Ancient Order of Royal Foresters

The Ancient Order of Royal Foresters, also referred to simply as the Order of Royal Foresters, was a British fraternal society that was supposed to have existed at least since 1813, based on a dispensation document dated to that year in which the Supreme Court No. 1 of the Royal Foresters at the Old Crown Inn, Kirkgate, Leeds, Yorkshire granted one John Smithson permission to form Court No. 2 at Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Just over two decades later, at a 1834 meeting, members of the Ancient Order of Foresters seceded from the Royal Foresters, and the parent order was in the decades thereafter supposed to be reduced to just a few courts, most in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and some abroad in the British Empire, including Australia, where there were at least six courts supposed to exist as late as 1875.

Ritual
The ritual work of the Royal Foresters was based on the legends of Robin Hood and involved an initiatory duel with clubs or cudgels.