In order for a grand lodge to became a grand lodge there must first be a lodge.
FreeMasonry evolved from the guild system. The guild system evolved from previous historical systems. The chain of history and prehistory goes back to the point there were enough inventions in the field of architecture that a master/apprentice system was needed.
Now due to warrants wasn't necessary back then that's understandable. With warrants being the new age of who's regular or not now is when we have a big problem. Because it's relative new, the conversation of irregular and regular is really not valid.
The Grand Lodge system will be three hundred years old next year. Think about the expression "In America a hundred miles is considered a short distance and a hundred years is considered a long time." It stopped being a new system by the time the GL of Antients, the GL of Scotland, and the GL or Ireland were organizes.
Why? Because the origin of the UGLE didn't carry those type of documents and didn't care for them.
Historical detail. The United Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1812 when the Antients and Moderns merged. By then the Grand Lodge system was approaching a hundred years old.
You mean the 1717 foundation of the first Grand Lodge. Variously called the Moderns, the Premiere GL, the GL of Manchester and so on.
The Moderns were created out of thin air. The current set of rules about chartering a new jurisdiction can't be applied to them. They invented something new. The first Moderns were pioneers who created a system that did not exist before them.
And I'm PHA, I'm just interested in how it started on the other side of the fence.
The organization of the first Prince Hall GL had a different situation. The GL system already existed but they were rejected for reasons outside of Masonic principles. The first PH GL founders were pioneers of a different sort. They stuck to their principles in the context of an existing system that had rejected them.
This history gives context to clandestine jurisdictions that use the term Prince Hall. A specific lineage has been adopted back into the family. For any one brother there is the (ad)option of healing into that lineage. For any one lodge there is the (ad)option of rechartering into that lineage. For any one jurisdiction there is the (ad)option of uniting/consolidating/merging into that lineage.