Setting forth how and when the Order was first established in England, and shewing who brought it from Egypt, together with an explanation as to what Buffaloism is and what it is not.
THE SUBJECT IS OPENED UP
Regarding the constitution of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, or Brotherhood, it has been found, after considerable research (in which Bro. C. S. Tomlin, Secretary of the late RA.O.B. Amalgamation movement, has had the lion’s share), that there were in the year A.D. 1907 twenty three autonomous R.A.O.B. Banners in the United Kingdom, the word “Banner” taking its rise from the Banner the Virgin Queen Elizabeth presented to the order in Shakespeare’s time. This incident will be more fully considered later on.
Each of these banners has a distinctive name of its own, which distinguishes it clearly from the others, such as the Grand Surrey Banner, the Grand Lodge of England Banner, the Grand Executive Banner, the Royal Wiltshire Banner, the Thames Valley Banner, and so on to the number already indicated.
The number of these banners is, however, gradually increasing, twenty three was the number more in 1907; thirty or more must be considered correct in this year 1911, each banner prefixing the Tetragrammaton R.A.O.B. to its particular name or title.
Taking a low estimate, there must be about 2,700 Lodges of the R.A.O.B. collectively in the United Kingdom alone. I base this surmise on the following facts: The Grand Lodge of England totals its Lodges up to the number 1,348 (see the number quoted on the official stationery of the Royal Swan Lodge, held at the Royal Hotel, Aldershot, Hon. Secretary, Bro. J. H. West, C.P.). How many more Lodges it has added to this number since June, 1909 (the date of the document in my possession which gives it), it is impossible to say.
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