Orange Order

The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the province of Ulster, Ireland

Political links

Until March 2005, the Orange Order was entitled to a voting bloc on the Ulster Unionist Council, the decision-making body of the Ulster Unionist Party. This was the position since 1905, and though the UUP had long mulled over breaking the link, in the end it was the Orange Order that broke away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Order first became overtly political during Charles Stewart Parnell's campaign for Home Rule in the 1880s. In 1886, when William Ewart Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was before Parliament, Lord Randolph Churchill coined the famous phrase "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right" in an open letter to Irish Unionists. The Bill was defeated in June, and serious rioting broke out in Ulster, continuing on into the marching season in July. By September, fifty people were dead, and thousands had been driven from their homes. This marked the beginning of a period when the upper classes began to realise the potential of the Order in preventing unwanted constitutional change, which culminated in the formal link in 1905. Support for the Land League (which fought for the rights of small farmers) from some elements of the Order (especially in Armagh) was effectively smothered as the landed gentry extended their influence. Fifty Orangemen from Cavan and Monaghan volunteered to bring in the harvest for Captain Boycott in County Mayo after he was ostracised by his local community (who usually provided him with labour) for rackrenting.

Related Topics:
Charles Stewart Parnell - Home Rule - 1880s - 1886 - William Ewart Gladstone - Randolph Churchill - Irish Unionists - Land League - Boycott - County Mayo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~