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The British Order of Ancient Free Gardeners is recorded as early as 1676 in East Lothian. Although many of the Free Gardeners' emblems were similar to those used in Freemasonry, and local branches were known as lodges, the Order did not have Masonic connections. In Scotland in 1849 several lodges met together to form a Grand Lodge and the following years saw an rapid increase in the number of lodges. The Order issued regulations, offered practical advice and assistance to gardeners and landowners. It admitted non-gardeners from an early stage and gradually developed into the role of a friendly society and was governed by Friendly Society acts.The Airdrie Greenhouse Lodge of Free Gardeners was founded in 1812 by the amalgamation of two pre-existing Gardeners' lodges, one of which may have been the Airdrie St Joseph Lodge which also styled itself the No 1 Mother Lodge. The Lodge's function as a friendly society was to provide payments for relief of members who were unable to work due to infirmity or sickness. A payment was also made to the family of a member on his death. Entry to membership was open to healthy Protestant men between the age of 16 and 40. Underground workers were barred from membership. All strata of society seemed to have joined the Greenhouse Lodge from the most affluent of the local gentry such as Patrick Rankin of Mavisbank, James Tennant of Bredenhill, and John Mack of Fruitfield, down to the humblest of labourers.The society thrived throughout the 19th century. According to James Knox, one of the great gala days of the year in Airdrie was the day of the Gardeners' Parade when the various Free Gardeners' lodges marched through the town in their regalia on the way to their AGM. In 1862 the society held a special parade through Airdrie in celebration of their half centenary and went on to celebrate its centenary in 1912 with a dinner in the Royal Hotel. The Society was already in some financial difficulty, and its instrument of dissolution was registered by the Friendly Societies' Registrar on 17 December 1914.
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