Name

Frank Orr.

Description

Newspaper Photograph of Frank Orr.

Life Story

Name: Francis Orr.

Service Number: 8298.

Rank: Rifleman.

Battalion: 1st Battalion.

Regiment: Royal Irish Rifles.

Born: 8th August 1885, Newtownards, County Down.

Died: 5th May 1915.

Address: 5 Crimea Street, Belfast

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Francis Orr, son of Nicholas and Eliza Jane Orr, lived at 5 Crimea Street, Shankill Road, Belfast

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Francis (Frank) joined the Royal Irish Rifles.

He was posted as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France on the 6th of November 1914.

Francis was a Rifleman in 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles when he was Killed In Action on the 5th May 1915 aged 29 years.

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A local newspaper states

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R.I.R CASUALTIES.

Official intimation has been received that Rifleman Frank Orr, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in action near Tilleloy on the 5th inst. Deceased was a reservist, and was working in Glasgow when mobilisation was ordered. His brother, Sergeant Robert Orr, is serving with the Scots Guards. Their parents reside at 5 Crimea Street, Belfast

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The Orr family are wrote about in greater depth within the Barry Niblock Great War Memorial Book, The War Dead of North Down and Ards

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Taken from the Barry Niblock website.

Franks parents placed a death notice in the Belfast Telegraph and it contained the verse:

No matter how we pray,

No matter how we call,

There is nothing left to answer

But his photo on the wall.

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Jane Campbell of 14 Ewarts Row, Belfast also placed a death notice in the Belfast Telegraph and it contained the verse:

He wandered far from where his heart

Had bound its earthly tie,

And in a far-off distant land

His body now doth lie.

Sadly missed

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This family lost five members, with Francis losing his brother, Nicholas, his half brother Hugh, and his two nephews Andrew Orr and John Orr

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Francis Orr - K.I.A.

Nicholas Orr - Brother K.I.A.

Hugh Orr - Half Brother K.I.A.

Andrew Orr - Nephew K.I.A.

John Orr - Nephew K.I.A

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Others within the Orr Family that Served included

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Robert Orr D.C.M Served Royal Scots Brother.

James Orr Served Scottish Regiment Brother.

Hugh Orr Served Royal Navy Nephew.

Nicholas Served 86th Machine Gun Battalion Nephew.

Francis Served Canadian Expeditionary Force Nephew.

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Franks Soldiers Effects were left to his mother.

His Will, Signed and Dated 6th November 1914, states the following, In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to Mrs Orr, signed 8298 Rfm F Orr, 1st Battalion.

Dependant Pension Application Forms show his mother as claimant also.

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See brother also: 741 Rifleman Nicholas Orr 15th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles.

See brother also: 15223 Company Sergeant Major Robert Orr 13th Battalion The Royal Scots.

See half brother also: 9285 Private Hugh Orr 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry

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See nephew also: 55918 Andrew Orr Rifleman 15th Battalion Canadian Infantry.

See nephew also: 774 Rifleman John Orr 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles.

See nephew also: 174360 Private Nicholas Orr 86th Machine Gun Battalion C.E.F.

See nephew also: S.S 107946 Stoker 1 Hugh Orr Royal Navy.

See nephew also: 757998 Private Francis Orr 19th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force.

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Frank received the British War Medal, Victory Medal and 1914 Star.

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He is Remembered at Royal Irish Rifles Graveyard, Laventie, France.

To Remember Is To Honour

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Footnote.

Although five of the Orr family were not born or grew up on the Shankill Road, and the connection is simply that their grandparents lived within it, S.A.S.H believe that it is only right to keep this family and their sacrifice together, and do so to show the depth of Loyalty, Devotion and Commitment that this family, and many many more, had to their King and Country at this time.

The saying All Gave Some, Some Gave All, relates to many families within Ireland at that time, and therefore it is appropriate for this family to be highlighted and kept as one.

http://barryniblock.co.uk/world-war-one-list-of-dead/names-listed-alphabetically-by-surname/obrien-to-oswald/orr-francis-no-8298/