The origins of Scottish Orangeism are traceable back to the Irish Rebellion of 1798, inspired by the French Revolution. Scottish Soldiers serving with Fencible regiments, as well as the Regulars, were sent to Ireland to assist in defending against the rebellion. In this task they often served alongside Orange Yeomanry, the Order having been formed less than three years previously to band together loyal men in mutual protection of religion and country.

The first Charter or Warrants within the Scottish regiments were granted to the Breadalbane Fencibles (No.346) and the Argyll Fencibles (No.421) between March and May 1798. The Ayr, Tay, Dumfries, North Lowland and Caithness Fencibles likewise took out Orange Warrants over the ensuing months, and around the turn of the century the Elgin Regiment, the Midlothian Dragoons, and the Duke of York's Highlanders also obtained authority to hold Orange Lodges in their regiments. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Highland Light Infantry, King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Scots Greys and the Cameron Highlanders also obtained Warrants, in some cases utilising a system of 'duplicates' whereby one military Lodge granted authority to another until full authority could be obtained from the Grand Lodge.

There is no record of any civilian Lodge warrants being issued for Scotland by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in its first register (1798-1819), and the Lodges known to be working in Ayrshire, Glasgow, and Argyllshire in 1807 all had military origins. Civilian Lodges composed mainly of Ulstermen came in a later phase of development and the notion of the importation of Orangeism into Scotland by migrating Ulstermen is one of the most enduring popular misconception of all time. In fact it was more of a case of returning soldiers bringing Orangeism home with them and opening Scottish Lodges.

At the close of the Napoleonic Wars several other Lodges were settled, and by the late 1820's there were at least 40 Lodges established in Scotland, mainly in Ayrshire, Glasgow and Galloway but also as far north as Dundee, to the east at Dalkeith and Musselburgh as well as in the capital of Scotland itself. By the 1830's full Districts had been established at Airdrie, Ayr, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Maybole, Paisley and Stranraer.

All of these Lodges came gradually under the control of the Grand Lodge of England after it was formed in Manchester in 1808 and from 1827 when the headquarters moved to London under the Royal Patronage, the Order became known as the Loyal Orange Institution of Great Britain. Under Royal Patronage efforts were made by the Order's leadership, in alliance with the Ultra - Tories, many of them Orange Peers to oppose Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and Reform of Parliament in 1831 but to no avail. Their combined efforts, however, led opponents of the Order to call for an enquiry into the Orders activities, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to carry out this task. Its findings were embarrassing to the Grand Master, the Duke of Cumberland, for he was implicated in the issuing of warrants for Military Lodges against the orders of Horse Guards, and as a Field Marshall he could not be seen to contradict military orders. He immediately revoked all military warrants, but under pressure from the King he took the ultimate step early in 1836 and officially dissolved the Orange Order both in Britain and Ireland.

FRAGMENTATION

Inevitably this caused great unrest in the ranks, not to mention confusion and the fragmentation of the remnants of the Order. Lodges in Scotland were also divided, some joining the Grand Protestant Confederation which was formed in place of Orangeism at Halifax in 1836. Others remained outwith any constituted authority for a time, later enrolling with the Grand Lodge of Ulster in 1846 whilst some Lodges united immediately and formed the Grand Orange Association of Scotland in 1836. Due to transport difficulties and this structural fragmentation, the Order was weak and at times lacked control. July processions were common in Ayrshire, Wigtownshire and even in Dundee in the 1840's, but they often came under attack from Ribbonmen. They nevertheless maintained a public awareness that Orangeism was alive in parts of Scotland.

This fragmentation continued until 1850 when the re-establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England inspired the formation of several  societies in Scotland to defend Protestantism against the new militancy from the Vatican. It also appears to have inspired Orangemen of Scotland to seek unity and as far a is known all the Lodges in Scotland thereafter enrolled with the Grand Protestant Association of Loyal Orangemen of Great Britain, which had emerged from the Confederation. With a larger membership the GPALOGB organised a system of Provincial Grand Lodges in 1851, and in 1853, at a meeting held in Edinburgh, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Scotland was raised to the full status of a Grand Lodge, with Dr Robert Clements deputising for the Earl of Eniskillen who was titular head until the office of Imperial Grand Master was brought into use on the formation of the Imperial Orange Council in 1866/7.

Under the leadership of Dr Clements and his co-adjutor and successor Dr John Leech, the Order in Scotland grew in maturity and developed an increasing political awareness as it came to terms with the need to defend our beliefs at the Polls. In the mid 1850's there were only around 10 or 11 District Lodges, at Airdrie (No.1), Ayr (No.2), Glasgow (No.3), Maybole (No.4), Midlothian (No.5), Paisley (No.6), Stranraer (No.7), Greenock (No.8), Kilmarnock (No.9), Dundee (No.10), but with the re-organisation in Ayrshire and expansions in Paisley, Dalry and Partick by 1860 this had risen to 15 and by the end of Dr Leech's period of office 28 District Lodges were fully functional under the Association, firther additions being at Wishaw (No.16), Glasgow (Nos. 17&24), Johnstone (No.18), Port-Glasgow (No.19), Rutherglen (No.20), Parkhead (No.21), Coatbridge (No.22), Stevenson (No.23), Dundee (No.25), Armadale (No.26), Dumbarton (No.27) and Thornliebank (No.28).

SCHISM

The positive trend has to be offset against an unfortunately serious setback in 1859 when the Order split apart over the 'right to march'. During the 1840's and the 1850's Twelfth of July processions had become a regular feature in several parts of the country, but as previously mentioned, these local ventures often attracted opposition and skirmishes with Ribbonmen were not unknown. This problem continued on an even greater scale when the combined strength of the Order began to show itself. Coatbridge Orangemen were seriously assaulted on returning from the first Grand Lodge organised Twelfth at Moodiesburn in 1857. A procession planned for Inchinnan in 1858 had to be called off when it was prohibited by the Sheriff and when he failed to do so the following year a local demonstration at Linwood ended with loss of life. The Sheriffs of Ayr, Lanark and Renfrew subsequently ordered an effective ten year ban, a decision which when acquiesced in by the Grand Lodge, led to serious division when some Lodges left to join the Liverpool based 'Institution of Great Britain.'

In spite of this disunity both branches of the Order continued to grow, in part due to the ever increasing flow of Ulstermen into Scotland who boosted the numbers in existing Lodges and formed new ones, but also as native Scots reacted to the growing number of Roman Catholics competing for jobs in the industrial centres, and as Catholics were granted more and more concessions by successive Liberal Governments. As well as further growth in the Association - which saw the formation of new districts at Bellshill (No.8), Kilmarnock (No.29), Harthill (No.30), Bridgeton (No.31), Slamannan (No.32), Carluke (No.33), Greenock (No.34) and Stonehouse (No.35) in the years leading up to 1876 - eight District Lodges also developed within the Institution in Ayrshire, Dumbartonshire, Glasgow (2), Greenock (2), Edinburgh, Partick and in 1871 a Provincial Grand Lodge of the 'Institution of Great Britain' was formed in Scotland.

The threats of the Fenians in 1866 and 1867, together with the Liberal Prime Minister's (Gladstone), decision to attack the established Churches and its success in disestablishing the Church of Ireland, led Scot and Ulsterman alike to defend their common Protestantism through the medium of the Orange Order. It is no coincidence that the membership of the Scottish Orange Order in the mid-Victorian era peaked in the years between 1874 and 1878, the former being the year in which the Patronage Act of 1714 (for long a grievance of Presbyterians) was abolished, and the latter the year in which the Roman Catholic hierarchy was re-established in Scotland.

RE-UNION

In the middle of this period -1876, the Order in Scotland was re-united and the Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland, as it is constituted to this day, was formed. It had taken several years to accomplish however and negotiations can be traced back to the period following the Fenian crisis.

A new crisis reared itself in the 1886 when, as a further measure to appease Catholic opinion, Gladstone proposed that Ireland get Home Rule and encouraged calls for Scottish Home Rule to begin too. The combined strength of the Order throughout the Kingdom was mobilised and together with Unionist allies fought the measures tooth and nail until the early years of last Century.

Under the successive of four Grand Masters, George McLeod, Chalmers Izzet Paton, Col. Edward Sanderson and Major Hugh R. Wallace of Maybole the Order came into a close alliance with the Conservatives, Orange Brethren in many cases being the catalysts for the formation of local Consrvative Associations, initially through the medium of Working Men's Conservative Associations in places like Dalry, Dundee, Glasgow and Wishaw, but also directly in places like Rutherglen, Paisley, Coatbridge and Govan. Over the course of the last quarter of the 18th Century, Several prominent Conservative politicians and some peers or the realm, including Lord Ruthven and the Earl of Hopetoun, joined the Order in Scotland.

A NEW CENTURY

The Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland therefore entered the new century with a particular optimism, although a series of miners' strikes and economic recessions caused membership levels to fall off a little. The Institution also lacked decisive leadership at the end of the 19th century when Major Wallace resigned and left the membership in the hands of two Ayrshire men who had been able deputies, but were by no means prominent citizens: William Young, a tailor who hailed originally from Maybole and William McCormick, a draper and a local magistrate in his home town of Irvine.

In 1910, however, a new Grand Master was appointed in the person of the Rev. David Ness of Whiteinch, a Church of Scotland minister who was not afraid to express a political preference, although always one to put his Protestantism first. His leadership qualities were also recognised when he was elected as Imperial President in 1920. During his Grand Mastership a new headquarters were constructed at Cathedral Street, Glasgow, just prior to the First World War. The Great War took its toll, however, many Orangemen losing their lives in the service of King and Country.

Another significant stride forward in the early years of Ness's term in office was the encouragement given to the Ladies Section formed late in 1909 after many years of campaigning, and a fresh impetus given to the Juvenile movement which begun to gain in momentum and membership as early as 1876 and continued to increase its numbers with more and more Lodges functioning in the preceding years.

When the war ended a new Education Act was introduced in 1918 which brought Roman Catholic education under State sponsorship and remains a thorn in the flesh to this day. This act fully legitimised religious apartheid in Scottish schools by enriching the Catholic Church by paying the full price for its School buildings. This act was never properly debated due to the War, and was passed into Law under emergency war-time measures by the Liberals, who also resurrected the Home Rule issue which had been put on hold due to the War.

These issues saw Protestants and Unionists flock to join the Orange Order, and unprecedented growth marked the 1920's and 30's, both during the latter years of David Ness's term of office and that of his successor Lt. Colonel A. Douglas McInnes-Shaw, M.P. The Order's Annual Divine Service was also staged for the first time in Glasgow Cathedral in 1933, courtesy of its Minister and Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rev. Lauchlan McLean Watt, where we returned to celebrate 200 years of Scottish Orangeism. These however were the peak years of influence, both in Church and in State. In this period the Secretary for Scotland, Sir John Gilmour M.P. was also in membership of the Order and as Home Secretary in the 1930's is the highest ranking member of any British Government to have been an Orangeman. Other Scots Orangemen in Parliament, however, with the Grand Master William P. Templeton (North Lanarkshire), Sir John Baird (Ayr Burghs) and Lt. Col. Sir John Baird was elevated to the House of Peers as Lord Stonehaven.

In spite of this Parliamentary presence, the Order broke its formal ties with the Unionist Party in 1922 over the Anglo-Irish settlement of 1921 which was seen as a betrayal of Southern Protestants and it briefly experimented with its own Orange and Protestant Political Party, actually succeeding in getting a member, Hughie Ferguson, elected to Parliament in the Motherwell by-election of 1923. Under McInnes Shaw and his Grand Secretary Joseph Cloughley, the Order was encouraged to abandon this strategy and again support the Unionists, but the relationship was never again as close.

POST WAR REALITIES

McInnes-Shaw, who was later created a Knight of the Realm in the Coronation honours list, remained in office until the close of the Second World War in spite of being on active service throughout but in 1946 the mantle of leadership passed to a series of Institution Men who serve the Order ably but unspectacularly until the 1950's when the 'Tell Scotland' movement was successful in increasing religious fervour in the country and the 'Bishops in the Kirk' issue brought the charismatic but ultimately destructive character of the Rev. Allan G. Hasson to the fore.

The 1970's marked the beginnings of a recovery and under the Grand Mastership of Thomas Orr and his Grand Secretary, David Bryce, the Grand Lodge was re-organised and several new District Lodges established, not least in the North-Eastern belt covered by the loosely defined 'Highland District'.

The Order was also directed towards opposing the Romeward tendencies of the Kirk, and mounted a vigorous campaign in the early 1970's culminating in a successful petitioning of the Kirk's General Assembly in 1976 which resulted in the publication of a report outlining the differences between the Kirk and Rome. As the trend continues apace this remains a major concern  of the present leadership - the Grand Master, Ian Wilson, is a Kirk Elder - and together with a fraternal concern for our Sisters and Brethren in Northern Ireland, these matter features regularly in the Order's external considerations.

As we pass by our 200th year, the decision of the Scottish people to opt for a devolved parliament also holds out a challenge to the order to adapt its Unionist principles to meet the new situation, but firmly rooted in Scottish soil as it is, the Order will play its part as a distinctly Scottish and British Institution. Particularly pleasing is the formation of a new District Lodge No.53 for Argyll and the Isles, an oblique tribute to the pioneering Argyll Fencibles. These issues will not be lost sight of in the midst of celebration and our Sisters and Brethren 100 years from now will be able to look back and realise that we kept the 'Orange Flag flying high' in New Britain.

The Orange Order has now been part of Scottish life and culture for over 200 years. That makes it a well established organisation. Yet, with an estimated membership of 50,000 and investment in a new headquarters and heritage centre, the Order is remarkably more buoyant than most religious denominations and bodies in Scotland today