During the period of the Order of the Temple, initiated by Grand Master Fabre-Palaprat in 1804, it is known that there were Grand Priories both of England and of Scotland in the early middle years of the 19th Century; with HRH the Duke of Sussex (uncle of Queen Victoria) and Dr James Burnes FRS as the respective Grand Priors. By the 1890s, however, it appears that the Order had died out in the United Kingdom.
During the decade of the 1960s there was close cooperation between the international Templar Orders:
Anton Leuprecht-Rapp, Worldwide Head of the OSMTJ International Federation, was involved in the re-introduction of the Order into the United Kingdom, drawing on his 1937 commission, from the pre-World War II Belgian headquarters of the Order, to encourage the establishment of new Grand Priories.
The history of the modern Order of Knights Templar in this country can therefore be traced back to 1960 when Charles Roland Long was the first recorded Grand Prior of the:
· Grand Priory of England
within the OSMTJ International Federation.
In 1966, Peter Mills (a.k.a. Prince Petros Paleologos) was appointed Grand Prior of England; and he was succeeded in 1970 by Sir John Waller Bt. In 1971 Anton Leuprecht-Rapp formally chartered the
· Grand Priory of Scotland;
within the OSMTJ International Federation and Francis Sherry was appointed as Grand Prior of Scotland.
Colonel William Hewitt was appointed Grand Prior of England in 1974. In 1975 revised Statutes and Ceremonies & Services of the Grand Priory of England were completed. These documents have served as a foundation on which the Grand Priory’s revised Constitution, Services & Ceremonies still rest today. In the same year, the Grand Priory of Scotland published its aims and highlighted its contribution to setting up a library at the Gaelic College on Skye. 1976 saw Robert Wright become Grand Prior of England and also the production of the first “Beaucéant” magazine, which was circulated to members and included news of the activities of the Order, items of interest, and a diary of events.
In 1978 Denys Le Fevre FRSA became Grand Prior of England. The working relationship between the Grand Priory of England and the Swiss Headquarters of the OSMTJ International Federation became increasingly strained over the next two years. Although nominally autonomous, the Grand Priory found that Anton Leuprecht-Rapp, as the Federation’s Worldwide Head, wished to direct elements of membership recruitment and to remove officeholders in the Grand Priory, as well as to create a form of merger of the OSMTJ International Federation with a Masonic Templar organisation.
At an Extraordinary Assembly of the Grand Priory of England in 1980, a majority of the membership therefore voted to leave the OSMTJ International Federation and to form the:
· Order of the Temple of Jerusalem – Priory of England;
under the leadership of Denys Le Fevre as Prior of England.
A minority of the membership of the Grand Priory of England, along with the Grand Priory of Scotland, chose to remain within the OSMTJ International Federation.
In 1982, the Priory of England (OTJ) joined the Ordo Internationalis Militiae Templi (OIMT Confederation), which brought together like-minded ecumenical Christian Templar associations from France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, at the initiative of Dom Johannes Becker, a Roman Catholic Canon working in Rome.
At the Annual General Assembly of the Priory of England (OTJ) in 1981 the:
· Order of The Industrial Temple – Bailiwick in England;
led by Noel Worrall as Bailiff, and which had been established independently in 1972 and took the application of Templar ideals to the workplace and social issues as a key part of its work, became affiliated to the Priory.
At the initiative of the Priory of England (OTJ), the Templar Pilgrimage Trust (TPT) was registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for England & Wales in 1983. The Venerable Peter Mallett CB, former Chaplain General to the UK Armed Forces, became the first Patron of the Trust. Recalling the original mission of the medieval Knights Templar, and now a foundation charity incorporated organisation, the TPT’s objects are focused on making grants to assist individuals and groups to undertake pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to other Christian Shrines throughout Europe and the Middle East.
In 1992, John Reddington was elected Prior of England for the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem and remained in office until 2003. Noel Worral remained in office as the Bailiff of the Industrial Temple during this period.
After the division in 1980, Dr Vincent Powell-Smith, Major Bill Chidgey, and Group Captain Trevor Lawson were successively appointed as Grand Priors of what became the Grand Priory of England & Wales that remained in the OSMTJ International Federation.
Shortly before his death, Anton Leuprecht-Rapp designated Frank Sherry to succeed him as Worldwide Head of the Federation. In the early 1980s, Frank Sherry then merged the OSMTJ International Federation into the OSMTH Regency, headed by Fernando Sousa Fontes. The Grand Priories of England & Wales and of Scotland thus became member associations within the OSMTH Regency.
In 1995, it appears that Major-General Sir Roy Redgrave briefly held the position of Grand Prior of England & Wales, before being succeeded by Leslie Payne in 1997.
During the middle 1990s, a significant number of Member Grand Priories chose to leave the OSMTH Regency as they wished to follow a much more democratic and openly accountable way of managing the Order and its international affairs. In 1996, the Grand Priory of England & Wales became a Founder Member Grand Priory of the current International Association of OSMTH, that was subsequently registered as a non-profit international association in Switzerland in 1999.
In 1999, Derek Jeffrey became Acting Grand Prior and, in the following year, the Reverend Dr John Bernardi was elected as Grand Prior of England & Wales, remaining in office until 2003.
Between 1995 and 1997, Major-General Sir Roy Redgrave and John Reddington facilitated a series of Templar Forum Sessions in London to explore whether there were areas of common interest that could be developed between the various Templar associations in England and Wales.
These Sessions were followed between 2000 and 2002 by three Open Meetings where the participants gained a greater understanding of the driving forces at play between the different associations and helped to identify those with genuine interest in bringing together the best of Templary into one body of members.
A joint working party was formed to prepare a new Constitution, and on 28 June 2003, in the Cathedral of St James, Bury St Edmunds, three bodies:
formally and ceremonially amalgamated to become the single Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England & Wales, as a Member Grand Priory of the International Association of OSMTH.
Simon Le Fevre MBA was elected in 2003 as Grand Prior of this amalgamated Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England & Wales. While this newly reunified Grand Priory worked through a period of consolidation, remaining members of the former Grand Priory of Scotland joined together to become the Commandery of Scotland, led by Paul McGowan and under the mentorship of the Grand Priory of France of the International Association of OSMTH.
At the initiative of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England & Wales, in 2007 the Templar Heritage Trust (THT) was established as a part of the registered charity, the Charities Aid Foundation. Now a separate foundation charity incorporated organisation, the THT’s objects are focused on making grants for academic research into the history of the medieval Order of Knights Templar and associated subjects and for training in the crafts required for the conservation of historic buildings.
In 2011, Godfrey Fowler was elected as the next Grand Prior of England & Wales, followed in 2014 by George MacLean GCSG. During his tenure of office, discussions were undertaken that led to the:
joining together to form the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in the United Kingdom, as a Member Grand Priory of the International Association of OSMTH, at a General Assembly held at in the former medieval Templar Preceptory of Temple Rothley in Leicestershire on 12 March 2016.
In 2018, Anthony Cuthbert was elected as Grand Prior of the United Kingdom and continues to hold this office to the current day.
As at 2023, the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in the United Kingdom comprises the: