The Apprentice Boys of Derry…

TE Lawrence is a Slugger regular from Belfast

I have penned a few words regarding the Apprentice Boys of Derry from an Inner City Belfast Loyalist Perspective. They are probably the least well known of the Loyal Orders in the public domain. The full title of the organization is the ‘Associated Clubs of The Apprentice Boys of Derry’. This is derived from the fact that the organization is essentially a number of separate clubs who come together to form the organization as it is today.

The first Apprentice Boys Club was formed on 1^st August, 1714 (the date of the annual commemoration that year) by Colonel John Mitchelburne who had been Governor of the city towards the end of the siege. After the siege he worked tirelessly to get recognition of the veterans of the siege, something that did not always endear him with the authorities, for this he lost his seat on the Londonderry Corporation and even spent time in a Debtor’s Prison for his work. He left money in his Will to ensure the flying of the Crimson Flag from St Columb’s Cathedral on the anniversaries of the Shutting of the Gates and The Relief of Derry which continues to the present day. The first formal ‘Apprentice Boys of Derry Club’ was formed in 1814 by Benjamin Darcus (The Darcus were a prominent Unionist family in the city).

Today there are eight clubs, Apprentice Boys of Derry, Walker, Mitchelburne, Baker, Murray, No Surrender, Browning and Campsie. Each of these eight clubs is based in the city of Londonderry and are known as the ‘Parent Clubs’.

Any Club of the Association formed outside of Londonderry is called a Branch Club. Branch Clubs are an extension of one of the Clubs in Londonderry and take the name of their parent club and local base, eg : Sandy Row Mitchelburne Club.

You can only become a member of The Apprentice Boys by going through a ceremony held in the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall inside the walls of Derry and conducted by your Parent Club. This ceremony is called ‘Being Made’ into the Apprentice Boys.

The main events held annually are The Shutting of the Gates Parade held on the 2^nd Saturday of August and the Relief of Londonderry Parade held on the 1^st Saturday of December, both these parades are held in the Maiden City.

It was the Belfast Branch Clubs of the Apprentice Boys who started to parade on Easter Monday in the early 1970’s, which I think was to counter Republicans dominating the Easter Period Calendar of Demonstrations. Today this has mushroomed into all the Apprentice Boys Clubs attending a County Amalgamation invitation to parade in a chosen town of Northern Ireland. Two years ago it was Cookstown (Tryone), last year it was Enniskillen (Fermanagh) and this year it will be County Down’s turn to host the Easter Monday Parade in Lisburn.

I was at a Linfield/Whites game up at Windsor Park one late November and was asked what age I was by some friends. I said 15, ‘that’s great they said, you can join the Apprentice Boys, we are in it and we are going to Derry on the 18^th December’

Basically that is how I joined the Apprentice Boys. We met at the Presidents house (The President is the elected leader of the Branch Club for a one year period) in Hunter Street at 7.00pm and paraded to York Street Railway Station to get the train to Londonderry. The Apprentice Boys Organization is the only Loyal Order Organization which shall allow a person to join its ranks at 15 years old in keeping with the traditional age group of a young apprentice.

For someone young like me the parading, the train to Derry and the fun was all part of the excitement and adventure of joining the Apprentice Boys. We got off the train at the Waterside Station of Londonderry where the ‘Derry Wans’ were waiting to join us to parade across Craigavon Bridge up to the Memorial Hall in Society Street. It was here that I got ‘Made within the Walls’

I always loved the smoothly singing accents of the Derry Girls who served us food and drinks around the bars in the city centre.

Us wee lads from Sandy Row can be cheeky enough wee rascals but there was a curiosity, craic and banter with these Derry girls that we did not experience in Belfast.

I always took a ribbing from my old man that I was not a real Apprentice Boy but he was because he was a member of Broadway Campsie Club and I had joined the local Mitchelburne Club. Out of the eight Apprentice Boys Club the only club name after one of the 13 Apprentice Boys of Derry who closed the gates of Derry is Campsie.