In 1788 Chevalier Ruspini formulated a scheme for establishing a school for the daughters of deceased and distressed Freemasons. Fifteen girls between the ages of 5 and 10 were admitted to a school in a rented house near Euston Station. The school was called Royal Cumberland Free Mason School for Little Children where daughters were under the protection of HRH The Duchess of Cumberland.

In 1795 a new, larger school was built at St George’s Fields to accommodate 65 girls. 1852 saw another move, to even larger premises at Wandsworth Common. The name The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls was adopted in 1868. By this time secondary education was taking most of the places, and continued to do so until a Junior School opened in 1904. During the First World War the Junior School moved to Weybridge in Surrey, and in 1926 further building doubled its size. The Senior School moved to a 400-acre site in Rickmansworth Park in Hertfordshire in 1934, from where it still operates. The Junior School closed in 1973 as a result of falling numbers.

An important aspect of girls’ education occurred in 1906 when the principle was accepted that a girl who for reasons acceptable to the RMIG was not admitted to the school might receive financial help to enable her to attend a school near her own home. The Royal Charter of 1952 made it quite clear that only ‘daughters and female children legally adopted’ could benefit from the RMIG by being clothed, maintained and educated. Fee-paying pupils were allowed to fill vacancies from 1965 (if they were daughters or legally adopted female children of a Freemason). Day-girls were admitted in 1972, and finally the doors were opened to any fee-paying girl.

The boys’ charity followed in 1798 along similar lines to that for the girls.

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