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The Orange Order in Scotland Between the Wars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

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This paper focuses on the theme of religious conflict within the working class in inter-war Scotland. It pays particular attention to the Protestant working class of the industrial lowlands and to the role of the exclusively Protestant secret society of Irish origin, the Orange Order. It attempts to explain why the inter-war period saw an upsurge in membership of sectarian organisations like the Orange Order and their activities; and at the same time was notable for a broadening of Labour Party support among the working class which transcended religious divisions. It argues that sectarian and class loyalties often went together and in some ways reinforced each other. The Orange Order leadership's Conservative politics is stressed but it is contended that the Order's appeal to the working class was to a large extent based on issues such as education and mixed marriages and perceived Irish Catholic immigration, issues which did not break down neatly into party political terms. It is argued that the Orange Order's social role was of great significance in this period of economic austerity and mass unemployment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1992

References

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21 Ibid., 10 April 1919. One candidate was elected for St. Rollox and Maryhill; 2 for Govan, Tradeston and Pollok; 1 for Hillhead and Partick; 1 for Springburn and Camlachie.

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31 Lodge Number 127. It won the “blue riband” for this throughout the inter-war period and always claimed in excess of 400 members.

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54 Ibid., January 1924.

55 Ibid., February 1924.

56 Ibid., November 1926.

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72 Protestant examples might be said to be Broxbum and Bo'ness in West Lothian; a Catholic example is that of Croy in Stirlingshire.

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75 BWN 16 06 1932, General Secretary's Report.Google Scholar

76 See BWN, 15 06 1935. The General Secretary's report was still very gloomy on economic matters and no progress in relation to the welfare initiative was reported.Google Scholar

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81 See Brown, Callum, The Social History of Religion in Scotland since 1730 (London, 1987), pp. 237238.Google Scholar See also Bruce, , No Pope of Rome, pp. 4647.Google Scholar

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83 O.S., 08 1922.Google Scholar

84 BWN, 26 03 1931.Google Scholar

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88 Ratcliffe was a member of the Orange Order until sometime around 1930.

89 Gallagher, , Glasgow: the Uneasy Peace, p. 153.Google Scholar

90 See Vanguard, 27 09 1933 and 8 11 1933. There was also friction between Protestants and Catholics on Lanarkshire Education Board over Catholic school building in 1924. See Connor's notes in O.S., 02 1924.Google Scholar

91 See Bruce, , No Pope of Rome, p. 75 for discussion of the kind of people Ratcliffe appealed to.Google Scholar

92 For a Scottish example of such claims see BWN, 18 09 1930 regarding the employer who claimed to have discovered his Catholic foreman hiring other Catholics on instructions from his priest.Google Scholar

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95 BWN, 10 11 1932.Google Scholar

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97 Ibid., 19 October 1939.

98 See Finn, “In the grip? Freemasonry in Scotland”, passim.

99 See Gallagher, , Glasgow: The Uneasy Peace, pp. 118120, 202203.Google Scholar

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101 Ibid. Knox makes clear that some Labour members were unhappy about Catholic influence.

102 Reported in Irish News, 5 05 1933.Google Scholar

103 Gallagher, , Glasgow: The Uneasy Peace, p. 106.Google Scholar

104 Ibid., p. 124.

105 Ibid.

106 Gallagher, . Glasgow: The Uneasy Peace, p. 106.Google Scholar

107 See report of Grand Lodge half-yearly meeting in BWN, 18 06 1931, and also BWN, 1 09 1932 and 18 05 1933.Google Scholar

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109 Gallagher, , Glasgow: The Uneasy Peace, p. 121.Google Scholar

110 See BWN, 9 11 1933, 16 11 1933 and 18 01 1934. “Ne Temere” provoked the formation of a “National Vigilance Society” on the part of Church of Scotland members.Google Scholar

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112 Labour too could be the victim of it. See Forward, 10 06 1933 regarding the Catholic candidate in the Gorbals division of Glasgow playing the sectarian card against the ILP.Google Scholar

113 See Knox, , “Religion and the Scottish labour movement”. Also Vanguard, editorial 6 09 1933.Google Scholar

114 See reflections of Reverend Victor Logan on education, BWN, 20 03 1930.Google Scholar

115 Reported in BWN, 6 06 1935.Google Scholar See also Brown, CallumThe Social History of Religion, pp. 201202.Google Scholar

116 BWN, 26 02 1931.Google Scholar

117 Ibid., 26 June 1931.

118 Ibid., 13 October 1932. See also the comments of Sir Robert Horne, Unionist MP for Glasgow Hillhead, as quoted in Mitchell, , Conservatives and the Union, p. 41.Google Scholar

119 BWN, 10 01 1929.Google Scholar

120 Ibid., 21 January 1932.

121 See article by Cloughley, Joseph, BWN, 5 12 1929.Google Scholar

122 Ibid., 18 October 1934.

123 Ibid., 5 December 1929.

124 McCracken, Rev. G. A. B.D., Bygone Days of Yore (Glasgow, 1990), p. 38.Google Scholar

125 See, for example, report in BWN, 2 01 1936.Google Scholar

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128 See Moorhouse, H.F., “Shooting Stars: footballers and working class culture in twentieth century Scotland”, in Holt, R.J. (ed.), Sport and the Working Class in Modern Britain (Manchester, 1990), pp. 179197.Google Scholar

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130 See O.S., 03 1927. Several Rangers players were said by Connor to be members of Lodge No. 262, “Knox's Purple Guards”.Google Scholar

131 See, for example, report of speech at Orange social by Rangers player Dougie Gray, BWN, 19 02 1931.Google Scholar

132 The “Junior” game was semi-professional. The teams in some localities reproduced the Old Firm rivalry, for example Benburb and St. Anthony's in the Govan area, and Blantyre Victoria and Blantyre Celtic in Blantyre in Lanarkshire.

133 We can, however, be confident from literary evidence about the Orange and Green character of areas of Glasgow like Partick, Bridgeton and the Gorbals, and towns like Larkhall and Coatbridge, although research into them may reveal complex patterns of residential differentiation.