West African Orange History

While there is documentary evidence on the origins and beginnings of Orangeism in most countries where there is an Orange Institution presence it is more difficult to put date and place precisely on when and where the Order took root in West Africa.

West Africa Togo and Ghana

The Rev Ian Meredith, who has written on the subject, was unable to ascertain exactly how Orangeism first came to the region.

It appears that the first Orange Lodge of black Africans was Lagos Fine Blues LOL 801 which met in Nigeria's capital under warrant from the Grand Lodge of England.

The number 801 was listed in 1907 in the returns of Woolwich District 64 in South London to the Grand Orange Lodge of England.

This district lodge had association with lodges in Egypt and Hong Kong where the members were British servicemen. The Lagos lodge functioned until 1963 when ;it made no returns, though it must have been active when it received as visitors the Rev Godwill Fiawood and E. K. K. Attipoe, from Ghana.

The demise of Orangeism in Nigeria which had at this peak a district lodge 51, three male and one female lodges, has a story behind it. It could be of external and internal pressures and apathy.

The Orangemen of Lagos were responsible, by one of their number for the founding of a lodge in Togoland. He was John Amate Atayi, who went to Lome, the capital to work. There with a few friends he founded Lome Defenders of the Truth LOL 867 "under warrant from the Grand Orange Lodge of England in 1915. A second lodge Paline Heroes LOL No 884 was constituted in 1916.

The best known African Orangeman Emmanuel Essien, who became Imperial President at Auckland last year, is a member of the Lome lodge and a Past Grand Master of West Africa.

Emmanuel Essien has travelled widely on Orange Order business, nearly every jurisdiction has had him as a guest. Everywhere he has impressed the brethren with his enthusiasm for the Orange and Protestant cause. The report of the 75th anniversary celebrations, September, 1915 to September, 1990, which included conferences, debates, a church service and parade, tells how the opportunity was taken "to express our gratitude ... to the officers and members of the Loyal Orange Institution of England for what they have done for our country .. ."

There follows a quotation from the report of the Grand Orange Lodge of England 1921 "Our lodges in Togoland are working under serious and difficult circumstances. Since the last meeting of Grand Lodge, the League of Nations has given France a mandate to govern the colony ... Under the French Government they have been practically reduced to slavery. Heart-rending appeals have been sent to us and we have done everything in our power to help them ... in appreciation of what little we have been able to do for them the Native Chiefs of Rogoland have unanimously elected your Grand Secretary honorary Chief and Proxy for Togoland. It is an honour never conferred upon any white man before. (Recorded by Louis A Ewart, PRL., FRGS., Grand Secretary/organiser) '

Ghana, the former British colony of the Gold Coast, had its first Orange lodge constituted on September 7, 1918. The prime mover was R. E. Sharley, a post office worker at Cape Coast, who receiving a copy of the English "The Orange Standard", was so impressed by what he read in it that he wrote to the Rev Louis Ewart, Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of England.

Ewart commended to him the lodge at Lome as the most practical way to see Orangeism at work. The contact made with LOL 867 persuaded him to join that lodge. When his work took him to Keta in the Volga region of the Gold Coast he encouraged a few friends to join him in an application to the Grand Orange Lodge of England for a lodge warrant. They received the number 891 for the lodge they named Pride of Keta, now No 1 in the Grand Lodge of Ghana.

The Grand Orange Lodge of England conscious of its responsibility to the African lodges working under its warrants appointed a first correspondence secretary, WJ. Sims, London, to maintain the association.

Unfortunately under pressures that were economic and administrative and from poor relationships with Orangeism elsewhere in the world the African lodges were rendered dormant, 1920s to 1950s. While the lodges ceased to function there were Orangemen who hoped for their revival and in that expectation they met informally and irregularly.

The hope was realised when a Ghanaian, E K. Fiawoo, became so interested in the Orange Institution that on an examination of its Protestant principles he visited England and was initiated into the Institution at Liverpool.

After he received training for the Christian ministry in the USA he was ordained a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In Anlo, near Keta, he founded the Zion College of West Africa and became the principal of this secondary school. An influential figure in the community he encouraged some of his students to join the Order, among them Eric Dzikuniu, who became a Grand Master of Ghana.

It was the leadership of Dr Fiawoo which inspired the Orange revival in the Gold Coast. In 1957, the year of Ghana's independence, a new lodge was formed - Ghana Elizabethan No 495. The originality and ingenuity of Dr Fiawoo was revealed when realising that an interest was developing in a lodge for women he went to England and by special permission became a member of a ladies' lodge.

This was to enable him to initiate women into their Order in Ghana, and in 1353 Wycliffe LOL No 160 was formed. That year, Dr Fiawoo helped to revive Lome Defenders of the Truth, and also in 1959 the first junior lodge in West Africa was formed. By this time the Order in Ghana was of such strength that there were four lodges in Keta and they rec~eived the status of a district lodge under the care of the Grand Orange Lodge of England.

The African Orange jurisdiction was named the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Africa and in it were the lodges of Nigeria, Toga and Ghana. Progress was made in Ghana when a lodge was founded at Accra the capital in 1363. It was founded by Bennet C. Brown as Accra Heroes of Peace 1021. It is now LOL No. 13.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of West Africa was divided in 19G5 into two Provincial Grand Lodges, Togo and Ghana, Nigerian Orangeism was no longer operative.

When in 1980 Ghana had 1000 Orangemen and about 20 lodges things were looking good for the Institution. But in 1982 all lodges were proscribed by the government and their activities declared illegal. When the proscription was lifted the Order resumed its workings and in 1385 Togo and Ghana were granted Grand Lodge status by the Imperial Council.

Relations with the churches were often uneasy in Ghana. There was suspicion that the secrecy of Orangeism and its strong Protestantism were seen as divisive and unsettling to Christianity in the country. The situation was so much improved that in the report to the Imperial Council at Stirling in 1931 we read "... there is little or no hostility from their churches to the cause of Orangeism .. .".

The ground had been prepared by the Grand Master when at the Grand Lodge meeting of July 3, 1988 he urged the brethren to "change their attitudes and try to make a good impact on the Church by fully participating in church activities in their localities." The stand for Orangeism and Protestantism is constant for the enemies of both are numerous and vigorous in their antagonisms.

The African Grand Lodges have been the recipients of gifts, financial and material, over several years to help them face up to the problems which beset them in countries economically disadvantaged and embarrassed. An environment inimical to organisation growth and development needs Orange family support and gets it.