The Masonic apron has been developed from the apron worn by Operative Masons in the Middle Ages. The few examples surviving show that the operative apron was fashioned from the skin of an animal, most probably a sheep. The use of this rough apron continued for many centuries; the woven apron used by modern masons is comparatively late; it came into use in the 18th century.
The earliest representations of the Freemason’s Apron are seen in 1717, on the engraved portrait of Antony Sayer, the first Grand Master of the modern Craft. The method of tying-on the apron was that of operative masons, with the bow and strings in front; this method was continued later, even when silk or linen strings were used. The leather apron survived in use until at least 1811.
The early fashion of wearing the bib or flap up soon fell into disfavour. The flap was either cut off or worn down as a fall. From 1731 onwards the apron began to assume a more convenient shape, usually knee length. Leather gave way to softer fabrics, silk, satin, velvet, linen, and chamois-leather. The flap, when retained, was either cut to a triangular form or in a semi-circular line. The latter was increasingly adopted-by Master Masons, presumably to mark their distinctive rank.
Before 1760, elaborately-painted or embroidered aprons came into fashion and continued to be favoured until the Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813. Many of these aprons were home-made, often artistically finished and adorned with symbolic designs. From 1760 onwards the printed and engraved aprons appeared, many of them being subsequently coloured by hand. The tendency to decorate Masonic aprons with symbolic designs began in the 1730’s, and between 1740 and 1790 this practice became widespread.
The most popular designs usually included the All-Seeing Eye, the Columns, and the Square and Compasses, all evidence of the advance of Speculative Masonry in the second half of the eighteenth century. By 1784 the apron was greatly reduced in size.
Blue Ribbons and Blue Silks
The resolution of the Grand Lodge on March 17th, 1721, ordained that:
“None but the Grand Master, his Deputy and Wardens shall wear their Jewels in Gold or gilt pendant to Blue Ribbons about their Necks, and White Leather aprons with Blue Silk; which Sort of Aprons may also be worn by former Grand Officers.”
This was the first official mention of Blue Silk as a trimming for aprons, and it is clear that the Blue was originally reserved for Grand Officers. By 1745-50 Grand Officers were beginning to edge their aprons with purple ribbon. The light blue, gradually given up by the Grand Officers, was soon adopted by Master Masons, and since there was no official ruling on the subject (until 1815), blue-edged aprons became fairly common with the rank and file of the Craft from about 1745 onwards. Uniformity and regularity in the material, design, form and decorations of the apron were not officially insisted upon by the United Grand Lodge until 1814, when an order for a general uniformity was issued.
Tassels
The tassels, in rudimentary form, must have appeared at a very early date as a natural development of the waist-strings being tied at the front and hanging down over the apron. There are, indeed, several surviving examples of 18th century aprons with broad ribbon ties, the ends of the ties being edged, usually with gold fringe, so that when tied at the front the fringed ends have the appearance of a pair of tassels. It is impossible to say when the silver tassels made their first appearance as standard decoration for the Master Mason’s apron.
They were probably in use some time before 1841, and they were officially prescribed for the first time in the 1841 Book of Constitutions. The symbolic origins of the tassels and their seven chains are shrouded in mystery.
It is probable that regalia-makers from 1830 onwards contrived a symmetrical design for the apron by placing the tassels with their ornamental chains on either side of the apron.
Rosettes
The origin of rosettes on the Fellow Craft and Master Mason aprons is also unknown. In England they were a comparatively late introduction, and were not prescribed officially until 1815, when they were specifically designed to differentiate the three grades, or degrees. It is probable, however, that their original purpose was purely ornamental.
Squares or Levels
There appears to be no official name for the squares or levels which decorate the apron of a Master or Past Master. The 1815 Constitutions described them as “perpendicular lines upon horizontal lines, thereby forming three several sets of (two) right angles”, and originally they were to be of inch-wide ribbon. The same definition appears in the present Constitutions, though nowadays the emblems are usually of silver or white metal. They were designed only for purpose of distinction.
