Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Meaning and Context of Northern England's Orange Order
- Chapter 2 The Development of Orangeism in Northern England
- Chapter 3 The Anatomy of Orangeism
- Chapter 4 ‘Trunks without Heads’? The Composition of Northern England's Orange Order
- Chapter 5 Marching, Meeting and Rioting: The Public Face of Orangeism
- Chapter 6 Money and Mutualism
- Chapter 7 ‘Heart, Pocket and Hand’: Unionist Politics and the Orange Order
- Chapter 8 An Orange Diaspora
- Bibliography
- Index
- Platesection
Chapter 5 - Marching, Meeting and Rioting: The Public Face of Orangeism
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Meaning and Context of Northern England's Orange Order
- Chapter 2 The Development of Orangeism in Northern England
- Chapter 3 The Anatomy of Orangeism
- Chapter 4 ‘Trunks without Heads’? The Composition of Northern England's Orange Order
- Chapter 5 Marching, Meeting and Rioting: The Public Face of Orangeism
- Chapter 6 Money and Mutualism
- Chapter 7 ‘Heart, Pocket and Hand’: Unionist Politics and the Orange Order
- Chapter 8 An Orange Diaspora
- Bibliography
- Index
- Platesection
Summary
The thumping of big drums, the parading of ‘dummy bibles’, the flourishing of wooden swords and battle-axes, and the marching to and fro of men adorned with lilies, scarves, aprons and paraphernalia of that sort are performances which a considerable number of well-meaning Tory-Orangemen consider necessary on the ‘Glorious Twelfth’… was attended this year with lamentable results at Cleator Moor. The rank and file of Orangemen may not know, but the leaders certainly do, that among the Catholic population of Cleator Moor the spirit of toleration is not much cultivated and such a parade would be regarded as an insult to their creed and therefore likely to lead to a breach of the peace. There are probably very few people (outside of Orange ranks) who do not condemn these annual demonstrations as good for nothing but promoting party strife among two sections of the community, who, if left alone, would soon learn to live together in harmony.
Leader comment, Carlisle Express and Examiner, 19 July 1884, following the fatal riot during an Orange parade in the mining colony of Cleator Moor, west Cumberland
Orangemen advertised their existence with public processions from an early point in the movement's history. Indeed, the tendency to march so became an expression of power – a sense of authority exercised over ground contested by groups split along ethnic lines, Protestant and Catholic. As such, there was a price to pay, for no sooner was that marching tradition consolidated than it developed an association with violence that would always mar it. Events such as those at Cleator Moor in 1884 enforced the sense of danger which people came to associate with Orangeism; at the same time, they pandered to the elite's dark fears about the malevolent potential of the lower-class crowd. Such emotions also help to explain why, at many points in the nineteenth century, local and national administrations sought to thwart the outward expressions of partisan feeling. Various acts were passed to empower magistrates against oathmaking, illegal associations and party processions. Not until 1872 did the Order have a clear run at the streets and open spaces of the worlds it inhabited. Even in troubled times, and despite the considerable hostility often evoked, many members regarded the march as a highly desirable element of the Order's ritual.
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- Faith, Fraternity and FightingThe Orange Order and Irish Migrants In Northern England, C.1850–1920, pp. 156 - 199Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2005