Anthony Sayer

Anthony Sayer
Mezzotint portrait by John Faber the Younger after Joseph Highmore
Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England
In office
24 June 1717 – 24 June 1718
Succeeded byGeorge Payne
Personal details
Bornc. 1672
DiedJanuary 1742 (aged 69–70)
St. Giles in the Fields,
London, England
Resting placeCovent Garden Church

Anthony Sayer (c. 1672 – January 1742) was an English gentleman who served as the Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England from 1717 to 1718.

Biography

Freemasonry

The founding of the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster on 24 June 1717, at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse, is widely recognized as the birth of organized modern Freemasonry. Anthony Sayer’s election as the first Grand Master marked a pivotal moment, transitioning Freemasonry from operative stone-cutting guilds into the speculative fraternal organization it is known as today.

Death

Sayer died at age 69 or 70 in January 1742. Masons led the procession from the Shakespeare's Head Tavern, in Covent Garden Piazza, to Sayer's final resting place in Covent Garden Church.

References

  1. 1 2 Anderson, James (1738). The New Book of Constitutions of the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. London. pp. 109–110 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ "London, January 19". The Birmingham Gazette. No. XI. 25 January 1742. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2026 – via Newspapers.com.