On 1st July 1940, the Loyal Orange Institution of Ireland donated £1,000 to the War Office. The British Government department accepted the gift with "warm gratitude". The money covered the cost of a pair of motorised ambulances.
In response to the gift from the Loyal Orange Institution of Ireland, Lord Sir Henry Page-Croft (Under-Secretary of State for War) wrote to Sir Joseph Davidson (Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland) to express thanks.
Dear Sir Joseph, It was with considerable emotion that I opened the letter handed to me today in the House of Lords enclosing a cheque for the munificent sum of £1,000 from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland made out to the Secretary of State for War.
The cheque will be handed by myself to the Army Council immediately, and this is merely an acknowledgment of the receipt of your letter, and if I may do so as a life-long friend of Ulster, I should like to convey my personal appreciation of this fine gift in the form of two motor ambulance vehicles for the War Office.
A second letter soon made its way to the desk of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland’s Belfast District Headquarters. Once again addressed to Sir Joseph Davidson, this one came from the Secretary of the Army Council:
Sir, I am commanded by the Army Council to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 1st July 1940 addressed to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War.
I am to express the Council’s warm gratitude for the munificent gift of £1,000 by your Grand Lodge to cover the cost of providing two fully equipped W.D. Ambulances. No time will be lost in preparing the two ambulances and in mounting on them plaques inscribed in accordance with your wishes. Photographs of the ambulances and plaques will be transmitted to you on completion.
I am to desire you to convey to your Grand Lodge the appreciation of the Council of the loyal spirit of co-operation in the national effort which has inspired this very acceptable gift.
Following the presentation of the cheque to the War Office, Sir Joseph Davidson spoke to the press of the role played by members of the Loyal Orange Institution of Ireland.
In making this gift, the members of our institution feel that they must give practical expression for their loyalty and sympathy for the Crown and Empire in this time of crisis. Britain is engaged in the greatest struggle of its existence. It is fighting an evil thing, a thing which is the very negation of all those principles which we hold dear.
Therefore, mere loyalty is not enough. We must give men and money if our cause is to prevail, and prevail it will. The Orange Institution of Ireland has given both gladly and with a proud heart.
As well as this gift of £1,000 from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland in Belfast, fundraising at a county level had seen donations made to the British Red Cross and other worthy wartime causes. Each of the new ambulances went into service bearing a plaque inscribed:
Presented by the Loyal Orange Institution of Ireland, 1st July 1940.