This allowed the Order to increase its support beyond Irish Protestants, attracting native New Brunswickers too. According to See, "56 per cent were not Irish born, including 43 per cent native and 13 per cent other Protestant immigrants." .
As indicated by Kealy, The Orange Order in Toronto was "overwhelmingly working -class in composition." Kealy attempts to strengthen this point, with what I found to be weak data. He presents the following information: Seventeen lodges existed in the 1840's and only two were studied. Of these, only one "had a distinctive social character and [showed] a majority of working class members." Then he states that twenty- six lodges were created between 1872 and 1876. Of these, again only two were studied, but both this time did "ha[ve] a distinctive social character and [showed] a majority of working class members." The study that is shown here by Housten and Smyth, does not address the many other lodges existent, and therefore may not be representative of the class composition. Furthermore, Kealy does not provide information about the other lodges, or even a claim of knowledge that these ones were representative. .
He does however, continue to discuss the make up within each lodge in terms of types of workers, and what kind of work they do, proving that indeed they were working class and showing that social composition was an integral part of belonging to a lodge. "Each Orange lodge possessed its own history, and some idiosyncratic aims. The splitting of the city in 1876 provided a further rationale for choosing which lodge to belong to." Each member would choose a lodge based on various things, but mainly on the basis of their "job- associated friendships and neighborhood ties." This again becomes an important concept when the authors discuss why the Orange Order was able to maintain itself.
See claims that the Orange Order was able to maintain itself after the decline in Irish Protestant immigrants and the decline in British garrison troops because of its ideological appeal.
