'The Orange diaspora’: Loyalist communities abroad

Abstract

Since its beginnings in the agrarian conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland in 1795, the Orange Order spread rapidly across the British World. With its mix of loyalism and pan-Protestantism, the Orange Order adapted to a variety of countries from Australia to Togo. The term ‘Orange diaspora’ has been used to express its spread. But to what extent can we conceptualise an overarching Orange diaspora? This paper addresses that key question by examining Orange sources and other archival research in an international comparative context. How different was the Orange diaspora compared to Ireland? Who belonged to it? And to what extent were transnational ties maintained between Ireland and the Orange diaspora and why? These issues are important for they illuminate aspects of Irish Protestant migration, enable exploration of the fraternity’s ideology, and facilitate reflections on broader conceptual issues relating to diaspora and transnationalism.