Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes - History

History

In the 18th century an order known as the City of Lushington consisted almost exclusively of actors or variety artists, and held its meetings in the Inns and Taverns close to the well populated theatres of the day. To be a member of the Lushington's, one was required to be either an actor or artist who actually earned their living 'treading the boards'. Selected guests of members were invited to attend these gatherings, and many stage hands obviously availed themselves of this privilege for a number of years. At some unknown time, the Lushington's became a 'closed shop,' presumably because meeting rooms in the Inn or Tavern were not big enough to accommodate everyone (member and visitor alike). Whatever the reason the Lushington's only allowed members to attend their meetings.

The meeting room was organised in the form of a City with four or more wards and so the Master or chief officer was referred to as Mayor, and the senior officers were Aldermen. Lesser officers carried the prefix 'City' in their title, for example City Taster, City Barber, City Physician. The City Taster had a most important roll in the evening's proceedings. It was his duty before the Lodge opened to ceremoniously taste the ale on sale at the Inn. If it was found to be 'wanting' the host or landlord was 'fined' two gallons of ale, which was consumed by all in attendance at the meeting without payment.

Being prevented from attending meetings of the Lushingtons after a number of years enjoyment of that privilege, the stage hands and theatre staff began to hold their own exclusive meetings that had 'nuffin to do wit them acter fellas'. As the theatre staff moved around the country in pursuance of their profession, Lodges would have been founded in the various cities, towns and villages.

Pearce Egan, a well known London Theatre critic of the period attributes the founders as being Joseph Lisle, a well known eccentric and William Sinnett. In his book 'The History of Tom and Jerry' he cites one of the aims as being the promotion of an hitherto neglected ballad 'We'll chase the Buffalo'.

It is a matter of pure conjecture as to what remarks may have been made by patrons in the public rooms of the Tavern upon hearing the song being sung by members in the club or concert room. Certainly the ballad was sung with a considerable amount of enthusiasm at R.A.O.B Lodge meetings as recently as the mid 1950s by many of our more long serving members.

Why Antediluvian? The Order was founded in 1822, which certainly was not before Noah's Flood, and no satisfactory answer can be found in the records that have survived the ravages of time. We must remember that the bulk of our members at that time were involved in one of the theatre professions, and skilled orators would have written their own ceremonies, often designed to impress the unenlightened with the great antiquity of the Order. Similarities were deduced to the rights of bull worship at the time of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Templar and other nations of Christendom were seen a romantic remnance of a by-gone era. Peter the Hermit and the Saracenic wars were also quoted.

The desires of mankind to relieve the poverty of ones fellow have been around since the earliest ages, and if that is not antediluvian, what is? Certainly the word has a better ring to it than 'ancient'. So! Antediluvian we became!

The following is taken from the History of Buffaloism on the RAOB Grand Lodge of England website: "As in Freemasonry, the Seditious and Riotous Assembly Acts of the late 19th century had a profound effect on Buffalo meetings, as it had on many clubs, societies, and other bodies of the day. To show to the authorities the Buffaloes were not subversive to the interest of the state, the Order decided to describe itself as the Loyal Order of Buffaloes. It only needs a slip of the tongue for 'loyal' to become 'royal' and in a very short time the 'Public' accepted that the Order was indeed Royal". The introduction of the Royal Warrant Act, in the early 20th century, required anyone using the 'Royal' prefix to register with the Lord Chancellors Office and to stop using the title if permission to continue doing so was not granted. Since the Buffaloes had been using the title from the 1840s the Lord Chancellor agreed that no objection would be raised on continued use of the title on the grounds of long usage, provided no act by the Order arose that would disgrace its use.

In the early days, the first lodge to be opened in an area became known as the Mother Lodge, from which subsequent Lodges would be opened. Advice was frequently sought from the 'Mother' Lodge in the interpretation of rule or other matters, although it would continue to be a private or Minor Lodge in its own right. From these Mother Lodges the concept was developed for a body responsible for administration and organisation, alone. Thus we acquired Governing Authorities that became District Grand Lodges and latter Provincial Grand Lodges.

1n April 1866 the then known Lodges formed a Grand Lodge to control the movement, to set laws, to establish procedures and administration. This body later became known as the Grand Lodge of England. However, the new "Order" was soon best with arguments and a power struggle led to bitterness and break-ups. The Grand Lodge of England fractured into smaller "Banners" between which there was often bitter rivalry. One "Banner" became the 'Grand Lodge of England Ltd', wrongly believing that by forming as a company they could gain exclusive usage of the name. The 'Grand Surrey Banner' proclaimed itself "Mother Lodge of the World". Dozens of "Banners" were created around London and many more in the "Provinces." Throughout the UK the Order has risen in membership, with 2010 showing there were 2 million Buffs registered as members. (However, this covers a period of 44 years and records only those joining and not those departing.)