[4] In the early 17th century, following the Nine Years' War, the Irish province of Ulster was colonised by Protestant settlers from Britain.

In 1798, Protestant British soldiers from Scotland were sent to Ireland to help suppress an Irish republican rebellion.

[8] Scottish Orange Order leaders forged informal alliances with "anti-Popery" Tories to oppose Catholic emancipation in 1829 and Parliamentary Reform in 1831.

From these County Grand Lodges Orangemen and Orangewomen are elected to the organisation's governing body.

[11] The Orange Order, after decades of decline in Scotland, made a short-lived recovery in its membership between 2006–09.

[12] In 2012, as a response to the upcoming 2014 Scottish independence referendum the Orange Order of Scotland set up its own group called British Together to campaign for a "No" vote, stating that; "It will come as no surprise to most that the Orange Order in Scotland is fervently opposed to the break-up of the United Kingdom.

There have long been links between the Orange Order in Scotland and Protestant Ulster loyalists in Northern Ireland.

[20][21] In the early years of The Troubles, the Order's Grand Secretary in Scotland, John Adam, toured Orange lodges for volunteers to "go to Ulster to fight".

[24] In 1976, senior Scottish Orangemen tried to expel him after he admitted on television that he was a UDA leader and had smuggled weapons to Northern Ireland.

[24][25][26] Following this, the Scottish Grand Lodge issued a resolution condemning all militant groups who "seek to usurp the law".

His successor as Scottish UDA commander, James Hamilton, was also an Orangeman and had been auditor of the Ayrshire Grand Lodge.