28 November 1781, in the King’s Arms tavern, near Oxford Street, some gentlemen decided to create an association basing the name and some of the iconography upon what was then believed about the ancient druids.

The first held that it was created by a group of friends who were merchants and artisans who liked to regularly meet at the King's Arms tavern just off Oxford Street in the West End of London.

The second story held that the group of friends who met at the King's Arms decided, after the death of one of their number, to form an organisation to honour his memory by raising a fund to provide his bereaved mother with enough money to live.

However, in 1794, with the French Revolution causing panic amongst many in the British government, who feared a revolutionary movement at home, great suspicion was cast upon secretive societies, and due to this a number of the lodges shut down, including that in Westminster.

These benefit clubs collected membership fees into a central fund that they used to care for members who were too ill to work, or unable to pay for their funerals.

After World War II, membership in fraternal organisations declined and the UAOD and OD eventually ceased to operate in the UK.

It is the earliest known English group to be founded based upon the iconography of the ancient druids, who were priest-like figures in Iron Age Celtic paganism.