[24] After the battle had ended, the Peep o' Days marched into Loughgall, and in the house of James Sloan they founded the Orange Order, which was to be a Protestant defence association made up of lodges.

[30] Irish nationalist historians Thomas A. Jackson and John Mitchel argued that the government's goal was to hinder the United Irishmen by fomenting sectarianism, thereby creating disunity and disorder under pretence of "passion for the Protestant religion".

[32] MP Thomas Knox wrote in August 1796 that "As for the Orangemen, we have rather a difficult card to play ... we must to a certain degree uphold them, for with all their licentiousness, on them we must rely for the preservation of our lives and properties should critical times occur".

Many Catholics supported the Act, but the Orange Order saw it as a threat to the "Protestant constitution" and 36 lodges in counties Armagh and Monaghan alone passed declarations opposing the Union.

One instance, publicised in a 7 October 1816 edition of the Boston Commercial Gazette, included the murder of a Catholic priest and several members of the congregation of Dumreilly parish in County Cavan on 25 May 1816.

[42] Under pressure from Joseph Hume, William Molesworth and Lord John Russell, the King indicated measures would have to be taken and the Duke of Cumberland was forced to dissolve the Orange lodges.

This was eventually lifted after a campaign of disobedience led by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg, Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution, a senior Orange fraternity.

However, its fortunes were revived in the 1880s after its embrace by the landlords in opposition to both the Irish Land League, presided over by nationalist leader Charles Stuart Parnell, and Home Rule.

[50][51][52][53] In response to Gladstone's first Irish Home Rule Bill 1886, Colonel Edward Saunderson, a landowner who had represented Cavan as a Liberal and who had ridiculed the order's "big drums",[54] donned an Orange sash.

Saunderson, who went on to lead the Irish Unionist Alliance at Westminster, had concluded that "the Orange society is alone capable of dealing with the condition of anarchy and rebellion which prevail in Ireland".

[66] Quite apart from participation in local tenant-right associations, they had reports of Orangemen in the west (in counties Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh and Tyrone) actually joining the national League.

[72] Thomas Sloan established the Independent lodges after he had been expelled by the Order for running as the nominee of the Belfast Protestant Association against the official unionist candidate, one of the city's largest millowners.

For at least some of his supporters, the split was a protest against what they saw as the co-optation of the Orange Order by unionist political leaders and their alignment with the interests of landlords and employers (the "fur coat brigade").

[83] (see The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922)) This self-governing entity within the United Kingdom was confirmed in its status under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, and in its borders by the Boundary Commission agreement of 1925.

[94] Each July from 1995 to 2000, the dispute drew worldwide attention as it sparked protests and violence throughout Northern Ireland, prompted a massive police/army operation, and threatened to derail the peace process.

[122] In the October 2010 issue of The Orange Standard, Grand Master Robert Saulters referred to 'dissident' Irish republican paramilitaries as the "Roman Catholic IRA".

[123] SDLP MLA John Dallat asked Justice Minister David Ford to find if Saulters had broken the hate speech laws.

[130] Some smaller villages such as Carrickmore, Cushendall, Rostrevor, Crossmaglen and Draperstown are not marched in at all and areas with a sizeable population like Coalisland and Dungiven have never been the host for a major Twelfth parade.

[136] Paul Butler, a prominent member of Sinn Féin, has said the arson is a "campaign against properties belonging to the Orange Order and other loyal institutions" by nationalists.

While William is the most frequent subject, other topics have included the Battle of the Somme (particularly the 36th (Ulster) Division's role in it), Saint Patrick (who the Order argues was not Roman Catholic), and the Protestant Reformation.

In the 1970s there was also a Belfast lodge called Oidhreacht Éireann (Ireland's Heritage) LOL 1303, which argued that the Irish language and Gaelic culture were not the exclusive property of Catholics or republicans.

[161] The banner of Old Boyne Island Heroes Orange lodge bears the names of John Bingham and Shankill Butcher Robert Bates, who were both members.

[162] Another Shankill Butcher, UDR soldier Eddie McIlwaine, was pictured taking part in an Orange march in 2003 with a bannerette of killed UVF member Brian Robinson (who himself was an Orangeman).

[164] On 12 July 1972, at least fifty masked and uniformed members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) escorted an Orange march into the Catholic area of Portadown,[98][165][166] saluting the Orangemen as they passed.

[169] When a July 1992 Orange march passed the scene of the Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting—in which the UDA killed five Catholic civilians—Orangemen shouted pro-UDA slogans and held aloft five fingers as a taunt to residents.

[182] Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright was frequently seen at Drumcree in the company of Harold Gracey, head of Portadown Orange Lodge.

[192] Addressing a 12 July demonstration in 2000, Orangeman and Democratic Unionist politician Jeffrey Donaldson said "It is essential that the Orange Order does not allow the paramilitaries to infiltrate its parades or hijack legitimate protests as a means of flaunting their aggression and engaging in displays of naked intimidation ...

[197] The Order takes as its basis the Open Bible and historical Reformed documents such as the Presbyterian Westminster Confession, Anglican 39 Articles and other Protestant creeds.

The Independent Orange Institution was formed in 1903 by Thomas Sloan, who opposed the main Order's domination by Unionist Party politicians and the upper classes.

[207] Initially unveiled with a competition for children to name their new mascot in November 2007 (it was nicknamed 'Sash Gordon' by several parts of the British media); at the official unveiling of the character's name in February 2008, Orange Order education officer David Scott said Diamond Dan was meant to represent the true values of the Order: "... the kind of person who offers his seat on a crowded bus to an elderly lady.