Thomas Sloan
Thomas Henry Sloan was an Irish and British politician and founder of the Independent Orange Order. He represented the Belfast South constituency as an Independent Unionist at the Westminster parliament from 1902 to 1910.Career
Sloan was a sub-contractor for the cementing of ship's floors at the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast. He first came to attention as a supporter of the working class evangelical Protestant preacher Arthur Trew, and soon became a leading member of his Belfast Protestant Association. In 1901, Trew was sentenced to twelve months' hard labour after he incited an anti-Catholic riot, and Sloan took over his Sunday afternoon speeches on the steps of Belfast Customs House. Trew's imprisonment had increased interest, and Sloan was a superior speaker and organiser, and managed to secure his election at the by-election to the constituency of Belfast South on 18 August 1902, against the official unionist candidate.
In 1903, Sloan founded the Independent Orange Order. Soon after, he reached an agreement with the Irish Unionist Party and disassociated himself from the Belfast Protestant Association. He was re-elected in the 1906 general election, but twice lost to the official Irish Unionist candidate in the January 1910 and December 1910 elections.
