It would be the hope of the Orange Institution that as the troubles came to an end Orange Order parades can once again enjoy the support of both sections of the community in the spirit of tolerance and parity of esteem.

It has frequently happened to me to traverse many miles of the country on the night of the Twelfth of July and I can safely assert that I invariably found the roads more quiet on that night than on any other. William Blacker, 1797

1796 – First Twelfth parades held at a number of venues including Lurgan, Portadown and Waringstown. The Northern Star reports that a Mr M’Murdie, an Orangeman, died of stab wounds following clashes with the militia in Aghalee .

Seven months earlier, the Governor of Armagh, Lord Gosford, spoke to a meeting of magistrates about the activities of the newly formed Orange Order:

“It is no secret that a persecution is now raging in this country … the only crime is … profession of the Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges …” .

1797 – 14 people are killed in violence during an Orange parade in Stewartstown , Co. Tyrone.

1813 – An Orange procession attempts to parade down Hercules Street (later Royal Avenue) in Belfast, then a narrow lane and the first ‘identifiable Catholic neighbourhood’ in the city. In the resultant violence four men die. The prosecutor in a subsequent trial notes that the Orange Order, “…had presumed to arrogate to themselves a title to exclusive loyalty … [but] … whatsoever be their professions, tend to disturb the public peace” .

1814 – The Apprentice Boys of Derry Club, precursor of the present organisation, is founded.

1818 – A number of people are injured during disturbances at an Orange parade in Kilrea, Co Derry. In Liverpool Orangemen attempt to burn effigies of the Pope and the Cardinal outside the Catholic Cathedral but are stopped by the Mayor .

1822 – Fighting breaks out following an Orange parade in Middletown, Co Armagh. One man, Patrick Grimley, is killed. In Derry the Apprentice Boys parade is attacked. Tension in the city is linked to Catholic frustration at their continued exclusion from local political power and the growing campaign for Catholic Emancipation.

1823 – The British Government puts restrictions on ‘popular societies’ (including the Catholic Association) curbing the Orange Order and its parades. It becomes illegal for the Order to administer oaths. As a consequence the Order is dissolved and reconstituted. Trouble is reported at the Twelfth parade in Killyleagh, Co Down.

1824 – Serious disturbances occur at Twelfth parades in Belfast, Donaghadee, Downpatrick, Dromore and Newry.

1825 – Sectarian confrontations follow Orange parades in Belfast. The Grand Lodge of the Orange Order dissolves itself in response to the Unlawful Societies Act. Nevertheless in Portadown and elsewhere Orangemen defy the law and continue to parade.

1827 – Portadown Orangemen again defy the law and some 5000 march in the town.

1828 – The Duke of Cumberland, Imperial Grand Master, in a letter to the Earl of Enniskillen, Deputy Grand Master, warns of the danger that “our public processions” could lead to “… a breach of the public peace …” which could result in a ban on processions. The Belfast parades are canceled but illegal processions take place in several areas.

1829 – The Grand Master tries unsuccessfully to cancel that year’s parades but he is ignored. Trouble occurs in Armagh, Bellaghy, Comber, Greyabbey, Glenoe, Portadown and Strabane where 3 people are seriously injured. In Stewartstown one man dies while seven are killed in disturbances in Clones and eight are killed in Enniskillen. In Maghera, Co Derry, several Catholic homes were burnt down prompting the intervention of the military who arrest a number of Orangemen. At their court appearance the men are rescued by a large mob. The magistrate instructs the police not to intervene.

1830 – The Lord Lieutenant bans all processions but this is again ignored. In Maghery, Co Armagh “fierce fighting” breaks out between Orangemen and Catholic villagers “despite the presence of a large force of police and military”. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s clashes occur on the Twelfth in Belfast between the Catholic ‘Pound boys’ and the Protestant ‘Sandy Row boys’. In Scotland regular clashes occur between Orangemen and Irish immigrants.

1832 – Belfast Orangemen celebrate a Tory election victory with an attack on a Catholic area whereupon fierce and prolonged fighting” follows. Four people die. The Northern Whig describes a prominent Orangeman, a Mr Boyce, addressing his followers from the window of the Tories’ committee room where they were reassured that “the Protestants had gained this victory, and that they would continue to maintain their ascendancy”. The Party Processions Act comes into force. Those attempting to parade are prosecuted.

1833 – In Tandragee an effigy is burnt of a local magistrate who had served warrants on Orangemen and rioting ensues during the Orange parade. Illegal parades by Portadown Orangemen continue and Ballyhagan, a Catholic area near Portadown, is besieged by Orangemen who attack a number of homes.

1835 – A riot erupts on the Twelfth following a controversy over an Orange arch in the Sandy Row area of Belfast. Meanwhile Hugh Donnelly, a Catholic from Drumcree, is killed in a confrontation with Orangemen near Portadown. In evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee set up to investigate the Orange Order an Armagh Magistrate, William Hancock, a Protestant, said:

“For some time past the peaceable inhabitants of the parish of Drumcree have been insulted and outraged by large bodies of Orangemen parading the highways, playing party tunes, firing shots, and using the most opprobrious epithets they could invent…a body of Orangemen marched through the town and proceeded to Drumcree church, passing by the Catholic chapel though it was a considerable distance out of their way.”

1836 – The military use six pieces of artillery (!) to help quell trouble at an Orange gathering at Scarva. In Derry party parades are banned.

1845 – Following the lifting of the Party Processions Act Orange parades again take place in many areas.

1846 – Trouble flares at Orange parades in Armagh and Newry.

1848 – Trouble flares between Orangemen and those taking part in St Patrick’s Day parades in Downpatrick, Ballynahinch and Hilltown.

1849 – St Patrick’s Day parades are again a source of conflict between Orangemen and marchers in Castlewellan and Crossgar. An Orange demonstration is hosted by Lord Roden, Grand Master of the Orange Order, on his estate at Tullymore, near Castlewellan, County Down. Roden launches a fiery verbal attack on Catholicism. Catholics, seeking revenge for the St Patrick’s Day incidents, attack Orangemen at nearby Dolly’s Brae. Six, eight or thirty Catholics are reported killed in the subsequent clashes with Orangemen and the militia. The event passes into Orange folklore. An official commission of inquiry condemns Roden’s role and he is forced to resign as justice of the peace but remains Grand Master.

1850 – As a result of the clashes at Dolly’s Brae the Party Processions Act is renewed forbidding public displays and demonstrations.

1857 – Following serious disturbances in Belfast the commissioners of the Belfast Riot Inquiry rule that the “originating cause of the riots” were the July 12 orange parades. The Inquiry went on to state that the “celebration of that festival” was used “to remind one party of the triumphs of their ancestors over those of the other, and to inculcate the feelings of Protestant superiority over their Roman Catholic neighbours”.

1860 – One man dies and 15 others are wounded when Orangemen open fire on Catholics in Derrymacash, between Lurgan and Portadown, during an Orange parade. The Party Processions Act was subsequently amended to prohibit the carrying of arms on parades but this had “little or no effect” where the judiciary, military and police “were either openly sympathetic to, or intimidated by, Orangeism”.

1866 – In Portadown three Orangemen are arrested and charged with “meeting and parading in the public road, wearing party colours, and playing music, which was calculated to provoke animosity between different classes of Her Majesty’s subjects”.

1867 – William Johnson of Ballykilbeg, a legendary figure in Orangeism, challenges the ban on parades by leading a large group of Orangemen from Newtownards to Bangor in “a display of Orange strength against the growing menace of Fenianism”. As a result he is convicted and serves time in Downpatrick gaol. Johnson was a fascinating figure who went on to defend the rights of Catholics to march. By this stage a massive campaign of civil disobedience had made the ban unworkable. With the collapse of the Party Processions Act the British Administration in Ireland institute a policy of “equal marching rights”. Parades are allowed to proceed but are restricted to non-contentious areas. In west Ulster Orange parades are revived “in protest at the laxity of Dublin Castle in dealing with sympathy demonstrations for the Fenians.” An attempted Orange procession at Muff Glen near Derry is blocked by heavily armed Catholics.

1869 – Following rioting in the city the Londonderry Riot Inquiry notes that “the character of the demonstrations (by the Apprentice Boys) has certainly undergone a change, and, among the Catholic lower classes at least, they are now regarded with the most hostile feelings”. The Inquiry recommended that Orange parades be banned since they represented “the proudest recollection of one section” and “bitter humiliation” for the other. The ‘Shutting of the Gates’ ceremony in December, organised by the Apprentice Boys , sparks a counter-demonstration of several thousand people.

1870 – In Derry a campaign of opposition to Apprentice Boys parades continues. In August a nationalist counter-demonstration to the Apprentice Boys parade is banned and “serious rioting ensued”. The controversy over parades continued. Lacy notes that in Derry: “from 1877 onwards the determination of Catholics to have the same rights as Protestants to march inside the walled city was increasingly asserted. The early 1880s were marked by many confrontations over marches and there was increased sectarian tension”.

1883 – Trouble flares in Donegal town when an Orange counter-demonstration was organised in opposition to Michael Davitt, one of the leaders of the Land League who was to address a meeting in the town. In Derry city “two persons receive wounds of a serious character” in clashes between Bogsiders and Apprentice Boys who have taken over the Town Hall in the Diamond during a visit to the city by the nationalist mayor of Dublin.

1886 – The Orange Order mobilises in opposition to Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill with parades throughout the North. In a letter Randolf Churchill incites Orangemen and Unionists to violence with the call “Ulster will fight (Home Rule), Ulster will be right.” Rioting follows the defeat of the Bill in June and 12 July Orange parades lead predictably to disturbances that are “probably the worst outbreak of violence that century”. By mid September some 50 people had lost their lives and thousands had been driven from their workplaces and homes.

The growing political role of the Orange Order in the 1880s in co-ordinating the anti-Home Rule campaign had important implications for that most public manifestation of Orangeism, i.e. the parade. The middle classes and the gentry flocked back to the Loyal Orders having deserted them in the early decades of the century as disreputable “lawless banditti”. Institutional links with the emerging Ulster Unionist Party were developed and the Orders became more centralised and focused political machines. Mass mobilisations were co-ordinated in pursuit of a clear goal ; the defeat of Home Rule which the Orders claimed equalled “Rome Rule”. Annual skirmishes on the highways and byways of Ulster, though they still occurred, were no longer seen as appropriate to an organisation which had regained its respectability.