Industry, Lodge of, No. 186, London

Annual returns giving names, professions and residence of members of the Lodge of Industry [Antients] and general correspondence relating to the running of the lodge.

The Lodge of Industry No. 186 was established in 1788 and met at the Black Friar, Playhouse Yard, Blackfriars, London. The lodge met at various inns and taverns covering all parts of the Cities of London and Westminster. In 1878 it finally settled at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London, where it has continues to meet until the present date. In 1819 the lodge was named the Britannia Lodge of Industry and it was then renamed the Lodge of Industry in 1821.

In 1808 the lodge warrant was suspended for three months as the lodge was censured after initiating a black man, Daniel Miller. The censure was not on grounds of colour but because he was born into slavery in the West Indies and was therefore not free born. One of the prime rules in the constitution stated that a candidate 'should be neither a bondsman nor a slave but free-born'. This wording in the Book of Constitutions changed in 1847. Therefore the Master of the lodge was censured for not making sufficient enquiries into the candidate's background and for breaking the rules.