Province of Leicestershire and Rutland

Freemasonry within Leicestershire has been in existence since the eighteenth century, St. Johns Lodge No. 279 being founded in the year 1790.

Col. Sir Thomas Fowke was the First Provincial Grand Master of Leicestershire and was succeeded in 1789 by Thomas Boothby Parkyns (1st Lord Rancliffe in 1795). Following his death on 17th November 1800 the Province of Leicestershire was without a Grand Master until in 1812 his son, George, the 2nd Lord Rancliffe took the appointment. In 1850 Sir Fredrick Gustavus Fowke was appointed the fourth Provincial Grand Master and he was succeeded in 1856 by Richard William Penn, 1st Earl Howe, until in 1869 the Craft provinces of Leicestershire and Rutland were combined.

The twelve Provincial Grand Masters who have ruled over the combined province are listed below:

• 1869 Richard William Penn, 1st Earl Howe, G.C.H.

• 1870 William Kelly

• 1873 Sewallis Edward, 10th Earl Ferrers

• 1912 John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland†

• 1913 Edward Holmes, O.B.E.

• 1928 Sir Fredrick Oliver, T.D., D.L.

• 1939 Sir John Corah

• 1959 Cecil Bernard Simpson Morley, C.B.E., T.D., D.L.

• 1978 Gayton Cusley Taylor

• 1989 Derek Alfred Buswell

• 2002 Michael Henry Roalfe

• 2010 David Victor Hagger

• 2019 Peter Charles Kinder