As the title suggests, this piece of legislation was an attempt to embarrass and annoy the Catholic Church by requiring that its convents (which militant Protestants suspected of exploiting the labour and the sexuality of young girls) be subject to government inspection.

Although popular enough to win the Belfast South Westminster seat previously held by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg (a Protestant hero since his prison sentence in 1867 for defying a parades ban) Sloan was disciplined by Grand Lodge for embarrassing a grandee and led a breakaway.

[2] The organisation enjoyed steady growth, mainly confined to working-class Belfast and the liberal, pro-tenant right redoubt of north Antrim.

Ultimately, Crawford's move toward an embrace for Irish Home Rule led to a break with Sloan and the Order's more determined unionist membership.

This degree worked within the Independent Orange, is, in essence, the same as that employed by the Royal Arch Purple Chapter, although like any distinct organisation, it has some slight differences.

The Independent Orange Order was represented by Free Presbyterian minister David McConaghie, then a prominent figure in both the DUP[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and the Caleb Foundation, an evangelical pressure group.

[17] The annual Independent Orange Order demonstration on the Twelfth of July was in the past usually addressed by Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, although he was not a member.