26th December 1773.

Lodge "True Friendship" No 388 Was Granted a Warrant by the Most Worshipful Samuel Middleton, Provincial Grandmaster and was composed of the non-commissioned officers of the 3rd Brigade

In recent years various Worshipful Brethren spent considerable time in investigating the Lodge history, during which period, in the archives at Grand Lodge, has been traced the application dated 3rd March 1798 submitted to Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of England, according to the Old Institutions, of asking for a warrant.

This was a most significant discovery, and it is felt it will be of considerable interest to Members; it is now beyond reasonable doubt that a warrant, dated 6th December 1794 was granted to the Lodge By the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal, and it is hoped that further early documents may come to light.

If so, whether or not they will ever approve a continuous connection with the Original Lodge of True Friendship, which was granted a warrant by the Most Worshipful Samuel Middleton, Provincial Grand Master on 26th December 1773, when the Lodge was composed of non-commissioned officers of the 3rd Brigade, remains a moot point, but on the basis of the documents previously unavailable this still seems unlikely, as the history of the original Lodge, which was inconclusive, lapses entirely in the 1793, after which date nothing is recorded until the application for the warrant referred to above of 3rd March 1798.

The recent findings again emphasis that the name of the Lodge was "Lodge of True Friendship" and not "Lodge True Friendship", although it was observed that in the Masonic Yearbook, the Lodge was still referred to as "218 Lodge True Friendship".

In view of the latest information, and the previous representations made in 1938, from which date the Lodge was styled the "Lodge of True Friendship", a reference was made to the Grand Lodge of England asking that the reference in the Masonic Yearbook should be changed, and a letter has recently been received from District Grand Lodge of Bengal Reproducing the Following Paragraph from a Letter from the Grand Secretary:-

"The librarian has now investigated this matter and in view of all the evidence available I am having the lodge shown in all our records, including the Masonic yearbook as the "lodge of true friendship".

On 9th November 1995 Grand Lodge was pleased to present the Lodge with a Bicentenary Warrant dating continuous working of the Lodge from 16th December 1794. The fact that the Lodge began under a Local Warrant, constitutionally granted by a Grand Master under the Premier Grand Lodge, and then accepted a warrant granted under the Ancients Grand Lodge was not a rare occasion in those days. Exactly 16 years after this Lodge was so constituted, the Atholl Grand Lodge united with the Grand Lodge of England to become the United Grand Lodge of Free and accepted Masons of England. Since then it has been under the Authority of the United Grand Lodge of England, that this Lodge has continued to work, and on 29 December 1904, the United Grand Lodge issued a Centenary Warrant to Lodge of True Friendship.