Peter Langford

Ritual and Book of Forms of the Order Sons of St. George 1895 Peter Langford

The Order of the Sons of St. George was a secret society founded by English migrants in the United States during the year 1870. Its initial purpose was that of a defensive league, to protect Englishmen and their families from the murderous outrages of an Irish criminal gang known as the Molly Maguires. The order was later acknowledged with having helped defeat this terrorist gang, after which it quickly expanded, establishing a network of lodges amongst the English diaspora throughout North America. The brotherhood became a cultural organisation, with the aim of celebrating and preserving the Anglo-Protestant identity of its members. It also became a benevolent society, with an insurance programme for the benefit and welfare of its members and their families. At its peak it boasted more than 500 lodges, and around 45,000 members, which included not only thousands of working men, but city mayors, councillors, police chiefs, newspaper editors, state senators, British consular and embassy staff, and also members of Britain's secret intelligence agencies. Throughout the one-hundred year history of this mysterious order, its members have involved themselves in numerous - sometimes clandestine - activities, with a view to strengthen the ties of friendship between Great Britain and the Untied States. Some have accused the society of being part of a broader political conspiracy, which ultimately led to the United States entering both World Wars on the side of the British. Revealed here for the first time is a reproduction of one of the earliest surviving copies - dated 1895 - of this mysterious order's secret initiation rites, rituals, and oaths.