The ”’Apprentice Boys of Derry”’ are a [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[Fraternal organization|fraternal society]] founded in 1814 and based in the city of [[Derry]], [[Northern Ireland]]. Outside Northern Ireland, there are branches in Scotland, England, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and Canada.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20565591 |title=Lundy’s Day: Thousands due to attend Londonderry parade |website=[[BBC News]] |date=1 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130422054057/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20565591 |archive-date=22 April 2013 |access-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, the society had over 10,000 members worldwide, with membership open to Protestant men only.<ref name=”abd-about-us”>{{cite web |url=http://www.apprenticeboys.co.uk/about/ |title=About the Association |website=Apprentice Boys of Derry |access-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926153117/https://apprenticeboysofderry.org/about/ |archive-date=26 September 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> The society aims to commemorate the 1689 [[Siege of Derry]], a failed attempt by the Catholic [[James II of England|James II]] to capture the city, which was at the time a Protestant stronghold. Apprentice Boys parades once regularly led to virulent opposition from the city’s Catholic majority, but recently a more conciliatory approach has taken place and now the parades are virtually trouble-free. The 2014 “Shutting of the Gates” parade was described as “the biggest in years” and was violence-free.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/trouble-free-apprentice-boys-parade-biggest-in-many-years-1-6460433 |title=Trouble-free Apprentice Boys parade ‘biggest in many years’ |date=11 December 2012 |newspaper=[[The News Letter]] |location=Belfast |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141211141657/http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/trouble-free-apprentice-boys-parade-biggest-in-many-years-1-6460433 |archive-date=11 December 2014 |access-date=11 December 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2550659.stm Hopes for peaceful march in Derry] Keiron Tourish, BBC Online, 6 December 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2008</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7122276.stm Quiet end to Lundy’s Day parade] BBC Online, 1 September 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2008</ref>
The ”’Apprentice Boys of Derry”’ are a [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[Fraternal organization|fraternal society]] founded in 1814 and based in the city of [[Derry]], [[Northern Ireland]]. Outside Northern Ireland, there are branches in Scotland, England, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and Canada.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20565591 |title=Lundy’s Day: Thousands due to attend parade |website=[[BBC News]] |date=1 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130422054057/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20565591 |archive-date=22 April 2013 |access-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, the society had over 10,000 members worldwide, with membership open to Protestant men only.<ref name=”abd-about-us”>{{cite web |url=http://www.apprenticeboys.co.uk/about/ |title=About the Association |website=Apprentice Boys of Derry |access-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926153117/https://apprenticeboysofderry.org/about/ |archive-date=26 September 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> The society aims to commemorate the 1689 [[Siege of Derry]], a failed attempt by the Catholic [[James II of England|James II]] to capture the city, which was at the time a Protestant stronghold. Apprentice Boys parades once regularly led to virulent opposition from the city’s Catholic majority, but recently a more conciliatory approach has taken place and now the parades are virtually trouble-free. The 2014 “Shutting of the Gates” parade was described as “the biggest in years” and was violence-free.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/trouble-free-apprentice-boys-parade-biggest-in-many-years-1-6460433 |title=Trouble-free Apprentice Boys parade ‘biggest in many years’ |date=11 December 2012 |newspaper=[[The News Letter]] |location=Belfast |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141211141657/http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/trouble-free-apprentice-boys-parade-biggest-in-many-years-1-6460433 |archive-date=11 December 2014 |access-date=11 December 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2550659.stm Hopes for peaceful march in Derry] Keiron Tourish, BBC Online, 6 December 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2008</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7122276.stm Quiet end to Lundy’s Day parade] BBC Online, 1 September 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2008</ref>
The siege of Derry began in December 1688 when 13 [[apprentice]] boys<ref>The apprentice boys were named as “Henry Campsie, William Crookshanks, Robert Sherrard, Daniel Sherrard, Alexander Irwin, James Steward, Robert Morison, Alexander Cunningham, Samuel Hunt, James Spike, John Coningham, William Cairnes and Samuel Harvy” in the book ”History of the Siege of Londonderry 1689,” by Cecil D. Milligan, H. R. Carter Publications, Belfast 1951</ref> shut the gates of the city against a regiment of twelve hundred [[Jacobism|Jacobite]] soldiers, commanded by the Roman Catholic Alexander Macdonnell, Earl of Antrim, which was immediately withdrawn.<ref name=macaulay>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/10/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland and the Siege of Londonderry in 1869]”. Gebhardt & Wilisch, Leipzig 1902</ref> Retaliatory action passed to the [[Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell|Duke of Tyrconnel]] who assembled a large but poorly ordered Jacobite force commanded by Sir Richard Hamilton to march north against the [[Ulster Protestants]].<ref name=macaulay2>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/22/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, p.23</ref> The deposed [[James II of England|King James II]], who had travelled from France to Ireland in March, took charge with the aid of two French generals. Arriving at the gates of Derry on 18 April 1689, he was greeted by a cry of “No surrender!”<ref name=macaulay3>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/46/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, p.47</ref> The siege was lifted on 28 July 1689 ([[Old Style]]) when two armed merchant ships, the ”Mountjoy” and the ”Phoenix”, sailed up the [[River Foyle]] to breach a timber [[Boom (navigational barrier)|boom]] which had been stretched across the river, blocking supplies to the city. The ships’ approach was covered against the Jacobite besiegers by cannon fire from the frigate HMS ”[[HMS Dartmouth (1660)|Dartmouth]]”, under Captain (and future Admiral) [[John Leake]]. The ”Mountjoy” rammed and broke the barricading boom at [[Culmore]] fort and the ships moved in, unloading many tons of food to relieve the siege.<ref>Graham, Rev John [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_12612#page/n145/mode/2up A History of the Siege of Londonderry] Maclear & Co, Toronto 1869. p. 124</ref> Three days later, the besieging forces burned their camps and departed.<ref name=macaulay5>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/84/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, pp. 85–86</ref> It was reported that some 4,000 people (about half the population of the city) had died of starvation or injury. Many had been forced to eat dogs, horses and rats.<ref name=macaulay4>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/80/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, pp. 81–82</ref>
The siege of Derry began in December 1688 when 13 [[apprentice]] boys<ref>The apprentice boys were named as “Henry Campsie, William Crookshanks, Robert Sherrard, Daniel Sherrard, Alexander Irwin, James Steward, Robert Morison, Alexander Cunningham, Samuel Hunt, James Spike, John Coningham, William Cairnes and Samuel Harvy” in the book ”History of the Siege of 1689,” by Cecil D. Milligan, H. R. Carter Publications, Belfast 1951</ref> shut the gates of the city against a regiment of twelve hundred [[Jacobism|Jacobite]] soldiers, commanded by the Roman Catholic Alexander Macdonnell, Earl of Antrim, which was immediately withdrawn.<ref name=macaulay>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/10/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland and the Siege of in 1869]”. Gebhardt & Wilisch, Leipzig 1902</ref> Retaliatory action passed to the [[Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell|Duke of Tyrconnel]] who assembled a large but poorly ordered Jacobite force commanded by Sir Richard Hamilton to march north against the [[Ulster Protestants]].<ref name=macaulay2>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/22/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, p.23</ref> The deposed [[James II of England|King James II]], who had travelled from France to Ireland in March, took charge with the aid of two French generals. Arriving at the gates of Derry on 18 April 1689, he was greeted by a cry of “No surrender!”<ref name=macaulay3>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/46/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, p.47</ref> The siege was lifted on 28 July 1689 ([[Old Style]]) when two armed merchant ships, the ”Mountjoy” and the ”Phoenix”, sailed up the [[River Foyle]] to breach a timber [[Boom (navigational barrier)|boom]] which had been stretched across the river, blocking supplies to the city. The ships’ approach was covered against the Jacobite besiegers by cannon fire from the frigate HMS ”[[HMS Dartmouth (1660)|Dartmouth]]”, under Captain (and future Admiral) [[John Leake]]. The ”Mountjoy” rammed and broke the barricading boom at [[Culmore]] fort and the ships moved in, unloading many tons of food to relieve the siege.<ref>Graham, Rev John [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_12612#page/n145/mode/2up A History of the Siege of ] Maclear & Co, Toronto 1869. p. 124</ref> Three days later, the besieging forces burned their camps and departed.<ref name=macaulay5>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/84/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, pp. 85–86</ref> It was reported that some 4,000 people (about half the population of the city) had died of starvation or injury. Many had been forced to eat dogs, horses and rats.<ref name=macaulay4>[[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay, T. B.]] ”[https://archive.org/stream/jamessecondsdesc00maca#page/80/mode/2up James the Second’s Descent on Ireland]”, pp. 81–82</ref>
In the late eighteenth century, Roman Catholic clergy joined in the prayer services offered on the walls of Derry, and in the early nineteenth century Catholics joined the celebrations with their Protestant fellow-citizens.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} However, the [[British government]]’s Londonderry Riot Inquiry of 1869 found that “the character of the demonstrations (by the Apprentice Boys) has certainly undergone a change, and, among the Catholic lower classes at least, they are now regarded with the most hostile feelings”. The inquiry recommended that both Apprentice Boys parades be banned. For similar reasons they also recommended the banning of [[Orange Order]] parades.
In the late eighteenth century, Roman Catholic clergy joined in the prayer services offered on the walls of Derry, and in the early nineteenth century Catholics joined the celebrations with their Protestant fellow-citizens.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} However, the [[British government]]’s Riot Inquiry of 1869 found that “the character of the demonstrations (by the Apprentice Boys) has certainly undergone a change, and, among the Catholic lower classes at least, they are now regarded with the most hostile feelings”. The inquiry recommended that both Apprentice Boys parades be banned. For similar reasons they also recommended the banning of [[Orange Order]] parades.
