Articles

County Orange Lodge Receives Historic Banner

Banner of L.O.L.961 Donated

In the fall of this year an anonymous donor (through an intermediary) donated the banner of N. Clarke Wallace L.O.L.961 to the County Orange Lodge of Toronto. The banner is now on display at the County Orange Hall next to Wallace’s portrait.

L.O.L.961

Loyal Orange Lodge number 961 was instituted on October 4^th, 1894 with the warrant being issued to Dr. G. G. Rowe. Following the death of Wallace in 1901, the lodge assumed his name and was led by Wor. Bro. William H. Gelley. The lodge continued to operate until 1967, in 1968 it was joined with another Toronto lodge, that being Royal Alexander L.O.L.No.2459. The last Master of the lodge was L. M. Bradley and the last Secretary was James Moulson.

 Nathaniel Clarke Wallace

Wallace was born in Woodbridge, Ontario in 1844 the son of parents who had arrived in Upper Canada from Carney, County Sligo. He had success as a municipal politician in Vaughan Township and later ran for the Dominion Parliament. In Parliament he was elected as the Member for York West on six occasions between 1878 and 1900. Wallace also served two terms as the Minister for Customs. In the Orange Order Wallace served as the Grand Master of British North America (Canada) from 1887 to 1901. During his flamboyant and sometime controversial leadership the Association in Canada grew to over 200,000 members. A tribute to his popularity is witnessed by the fact that over 6,000 mourners attended his funeral on October 12^th, 1901 at Christ Church (Anglican) Cemetery in Woodbridge.

The naming of lodge number 961 in his honour was fashioned to pay tribute to a great Orangeman and the County Orange Lodge of Toronto is proud to have this banner on display. Again, we thank the donor.

Submitted by John Wells – County Secretary – Dec 6^th, 2011

Sources: Include the Canadian Dictionary of Biography, the Parliament of Canada Website and County and Grand Lodge of Ontario West records

Photos: Courtesy Brother Michael Thomas