M.W. Bro. Anthony SAYER was the first Grand Master of the premier Grand Lodge of England. He was elected and installed on St. John Baptist’s day in 1717 at a room in the Goose and Gridiron tavern.
Bro. Sayer established a Masonic Charity Fund, and co-incidentally, he was the first person to apply for and receive it’s benefits – the sum of 2 guineas in 1741.
Although a pauper at the time of his death in 1742, he was the faithful Tyler of what is now the Old King’s Arms Lodge #28. At his funeral, the London Evening Post stated “his corpse was followed by a great number of Gentlemen of the Honourable Society of the best quality” to Covent Garden Church, where he was buried.