Ruth Edwards - The Faithful Tribe - An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions

The first four officers are given a badge (a special collarette) and a sign of office (e.g. gavel, pen) and ushered to a special chair; the chaplain has a special chair too and is given a collar of office; the lecturers are given regalia; the chairman of committee is given a badge and the members of the committee a badge and sign of office; the tyler gets a badge and sign and is conducted to his post.

You start out as a member of a private lodge, and can then progress up through district and county to Grand Lodge. If you are one of those people who immerse themselves in the institution, you could hold four offices simultaneously, say as Worshipful Master of your private lodge, district secretary, county grand treasurer and deputy Grand Master.

There are very few Orangemen who don’t think the Order is top-heavy with chiefs, but that is part of the fun. It means that almost anyone can acquire a title which makes him a man of some consequence.

The official Order of Business at a lodge meeting is as follows:

1. The chair to be taken by the superior or senior officer present.

2. The deputy chair by the next in order.

Here is a typical ritualized exchange:

WORSHIPFUL MASTER: Bro. Deputy Master, what is the first duty of Bro. Orangemen when opening a Lodge?

DEPUTY MASTER: To see that the Lodge is Tyled, and that all present are in good standing and entitled to remain.

WORSHIPFUL MASTER: See the duty performed.

DEPUTY MASTER: Bro. Inside Tyler, see that the Lodge is Tyled.

3. A Tyler, or Tylers, to be appointed to keep the door.

4. A Steward, or Stewards, to preserve order.

5. The opening prayer to be read by the [clerical] Chaplain (if present), the brethren standing.

Gracious and Almighty God, Who in all ages hast shown Thy Almighty power in protecting righteous Sovereigns and States, we yield Thee hearty thanks for the merciful preservation of Thy true religion, hitherto, against the designs of its enemies.

We praise Thee for raising up for our deliverance from tyranny and arbitrary power, Thy servant, King William III, Prince of Orange; and we beseech Thee, for Thy honour and Thy Name’s sake, for ever to frustrate all the designs of wicked men against Thy holy religion, and not to suffer its enemies to triumph; defeat their counsels, abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices.

Deliver, we pray Thee, the members of the Church of Rome from error and false doctrine, and lead them to the truth of that Holy Word which is able to make them wise unto salvation. Grant, O Lord, that Thy Holy Spirit may guide and direct our deliberations, so that in all our words and works we may glorify Thy Holy Name.

We beseech Thee to bless every member of the Orange Institution with all Christian virtues. Bless us with brotherly love and loyalty. Take away everything that may hinder our godly union and concord, so that we may henceforth be of one heart and of one soul united in holy bonds of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is followed by the Lord’s Prayer.

6. A portion of Scripture to be read, the brethren standing.

7. Proceedings of last meeting to be read and confirmed.

8. General qualifications to be read.

9. Admission of candidates of last meeting.

10. Preliminary communications to be read or made.

11. Dues and payments to be collected.

12. Appeals relating to election to be heard and decided.

13. Election of officers.

14. Letters and other communications (if any) to be read.

15. Business arising out of either of the latter.

16. Election of candidates according to 2nd and 3rd Law.

17. Appeals (not against elections) to be heard and disposed of.

18. Reports from inferior Lodges to be heard and decided.

19. General business to be transacted.

20. Names of candidates for next meeting to be read.

21. The closing prayer to be read in the same manner as the opening one.

AT MEETINGS FOR ELECTIONS

NOTE: Articles 8, 9, 16 and 20 to be observed in Private Lodges only; Articles 12, 17 and 18 to be observed in all except Private Lodges. The others to be observed in all Lodges.

Here is the brief closing ceremony:

WORSHIPFUL MASTER: Deputy Master and brethren, stand to order and assist me to close this lodge.

CHAPLAIN: Almighty God, Who art a strong tower of defence unto Thy servants against the face of their enemies, we humbly beseech Thee of Thy mercy to deliver us from those great and imminent dangers by which we are now encompassed. O Lord, give us not up as a prey to our enemies, but continue to protect Thy true religion against the designs of those who seek to overthrow it, so that all the world may know that Thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WORSHIPFUL MASTER: Deputy Master and brethren, I declare this Lodge closed until our next regular meeting, except in case of emergency, of which members shall receive, under Seal, due and timely notice.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

CHAPLAIN: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen.

The rituals and ceremonies are comforting for many Orangemen; the business part of the meeting drives many of them mad. ‘Two hours of nonsense,’ reported one to me, ‘on when the spring-cleaning would be done, because of the complication of there being a children’s crèche in the lodge in the mornings. Everyone had a point of view. It was eventually decided to wait till Christmas when there wouldn’t be a crèche. But then there was a problem with the normal date of the annual service. There was much carry-on about which day and what time. It was eventually decided to leave the date as it was. Are these,’ he added, ‘the people that are supposed to hold the line when the whole place is going up in flames? If the Provies only knew.’

‘There’s no doubt about it that the meetings are boring for young people,’ said another. ‘What young fella of eighteen or nineteen years of age wants to go there on a Friday night? Some of the chairmen, they’re mebbe sixty or seventy and they’ve nowhere else to go and they’d like it to go on to half ten or eleven at night. I remember one particular night there wasn’t any business as such and the chairman got out the last three electricity bills to have a discussion. We could have read the minutes of the last one, had a ten-minute chat and gone home. I laughed that night.’

Most lodges try to achieve consensual agreement before anything is voted on, so everyone has a chance to get a word in. The more people who do, the more the issues become muddied.

‘Get the business over quickly,’ said a competent master. ‘Then tea-bags, sugar, boil the kettle, have a drop of tea. Bring a couple of packets of biscuits, a few buns, and sit around for an hour or so and have a yarn. That’s what makes a lodge, you know. A drop of tea and a bit of fellowship. It makes the night, you know.’

It wouldn’t do in the Shankill Road, where the alcohol would be brought out after the closing ceremony, but the principle is the same.

So, too, is the way the brethren look after each other. All the loyal institutions contribute to an organization helping orphans of Orangemen or women; when a brother or sister dies, their lodge will help out financially and practically and there will be help during bad times. There is also a strong sense of loyalty to the disabled. Family values being what they are in Northern Ireland, the mentally and physically handicapped are far more a part of their family and the community than in more modern and secular societies and there are Orangemen with mental and physical disabilities. Sandy Row, No. 5 District, for instance, is passionately proud of ‘Oor Wee Wullie’, William Bloomer, who joined a junior lodge in 1982, ‘when he began to play a full part in all the activities of his junior lodge, including football. Wor. Bro. Eddie Wright was worried that the other boys in the lodge would not be sufficiently considerate of Billy, but in the event, their willingness to carry Billy, with his wheelchair, upstairs to the lodge room and down again amazed him. When the lodge went on parade, the members took turns to push Billy along in his wheelchair without any prompting from the senior members.’