrella organisation of cooperating Masonic lodges, separated itself from the English Grand Lodge in 1756 and has therefore existed for more than 250 years. This makes it one of the oldest associations in our country.
This organisation bears the name ‘Order of Freemasons in the Kingdom of the Netherlands’, and is an association under Dutch law, registered with the Chamber of Commerce under no.K.v.K. 40407409

Grand East

The Grand East is the meeting, to be held at least once a year, of representatives of all the lodges of the Order in the Netherlands. There, the main board of the Order is elected and all kinds of internal affairs of the Order are settled.
If there is ‘major’ in front of a function name it means: said function concerns the main board. Each lodge, for example, has a presiding master, a treasurer and a secretary: the main board of the order therefore includes a grand master, a grand treasurer and a grand secretary.
To the name of the ‘Order of Freemasons’ at the time was added ‘under the Grand East of the Netherlands’. This shows the value attached to that meeting of delegates from the lodges.

Board

The Grand East establishes a Main Board through democratic elections. This main board consists of a Grand Master, Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer elected into office, along with 10 board members elected from a regional nomination.

Remuneration policy

The Order has no paid directors. The Order is a voluntary organisation with support from some administrative staff at central level.

Provincial Grand Lodges

Traditionally, the Dutch grand lodge has had a number of provincial gGroot lodges. These were mostly located in countries with which the Netherlands has maintained historical ties. Currently, three provincial Grand lodges are still active, and these are in Suriname, the Caribbean and Zimbabwe.

Shortly after the establishment of the Dutch Grand Lodge in 1756, there were already several Freemasons in the then East and West Indies. To promote the formation of lodges, the Dutch Grand Master appointed a brother known to him as provincial Grand Master with the right to found lodges in his working area. These Masonic lodges fulfilled a social role within the colonial society that should not be underestimated; they made an active contribution to society, while being guided by Masonic ideas.

In the East Indies, now Indonesia, the first lodge was founded in 1764 under the name La Choisie.

In the West Indies, which at the time included all Dutch settlements on the coast of South America, the first Dutch lodge was founded on St Eustatius in 1754, under the name La Parfait Union, followed in 1757 by De Vriendschap on Curacao.