James Wilson was the founder of the

Orange Institution The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It als ...

, also known as the Orange Order. After a disturbance in

Benburb Benburb ()) is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies 7.5 miles from Armagh and 8 miles from Dungannon. The River Blackwater runs alongside the village as does the Ulster Canal. History It is best known, in his ...

on 24 June 1794, in which Protestant homes were attacked, Wilson appealed to the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, of which he was a member,"James Wilson was probably the most influential of the founding fathers of Orangeism and was an ardent Freemason. Respected Orange historian R.M. Sibbett records, 'Wilson was a member of the Society of Freemasons, which fully qualified him for establishing a new Order of a secret character.'
The Orange Order
, from the Evangelical Truth website to organise themselves in defence of the Protestant population. The Masons refused, so an indignant Wilson left them and prophesied that he "would light a star...which would eclipse them forever". He had already organised the "Orange Boys" at the Dyan in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

in 1792, as is evidenced by the notice in ''

The News Letter The ''News Letter'' is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published from Monday to Saturday. It is the world's oldest English-language general daily newspaper still in publication, having first been printed in 1737. The newspape ...

'' on 1 February 1793 which referred to a meeting of the 138 members of the Orange Boys held on 22 January 1793. The three main founders were James Wilson, Daniel Winter and James Sloan."James Wilson and James Sloan, who along with 'Diamond' Dan Winter, issued the first Orange lodge warrants from Sloan's Loughgall inn, were masons.
The Men of no Popery, The Origins Of The Orange Order
, by Jim Smyth, from History Ireland Vol 3 No 3 Autumn 1995 It was named to commemorate the victory of the Protestant William of Orange over his father-in-law the Catholic King James II at the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...

in 1690 during the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, James People from County Tyrone Irish Freemasons 18th-century births Year of death missing Grand Masters of the Orange Order