Members of the Royal Black Preceptory 241, photographed in 1948Token from a Canadian lodge of the RBI, with various symbols pertaining to the societySymbol of the Institution, and logo — In Hoc Signo Vinces
The Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth, or simply the Royal Black Institution,[1] is a Protestantfraternal society.
In 2016, a theological working group set up by the Church of Ireland was informed by the organisation's leadership that it had a membership of around 17,000, of whom around 16,000 lived in the British Isles.[2]
History
The Royal Black Institution was formed in Ireland in 1797, two years after the formation of the Orange Order in Daniel Winter's cottage, Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
The society is formed from Orangemen, who hold the Royal Arch Purple Degree, and can be seen as a progression of those Orders, although they are three separate institutions. Anyone wishing to be admitted to the Royal Black Institution must first become a member of an Orange Order Lodge, and complete the Royal Arch Purple Degree. Members are expected to accept the doctrine of the Trinity and confess a personal faith in Christ.[2]
The Royal Black is often referred to as "the senior of the loyal orders".[3]
Members wear a sash or collarette of which the predominant colour is black.
The word "Royal" in the title is allegedly a reference to 1 Peter 2:9 ‘You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people...’, not to politics or the British monarchy. The word "Black" allegedly refers to mortality, and is a symbol of mourning.[2]
Organisation and events
Its headquarters is in Loughgall, County Armagh. Members refer to each other as "Sir Knight", whereas in the Orange Order members are referred to as "Brother" or "Brethren".[4].
The organisation is structured with the Imperial Grand Black Chapter as the presiding body, and which comprises representatives from County Chapters. Counties are sub-divided into districts, which are formed by groups of preceptories.
In 1931, on the day before a planned demonstration by members of the Royal Black Institution, crossing the border from Northern Ireland and into the then Irish Free State, the IRA occupied Cootehill in County Cavan, as a counter protest.[5]
In Northern Ireland it holds an annual parade in the village of Scarva, County Down, on 13 July (the day after the Orange Order's 12 July celebrations). It is commonly referred to as "The Sham Fight" as it involves a mock fight between actors reenacting the Battle of the Boyne.[4] The other major parade of the year is "Black Saturday", also known as "Last Saturday", held on the last Saturday in August at several locations throughout Ulster (including a major parade in Raphoe in the Laggan district of East Donegal, Ireland).[4]:480
The society is also popular in Scotland, where 60 preceptories exist organised into 11 districts across the country.[6] Twenty-six marches by the Black Institution have taken place in Glasgow alone between 2009 and 2010.[1]
2012 apology
The Royal Black Institution has adopted a more conciliatory attitude to contentious parades than the Orange Order, and is less overtly political, though not without political influence.
After loyalist bands defied a Parades Commission ruling on Black Saturday by playing music outside St Patrick's Catholic Church on Donegall Street, Belfast, the Royal Black Institution issued an apology to the clergy and parishioners of the church for any offence caused. The parish priest, Father Michael Sheehan, welcomed the apology and "the sincere Christian spirit behind it".[7]
Degrees
The society's members are assigned one of eleven degrees, as follows, in descending order:
Royal Black Degree
Royal Scarlet Degree
Royal Mark Degree
Apron and Royal Blue Degree
Royal White Degree
Royal Green Degree
Gold Degree
Star and Garter Degree
Crimson Arrow Degree
Link and Chain Degree
Red Cross Degree
The Institution also possesses a final retrospective overview degree, which is essentially an overview of the eleven.
Sovereign Grand Masters
A chronological list of Sovereign Grand Masters of the Royal Black Preceptory:
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 24 mi (39 km) southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of about 32,000 at the 2021 Census. For some purposes, Portadown is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", alongside Craigavon and Lurgan.
The Apprentice Boys of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership of over 10,000, founded in 1814 and based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. There are branches in Ulster and elsewhere in Ireland, Scotland, England, Australia and Toronto, Canada. The society aims to commemorate the 1689 Siege of Derry when Catholic James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland laid siege to the walled city, which was at the time a Protestant stronghold. Apprentice Boys parades once regularly led to virulent opposition from the city's Irish nationalist majority, but recently a more conciliatory approach has taken place and now the parades are virtually trouble-free. The 2014 'Shutting of the Gates' parade was described as "the biggest in years" and was violence-free.
The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an offshoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. Initially pro-labour and supportive of tenant rights and land reform, over time it moved to a more conservative, unionist position.
Loughgall is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the historic baronies of Armagh and Oneilland West. It had a population of 282 people in the 2011 Census. Loughgall was named after a small nearby loch. The village is surrounded by orchards.
The Peep o' Day Boys was an agrarian sectarian Protestant association in 18th-century Ireland. Originally noted as being an agrarian society around 1779–80, from 1785 it became the Protestant component of the sectarian conflict that emerged in County Armagh, their rivals being the Catholic Defenders. After the Battle of the Diamond in 1795, where an offshoot of the Peep o' Day Boys known as the Orange Boys defeated a force of Defenders, the Orange Order was instituted, and whilst repudiating the activities of the Peep o' Day Boys, they quickly superseded them. The Orange Order would blame the Peep o' Day Boys for "the Armagh outrages" that followed the battle.
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, as well as in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States.
Scarva is a small village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is at the boundary with County Armagh, which is marked by the Newry Canal. In the 2001 census it had a population of 320.
Tobermore, from Irish An Tobar Mór, meaning 'the great well') is a small village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland named after the townland of Tobermore. The village, which has a predominantly Protestant population, lies 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-south-west of Maghera and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-west of Magherafelt. Tobermore is within the civil parish of Kilcronaghan and is part of Mid-Ulster District. It was also part of the former barony of Loughinsholin.
The Grand Orange Lodge of British America, more commonly known as the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch of the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization that began in County Armagh in Ireland in 1795. It has played a large part in the history of Canada, with many prominent members including four prime ministers, among them Sir John A. Macdonald and John Diefenbaker.
The Royal Arch Purple, properly the Grand Royal Arch Purple Chapter of Ireland, is an organisation related to Orangeism but not recognised by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland which recognises only two degrees, those of Orange and Plain Purple. It is a necessary prerequisite for entry into the Royal Black Institution.
Lt Col Sir William James Allen KBE DSO was a Northern Irish unionist politician, soldier and businessman.
William McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's Glennane gang in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996. On his release he worked as a loyalist and Orange Order activist until his death in 2006.
Events from the year 1795 in Ireland.
Parades are a prominent cultural feature of Northern Ireland. The overwhelming majority of parades are held by Ulster Protestant, unionist or Ulster loyalist groups, but some Irish nationalist, republican and non-political groups also parade. Due to longstanding controversy surrounding the contentious nature of some parades, a quasi-judicial public body, the Parades Commission, exists to place conditions and settle disputes. Although not all parading groups recognise the Commission's authority, its decisions are legally binding.
William Johnston was an Irish Orangeman, unionist and Member of Parliament for Belfast, distinguished by his independent working-class following and commitment to reform. He first entered the United Kingdom Parliament as an Irish Conservative in 1868, celebrated for having broken a standing ban on Orange Order processions and as the nominee of an association of "Protestant Workers". At Westminster, Johnston supported the secret ballot; the accommodation of trade unions and strike action; land reform; and woman's suffrage. He was succeeded in 1902 as the MP for South Belfast, by Thomas Sloan, similarly supported by loyalist workers in opposition to the official unionist candidates favoured by their employers.
The Loyal Orange Institution, better known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland. It has been a strong supporter of Irish unionism and has had close links with the Ulster Unionist Party, which governed Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972. The Orange Order has lodges throughout Ireland, although it is strongest in the North. There are also branches throughout the Commonwealth, and in the United States. In the 20th century, the organisation went into sharp decline outside Northern Ireland and County Donegal. McGarry, John; O'Leary, Brendan (1995). Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images. Blackwell Publishers. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-631-18349-5.; The Orange marches</ref> The Order has a substantial fraternal and benevolent component.
Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet,, was a British soldier who served in the Napoleonic wars, was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo and resigned as a colonel. He served as a politician, including 36 years as a Member of Parliament. Two of his sons were also members of Parliament. Verner was made Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Order and a Baronet, and was Grand Master of Armagh and Orange Order of Ireland.
Douglas Hutchinson was a Northern Irish Unionist politician.
Orange walks, or Orange marches, are a series of parades by members of the Orange Order and other Protestant fraternal societies, held during the summer months in various Commonwealth nations, and most notably across Northern Ireland. The parades typically build up to 12 July celebrations marking Prince William of Orange's victory over King James II and VII at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Robert William McConnell, was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary who allegedly carried out or was an accomplice to a number of sectarian attacks and killings, although he never faced any charges or convictions. McConnell served part-time as a corporal in the 2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), and was a suspected member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
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