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. [1]
It is a matter of deep regret that political differences should have run high in this place, and led to most discreditable and disgraceful results. It is not long since guns were discharged from a window in this town at the successful candidates in an election, and the coachman of one of them was actually shot in the body, though not dangerously wounded. But one man was killed on the same occasion; and from the very window whence he received his death, the very flag which shielded his murderer (not only in the commission of his crime, but from its consequences), was displayed again on the occasion of the public ceremony performed by the Governor General, to which I have just adverted. Of all the colours in the rainbow, there is but one which could be so employed: I need not say that flag was orange.
— Charles Dickens, commenting on 1841 Toronto Orange violence in American Notes for General Circulation, 1842
The Orange Lodges have existed in Canada at least since the War of 1812. The first Lodge was established in Montreal by William Burton, Arthur Hopper, John Dyer, Francis Abbott and several others. [2] William Burton travelled to Ireland to obtain the warrant to open the Lodge from the Grand Lodge of Ireland and became the first Grand Master of the Montreal Lodge. In the following years Arthur Hopper was elected the next Grand Master and given the power of granting warrants to subordinate Lodges under the Great Seal of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The first such Lodge was granted to Robert Birch of Richmond. The Order was more formally organized in 1830 when Ogle Robert Gowan established the Grand Orange Lodge of British North America in the Upper Canada town of Elizabethtown, which became Brockville in 1832 (according to the plaque outside the original lodge in Brockville, Ontario). Gowan immigrated from Ireland in 1829, and became the Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of British North America. His father was the grand master of the Irish Orange Order. Most early members were from Ireland, but later many Scots, English and other Protestant Europeans joined the Order, in addition to Amerindians, such as those in the Mohawk Orange Lodge which survives into the present day.
The Order was the chief social institution in Upper Canada, organizing many community and benevolent activities, and helping Protestant immigrants to settle. It remained a predominant political force in southern Ontario well into the twentieth century. There were scores of socially prominent citizens who were granted honorary membership but did not actually participate in official lodge business. Surprisingly given its great prestige, although there were many members drawn from the upper and middle classes, lodge membership was predominantly drawn from the ranks of labourers, street railway workers, teamsters, and other elements of the working class. Besides sentimental patriotic or imperialist motivations, many Orangemen joined because the benefits of mutual aid, security, and health supports made it easier to survive the difficulties of working-class life. Middle-class members, such as professionals, small-shop owners, and tavern-keepers, saw membership in terms of commercial gain through the steady attraction of lodge members as clientele. The Order's degrees and solemn oaths bonded men together as part of a greater whole, and dressing in the order's distinctive sash and regalia for the Twelfth of July parade let members show off their status and achievements to the greater community. The Grand Orange Lodge of British America Benefit Fund was established in 1881 to provide fraternal benefits to members and remains as a modern insurance system. [3]
The Grand Orange Lodge of British America was established in Toronto in 1830, and it expanded steadily so that there were over 20 lodges in 1860, 31 in 1880, and 56 by 1895. At the turn of the century Toronto was nicknamed "The Belfast of Canada". Historian Hereward Senior has noted that the Orange Order's political ideal was expressed in the word "ascendancy." "This meant, in effect, control of the volunteer militia, of much of the machinery of local government, and substantial influence with the Dublin administration.[ clarification needed ] Above all, it meant the ability to exert pressure on magistrates and juries, which gave Orangemen a degree of immunity from the law. Their means of securing ascendancy had been the Orange lodges which provided links between Irish Protestants of all classes. This ascendancy often meant political power for Protestant gentlemen and a special status for Protestant peasants." [4] In the context of Toronto, such ascendancy was sought through the Corporation (as the administration of the city of Toronto was known). By 1844, six of Toronto's ten aldermen were Orangemen, and over the rest of the nineteenth century twenty of twenty-three mayors would be as well. [5]
The Orange Order became a central facet of life in many parts of Canada, especially in the business centre of Toronto where many deals and relationships were forged at the lodge. Toronto politics, especially on the municipal level, were almost wholly dominated by the Orange Order. An influential weekly newspaper, The Sentinel, promoted Protestant social and political views and was widely circulated throughout North America. [6] At its height in 1942, 16 of the 23 members of city council were members of the Orange Order. [7] Every mayor of Toronto in the first half of the twentieth century was an Orangeman. This continued until the 1954 election when the Jewish Nathan Phillips defeated staunch Orange leader Leslie Howard Saunders.
"Ascendancy," or control of this legal and political machinery, gave the Orange Order a monopoly on the use of "legitimate" violence. Between 1839 and 1866, the Orange Order was involved in 29 riots in Toronto, of which 16 had direct political inspiration. [8]
The Orangemen, members of the various Ottawa, Westboro and Billings Bridge Lodges as well as lodges from outlying towns paraded from the Orange Hall, Gloucester Street to St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Ottawa) on 10 July 1938. [9]
The Orange Lodge was a centre for community activity in Newfoundland. For example, in 1903 Sir William Coaker founded the Fisherman's Protective Union (FPU) in an Orange Hall in Herring Neck. Furthermore, during the term of Commission of Government (1934–1949), the Orange Lodge was one of only a handful of "democratic" organizations that existed in the Dominion of Newfoundland. It supported Newfoundland's confederation with Canada in reaction to Catholic bishops' support for self-government.
The Orange Order was also a force in New Brunswick, such that riots surrounding Orange marches occurred in the 1840s (a period of Irish mass immigration) in New Brunswick. Even tiny Woodstock, New Brunswick, experienced a riot in 1847 on The Twelfth (12 July, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne), near a now-vanished Orange Hall at the corner of Victoria and Boyne streets. The height of conflict was a riot in Saint John, New Brunswick, on 12 July 1849, in which at least 12 people died. The violence subsided as Irish immigration declined, [10] though even in 1883, 5 were killed in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland in the "usual" "collision" "between Orangemen and Roman Catholics", in an event that became known as The Harbour Grace Affray. [11]
After 1945, the Canadian Orange Order rapidly declined in membership and political influence. The development of the welfare state made its fraternal society functions less important. A more important cause of the decline was the secularization of Canadian society: with fewer Canadians attending churches of any sort, the old division between Protestant and Catholic seemed less relevant. Perhaps even more important was the decline of the British Empire and consequently the reduced value of maintaining the 'British Connection' which had always underpinned the Order. The Twelfth remains a provincial holiday in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador under the name Orangeman's Day. [12]
Historian William Baergen notes that White Anglo Saxon Protestantism (WASP) was a foundational feature of the early settlement in Alberta. He notes that as immigrants from non-Anglo-Saxon regions of Europe entered the province in greater numbers between 1921 and 1931 that there was a corresponding rise in "Anglo-Saxon racism, anti-Catholicism and immigrant phobia". [13] Baergen says that "the more radical white Anglo-Saxon Protestants were represented by the Orange Order, and formed the essence of the anti-Catholic and anti-foreigner agenda that emerged in Alberta during the period from 1929–1933. [14] Baergen notes that "Wherever the dominance of the British way appeared threatened, an Orange Lodge could be expected to appear." [15] [ check quotation syntax ] In a letter to Alberta Premier John Edward Brownlee on December 13, 1927, the Hesketh Loyal Orange Lodge, No. 3013 congratulated the premier on his stand restricting immigration to the province, saying "By unanimous vote of the members of this lodge... I have been instructed to write and congratulate you on your stand re THE EMIGRATION POLICY and its ADMINISTRATION [sic]" [16]
Orangemen played a big part in suppressing the Upper Canada Rebellion of William Lyon Mackenzie in 1837. Though the rebellion was short-lived, 317 Orangemen were sworn into the local militia by the Mayor of Toronto and then resisted Mackenzie's march down Yonge Street in 1837.
They were involved in resisting the Fenians at the Battle of Ridgeway in 1866. An obelisk there marks the spot where Orangemen died in defending the colony against an attack by members of Clan na Gael (commonly known as Fenians).
Orangemen in western Canada helped suppress the rebellions of Louis Riel in 1870 and 1885. The killing of abducted Orangeman Thomas Scott was a turning point in the 1870 Red River Rebellion which caused the Dominion government to launch the Wolseley expedition to restore order. The first Orange warrant in Manitoba and the North-West Territories was carried by a member of this expedition.
In 1913, the Orange Association of Manitoba volunteered a regiment to fight with the Ulster Volunteers against British forces if Home Rule were to be introduced to Ireland.[ citation needed ]
Four members of the Orange Order have been prime ministers of Canada, namely Sir John A. Macdonald, [17] the father of Canadian Confederation, Sir John Abbott, Sir Mackenzie Bowell (a past Grand Master), and John Diefenbaker, [1] in addition to many Ontario premiers. [18] [ citation needed ]
Possibly influenced by the number of Irish Newfoundlanders, the majority of whom were Catholic, several of the diplomats who negotiated the Terms of Union between Newfoundland and Canada in 1947 were members of the Orange Order: Joseph Smallwood,[ citation needed ] P.W. Crummey [ citation needed ] (a past Newfoundland grand master) and F.G. Bradley (a past Newfoundland grand master). In fact, the Orange Order played an important role in bringing Newfoundland into Confederation.[ citation needed ]
Edward Frederick Clarke, a prominent editor and publisher, served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1886 to 1904 and as a Member of Parliament from 1896 to 1905. [6]
Orangeman[ citation needed ] Alexander James Muir (Ontario) wrote both the music and lyrics to the Canadian patriotic song "The Maple Leaf Forever" in 1867. The song was considered for the role of national anthem in the 1960s.
Angus Walters [ citation needed ] was the skipper of the Bluenose .
The 17th governor general, Lord Alexander of Tunis was reputedly a member of the Orange Order as noted by the Grand Orange Lodge of British America, [19] although the source reference notes that he was born in Ulster, which is incorrect.[ citation needed ]
Until the late 1960s, almost all mayors of Toronto were Orangemen with William Dennison being the last Orangeman to serve in office (1967-1972).[ citation needed ]
Hockey Hall of Fame inductee George Dudley was an Orangeman, and served 43 years as Midland, Ontario's town solicitor. [20]
Sir William Vallance Whiteway, was a politician and three time Premier of Newfoundland.
Sir Robert Thorburn was a British-born Newfoundland merchant and politician who served as the colony's Premier from 1885 to 1889.
Irish Canadians are Canadian citizens who have full or partial Irish heritage including descendants who trace their ancestry to immigrants who originated in Ireland. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived from 1825 to 1970, and at least half of those in the period from 1831 to 1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group, and comprised 24% of Canada's population. The 1931 national census counted 1,230,000 Canadians of Irish descent, half of whom lived in Ontario. About one-third were Catholic in 1931 and two-thirds Protestant.
The Royal Black Institution, the Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth, or simply the Black Institution, is a Protestant fraternal society.
The Twelfth is a primarily Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), which ensured a Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are plastered with union jacks and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit in loyalist neighbourhoods. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held in other countries where Orange lodges have been set up.
Leslie Howard Saunders was Mayor of Toronto, Canada, from 1954 to 1955 and the last member of the Orange Order to hold the position until William Dennison. He also served as Mayor of East York in 1976.
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. The Orange Order was founded by Ulster Protestants in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The all-island Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland was established in 1798. Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1689–1691). The Order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July, a public holiday in Northern Ireland.
Ogle Robert Gowan was a farmer, Orangeman, journalist and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.
William Henry Boulton was a lawyer and political figure in Canada West. He served as Mayor of Toronto from 1845 to 1847, and in 1858, where in the position he was considered "a colourful figure with varied interests" - likely due to his seemingly polar opposite influences in office: "sympathies for Family Compact traditions" and the inherent righteousness of the Church of England juxtaposed to elective institutions, the "rep-by-pop" system, and his interests in republicanism and "popularism".
The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, or Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland, Orange Order in Scotland, The Orange Order is the oldest and biggest Protestant fraternity in Scotland. The Loyal Orange Institution was an official participant in the 2014 independence referendum. Its headquarters are in Motherwell, having previously been in Bridgeton, Glasgow with 15,000 members in the Scottish Lowlands.
Francis Henry Medcalf was a Canadian millwright, iron founder, and Mayor of Toronto during the periods 1864–1866 and 1874–1875. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.
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. Observers have accused the Orange Order of being a sectarian organisation, due to its goals and its exclusion of Roman Catholics and close relatives of Catholics as members. The Order has a substantial fraternal and benevolent component.
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant marches each summer, but has a significant Catholic minority. The Orange Order insists that it should be allowed to march its traditional route to and from Drumcree Church on the Sunday before the Twelfth of July. However, most of this route is through the mainly Catholic/Irish nationalist part of town. The residents, who see the march as sectarian, triumphalist and supremacist, have sought to ban it from their area. The Orangemen see this as an attack on their traditions; they had marched the route since 1807, when the area was mostly farmland.
Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 6, 1954. Incumbent mayor Leslie Saunders was defeated by Nathan Phillips in a close contest.
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 Ireland. The parades typically build up to 12 July celebrations marking Prince William of Orange's victory over King James II & VII at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from the loose organization of medieval masons working in the medieval building industry.
Scottish-Irish Canadians or Scots-Irish Canadians are those who are Ulster Scots or those who have Ulster Scots ancestry and live in or were born in Canada. Ulster Scots are Lowland Scots people and Northern English people who immigrated to the Irish Province of Ulster from the early 17th century after the accession of James I to the English throne. This was known as the Plantation of Ulster.
Samuel Sherwood was High Constable of the Toronto Police Department from 1852 to 1859. A tavern owner with ties to the Tory Family Compact, his brother, Henry Sherwood was Mayor of Toronto and then Premier of Canada West in the 1840s. According to Conyngham Crawford Taylor, Samuel Sherwood was “a quiet, good-natured man, who did not insist on any strict regulations as to the dress or discipline of the men. They wore a uniform, but without uniformity, except in one respect—they were universally slovenly.” His stewardship of the police force was accordingly lax. Most officers were Orangemen, at a time when Toronto was riven by religious sectarianism between the more affluent Protestant majority and the poorer Catholic minority, and showed favouritism to other members of the Orange Order, even to the point of joining them in brawling with Catholics in the six major instances of sectarian rioting between 1852 and 1858. In March 1858, Sherwood himself refused to testify against a fellow Orangeman implicated in rioting at the St Patrick's Day parade.
The Ku Klux Klan is an organization that expanded operations into Canada, based on the second Ku Klux Klan established in the United States in 1915. It operated as a fraternity, with chapters established in parts of Canada throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. The first registered provincial chapter was registered in Toronto in 1925 by two Americans and a Canadian. The organization was most successful in Saskatchewan, where it briefly influenced political activity and whose membership included a member of Parliament, Walter Davy Cowan.
Robert Lindsay Crawford (1868–1945) was an Irish Protestant politician and journalist who shifted in his loyalties from Unionism and the Orange Order to the Irish Free State. He was a co-founder of the Independent Orange Order through which he hoped to promote Irish reconciliation and democracy. Later he became a committed Irish nationalist mobilizing support in Canada for Irish self-determination and serving the new Irish state as its trade representative and consul in New York City.
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