" black protestant " Meaning

[CaroleW]

As your ancestor was born in Bolton - was there any Irish ancestry?

If so - perhaps it was an expression passed down within the family.  In Liverpool - the terms "Prossie" & "Red neck" were used to describe the respective religions

[Top-of-the-hill]

  There is an organization called the Royal Black Institution, linked to the Orange Order. I was somewhat startled some years ago to discover that my scottish great grandfather, then resident in New Zealand was past grand master of the Royal Black Preceptory.

[aghadowey]

Here in Northern Ireland we have the 'Black Saturday' (also called 'Last Saturday') when the Royal Black Institution have their main parade at the end of the Marching Season. The R.B.I. was founded in 1797 (just a few years after the Orange Order).
http://royalblack.org/

Calling someone a 'Black Protestant' would indicate they were certainly Protestant and might have belong to the R.B.I.

[KeoGenRI]

 I am going to say mystery solved .

 Thanks everyone for the insight


Bill Keough

[shanreagh]

I am going to say mystery solved .

 Thanks everyone for the insight


Bill Keough

I would go with the explanations of Aghadowey, Top-of-the-hill & the Wiki link. 

Thanks Aghadowey for the reminder of the 'marching season'. 

My gt grandfather was a 'fierce Presbyterian' & Orangeman from the North of Ireland.  He came to NZ 'for the good of his health' and my mother thought that this was a reference to the family predispositon to bronchitis until enlightened by her brother. In his early times in NZ the Auckland City Council tried to organise separate days in the marching season but they everyone marched on the same day/on each other's day, so ACC organised separate routes but 'they always found each other' according to my mother. 

ETA. This gt Grandfather ensured that his five children were brought up as Anglicans, he was a widowed only months after arriving in NZ  and this was my gt grandmother's religion. My grandmother's sister arranged for him to be buried from the Presbyterian church in Auckland and I was glad to read that.