The Apprentice Boys of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership of over 80,000, founded in 1814. They are based in the city of Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. However, there are Clubs and branches across Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and further afield. The Society aims to commemorate the 1689 Siege of Derry

Siege of Derry

The Siege of Derry took place in Ireland from 18 April to 28 July 1689, during the Williamite War in Ireland. The city, a Williamite stronghold, was besieged by a Jacobite army until it was relieved by Royal Navy ships...

 when Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

 laid siege to the walled city which was at the time a Protestant stronghold. Apprentice Boys parades once regularly led to rioting in the city by Nationalist youths, but recently a more conciliatory approach has taken place and now the parades are virtually trouble free.
The siege of Derry finally came to an end when, under the orders of the Dutch Marshall Frederic Schomberg

Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg

Friedrich Hermann , 1st Duke of Schomberg , KG , was a marshal of France and a General in the English and Portuguese Army....

, three armed merchant ships called the Mountjoy, the Phoenix and the Jerusalem sailed up the Foyle.