On the 29th July 1833 it was stated that 500 Orangemen attended the opening of the new Orange Cumberland rooms in Cork. This was located at 6 Nelson Place. By 1835 there were at least seven lodges in cork city The principle lodge in cork city was Loyal Orange Lodge number 540, or Royal Cumberland Lodge. The district master was a Robert Deane a high Tory and leading light on the corporation. Lower middle class ascendancy met and dined together in this lodge while other city lodges tended to be less prestigious.
Cork City Orangeism’s new found respectability and willingness to be publicizes were illustrated by the “Deane’s episode “ in 1835. Thus when in 1835 the corporation elected Robert Deane, district master and member of LOL 540 , better suited to support the integrity of the constitution and the respectability of a corporation than himself as Mayor it seemed as if the Cork Orangemen were thumbing their noses at government. The Whigs had been coming under increasing pressure from many quarters to route Orangemen out of official unionism. For a while Royal Cumberland Loyal Orange Lodge number 540 went underground until a new district master was selected. After the Easter rising of 1916 and the burning of Protestant Churches plus attacks on the Anglo-Irish community in large by Republican Forces, the Lodge closed. A reporter of the Cork Constitution (newspaper belonging to the Unionist Association) and then protestant Newspaper of the day said that Cumberland Lodge was one of six lodges burned down.
