The Grand College of the Order has it's headquarters in York England.
The New Grand Body had it's first meeting on 15 May 1924 at Newcastle upon Tyne.
From 1894 the ceremonials of the Order were under the control of the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees
(Masonic students should look elsewhere to research the origins of that fine body)
Prior to 1894 The Order of Knight Templar Priest traces it's origins back to the Anahilt Union Band in County Down, Ireland in 1792.
Over 60 "Union Bands" have been traced in Ireland with only a small number being under the Irish Early Grand Encampment
and even fewer being "banded" with one or more Lodges. During this period there was no ruling body.
Some have claimed traces of our origins back
to 1786 or even as early as 1686 but these are much less
credible as with so many claims to antiquity the evidence in
written form is lost as many old records of workings were destroyed for one
reason or another.
In the early days it was also known as the
"Priestly Order" and was referred to within the ceremonies of "The High Knights Templar" in Ireland in 1755.
Other evidence - such as it is - may simply be a reference
within early Lodge Minute Books of the working of a Degree.
Evidence of degrees with the same names as those now in the
present day Order of 31 Appendant Degrees has been found
by V Ill Kt Pt S Forster in a number of Scottish Lodges and he
collated these into a booklet quite a few years ago as a "work
in progress".
Following the formation of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in 1736 - instruction was given to Lodges that they
could not or should not work degrees other those of the 1st or
Entered Apprentice Degree, the 2nd or Fellow of Craft Degree,
the 3rd or Master Mason Degree. Scottish Lodges also work the
Mark Master Degree. This is in agreement with the Supreme Grand
Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland which also has control of the
Mark Master Degree. Following this instruction to Lodges we just
do not know if all the Lodges which formerly might have worked
these Degrees simply stopped or stopped noting the workings with
Lodge Minute Books!
In 1807 the Early Grand Conclave of Scotland
issued a warrant to Joppa Encampment of Knights Templar in
Sunderland with authority to work a number of degrees including
Knight Templar Priest. In 1812 members at Newcastle upon Tyne
petitioned the Grand Conclave of England for a Warrant. This was
granted in the name of Royal Kent Encampment.
We can say with certainty that evidence exists of its being worked
in the 18th and 19th Centuries in England, Scotland, Ireland, Corfu, France and probably
the United States and Canada. The Order then became moribund in the 19th Century, the last known working being in Lancashire.
THE MODERN REVIVAL
On Good Friday, 23 March 1894, Henry Hotham,
a Yorkshireman and prominent Mason was, apparently, the last known Knight Templar Priest,
being the last Installed Master or High Priest he admitted nine Knights into the Order (under authority of one of the Original Rules of the Order).
The revived Tabernacle in
conjunction with the Knights Grand Cross, being conscious of the efforts of the Council of Allied Masonic Degrees in London to
found a "Grand Council of Rites" agreed that with it's then 24 Appendant Degrees to become the Royal Kent Tabernacle Time Immemorial.
As a consequence the first of the modern Tabernacles, Royal Kent
T.I., was formed. After a short period of control by the Grand
Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees, by mutual consent it
separated and became The Grand College.
The development of the Order was very slow at first, but soon began to take on its now extensive international form, with the first New Zealand Tabernacles in 1930, 1942 and 1944 and Australia joining in a few years later. Earlier, in 1931, Grand College had sponsored the setting up of the Order in the United States as an independent authority and to this day, this is the only other Grand College in the World.
Progress of the Order continued very slowly but steadily from 1951 for the next 10 years, but in the early 1960s, under dynamic new leadership, the pace of expansion increased, and has continued to this day, with the number of Tabernacles now exceeding 200, spread throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Holland, Germany and Jamaica.
The dress of the Order is a white mantle, a tunic as worn by Knights Templar, and a mitre. The KT mantle is permitted, but the white mantle preferred.
It should also be noted that this Order is not the "Priestly" branch of The Knights Templar
