The Sash On The Mersey

The book examines how an organisation originating in late eighteenth-century Ireland became a significant and controversial element in Liverpool history. Using a wide range of sources including rarely accessed Orange Order records it places the Order within an early nineteenth-century Liverpool context of apocalyptic evangelical Protestantism, a labour market dominated by irregular dock work, a growing influx of immigrant Catholic Irish, marked residential segregation and sporadic civil conflict. It explores how the Order survived official disapproval, dissolution and schism to become deeply rooted within Protestant working-class communities. It analyses the attractions of lodge life, the appeal of ritual, colourful regalia and 12th July processions, the intense social bonding within lodges, the mutual support provided in adversity and measure taken to guard and transmit their world view. The intense royalism and patriotism of the Order and its troubled relationship with the Church of England are examined plus its role in sustaining the working class Tory vote which contributed to a century long Conservative hegemony in city politics. The book concludes with the cultural and socio-economic changes in British society which marginalised the core concerns of the Order, triggering decline in strength, visibility and significance in civic life.

The book examines how an organisation originating in late eighteenth century Ireland became a significant and controversial element in Liverpool history. Using a wide range of sources including rarely accessed Orange Order records it places the Order within an early nineteenth century Liverpool context of apocalyptic evangelical Protestantism, a labour market dominated by irregular dock work, a growing influx of immigrant Catholic Irish, marked residential segregation and sporadic civil conflict. It explores how the Order survived official disapproval, dissolution and schism to become deeply rooted within Protestant working class communities. It analyses the attractions of lodge life, the appeal of ritual, colourful regalia and 12th July processions, the intense social bonding within lodges, the mutual support provided in adversity and measure taken to guard and transmit their world view. The intense royalism and patriotism of the Order and its troubled relationship with the Church of England are examined plus its role in sustaining the working class Tory vote which contributed to a century long Conservative hegemony in city politics. The book concludes with the cultural and socio-economic changes in British society which marginalised the core concerns of the Order, triggering decline in strength, visibility and significance in civic life.

Though forced displacement constituted a central and pervasive feature of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ effecting tens of thousands of citizens, remarkably it has been afforded little more than a footnote or fleeting reference in most accounts of the conflict. This book seeks to ‘end the silence’ surrounding this neglected and ubiquitous aspect of the conflict. Based on 88 in-depth qualitative interviews with victims and survivors, and extensive secondary research, this fascinating study provides the first comprehensive examination of forced displacement in Northern Ireland. The analysis presented captures the unique perspectives of those forcibly uprooted over the course of the 30-year conflict and places on historical record their stories and experiences. This thought-provoking work challenges and broadens prevailing understandings of conflict-related violence, harm, and loss in Northern Ireland to demonstrate the centrality of forced movement, territory, and demographics to the roots and subsequent trajectory of the Troubles. In doing so, it shows that to fully understand the eruption and outplaying of the Troubles and its elusive peace, engagement with and understanding of the legacy of forced displacement is crucial.

Here’s To Our Far-Flung Empire is a fascinating and highly entertaining account of 17 unforgettable years of conflict and comradeship, war and romance, adventure and excitement around the world. Tony Orchard was a product of the British Empire at a time when Great Britain's rule across an empire that stretched from India to Singapore and Jamaica to Borneo was fast fading into history. His father had lived and worked in British India and was sent to Mombasa in British Kenya to start a subsidiary of Shell Oil. According to the comedian Tommy Trinder, Britain’s far-flung empire hadn’t been flung far enough. Without the outbreak of World War 2 and the evacuation of British forces at Dunkirk, Tony Orchard would probably never have had the chance to explore the truth of this for himself. In 1940, with the enemy at the gate, he was one of thousands of youngsters who were packed up from boarding school and sent off for their own safety to join their parents working overseas. As a result he spent a tempestuous 17 years travelling the world, with schooling in Calcutta and Durban, adventures in the South Seas serving with the Royal Navy and an eventful post-war sales career with Quaker Oats, selling flour to customers from Canada and the USA to the Caribbean, the Congo and East Africa. It wasn’t until he married a Danish girl and settled down back in England that he finally managed to stay under the same roof for more than three years.