Douglas Gilpin has written in to say "Information found on your victorian website, in particular the content about the orange lodge, is wrong." Professor Wohl's materials --actually quotations from an 1834 Parliamentary report -- concern the the Orange Lodge in 1830s, not today, but I have offered to include Mr. Gilpin's comments because they make clear this organization still exists, Victorian history still bears upon the present, and issues and organizations of the 1830s continue to arouse strong emotions.
1834 rules: "1. The Orange Institution consists of an unlimited number of brethren, whose admission is not regulated by any other test than those of their religion, character and principles."
Mr. Gilpin: "1. is wrong. those are not the only rules of admission, infact they are not even close to being even part of the rules of admission."
1834 rules: "2. No person who at any time has been a Roman-catholic can be admitted into the institution, except by special application to the grand lodge, or grand committee, accompanied by certificates and testimonials, transmitted through the grand secretary of his county, which shall be so perfectly satisfactory as to produce an unanimous vote on the occasion."
Mr. Gilpin: "2. is close to factual but not quite correct."
Content last modified 1998