36th (Ulster) Division Memorial L.O.L. 977

The story of 977 goes back to Seaford Military Camp in Sussex, England where the 36th (Ulster) Division were completing their training prior to being posted to France and the fateful 'Battle of The Somme'. Military warrant 862 was obtained from the Grand Orange Lodge of England and meetings were regularly held near the camp with many new candidates being initiated into this great order.

In October 1915 the Division moved to France where meetings were held whenever possible, one such meeting being held in a monastery in Belgium. Loyalty to the lodge was as strong as loyalty to the King and when ordered 'over the top' at the Battle of The Somme the then W.M.- Brother John Crumlin - put the lodge warrant in his inside pocket and his collarette in his back pack and took them 'over the top' with him.

When the division was disbanded at the end of The Great War, the military warrant was returned to the Grand Orange Lodge of England. On return to their native Ulster the men of the former military lodge decided to form a memorial Orange Lodge in memory of all those 'Brave Ulster Boys' who gave their all for King and Country. On the 5th May 1919 the warrant 977 was granted to the 36th (Ulster) Division Memorial L.O.L., sitting under the authority of No. 3 District L.O.L. in Belfast.

The lodge grew in strength taking its membership from the forces of the crown. As an act of thanksgiving and in memory of the fallen of both world wars and subsequent conflicts the lodge holds a memorial church service on the Sunday nearest the Ist July each year. On the evening of the 1st July each year at 8.00 p.m. the lodge parades from Belfast Orange Hall to the City Cenotaph in the grounds of the City Hall and holds a short remembrance service and wreath laying ceremony on the anniversary of 'The Battle of The Somme', from which so many of their fellow citizens and brethren never returned.

In June 1937 a new set of colours made by the Royal School of Needlework, London were dedicated to the memory of the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and are to this day carried with pride by former and serving members of Her Majesty's Crown Forces. The lodge continues to prosper and is a lasting and living memory to the bravery of so many Ulster men and women who have sacrificed their all for us.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM !

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