William Preston (1742-1818), a very active Freemason at the end of the

eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, developed an

elaborate system of Masonic instruction, by means of catechetical lectures,

which was practiced in association with the Lodge of Antiquity of which

he was, at one time, Master.

At his death, he bequeathed to Grand Lodge the sum of £300, the

interest from which was to be applied to some well informed Mason to deliver

annually a Lecture on the First, Second or Third Degree of the Order

of Masonry, according to the system practiced in the Lodge of Antiquity

during Preston’s Mastership.

With occasional intermissions, lectures on his method were accordingly

delivered from 1820 until 1862, when the Lectureship was allowed to lapse.

In 1924 it was revived, with certain modifications of the original scheme:

the lecturer delivering a paper on a Masonic subject of his own selection.

The Prestonian Lecture is the only lecture held under the authority

of the United Grand Lodge of England and, with the exception of the years

1940-46, regular appointments have been made annually since 1924 to the