On Chatham Naval Memorial is the name of 2586T Stoker William Orr, serving on H.M.S. Queen Mary with the Royal Naval Reserve who died 31/05/1916.

The husband of Ellen Jane Orr, of 17, Cowper Street Tilery Road, Stockton on Tees, Co. Durham.

Colin Boyd has provided the following :

According to the naval records William was born on 25th April 1883 but this is incorrect as he appears on the 1881 Census aged 11 months living with his widowed mother, Jane and two year old sister Margaret as lodgers with Sarah Johnson at 6, Douglass Street, Stockton on Tees.  Because of his age we can assume he was born on 25th April 1880. Strangely there is no trace of the death of his father, William.

By the time of the 1891 Census William was living with his mother, older sister and a boarder at 11, Shephard Street, Stockton on Tees. His mother, Janet was working as a laundress.

Ten years later Jane was still a widow but William had acquired two younger brothers and two younger sisters and they were living with two boarders at 17, Lucy Street, Stockton on Tees.  William was working at a local iron foundry.

On 8th March 1902 William married Ellen Jane Oliver in Stockton on Tees and the couple moved in with Jane in Lucy Street..

William enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve on 13th February 1908 when he was given the service number S/413. He was described as being 5 feet 6 inches tall with grey eyes and a pale complexion. William carried out all of his training obligations while his civilian occupation  was either a boilerman or fireman at various local works.

William was discharged in February 1913 and immediately re-enlisted being allocated the service number T/2586. His home address was given as 1, Eden Place, Norton on Tees but his date of birth was still wrong.

William was called up on 2nd August 1914 and posted to HMS Queen Mary on 13th August 1914. William was killed in action on 31st May 1916 when that vessel exploded and sank during the early stages of the Battle of Jutland with the loss of 1266 officers and ratings.

His widow, Ellen Jane was living at 31, Temple Street, Stockton on Tees with three daughters and two sons between the ages of two and 13.

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Born in Stockton on Tees on 25th April 1883, William was the second child of William and Margaret Orr, but his father died before he was a year old. His older sister Margaret had been born in Southwick in his mother’s home town of Sunderland.   By 1891 the young family were living in Douglass Street, Stockton, mother was working as a laundress and taking in lodgers to make end meet.

By 1901 they had moved to 17 Lucy Street, Stockton and 20 year old William was working at an iron foundry.  The following year William married local girl Ellen Jane Oliver on 8th March, and they went on to have five children, Maud born 1903, John in 1904, Ellen in 1906, Margaret in 1912 and Alexander in 1913 whilst living in Eden Place, Norton on Tees.

William enrolled with the Royal Naval Reserve in February 1908 and after training on HMS Africa, he sailed for a month on HMS Formidable.  He was paid a retainer whilst working as a fireman at the concrete works in Norton.  Called for full time service in the Royal Navy on 3rd August 1914, he worked as a stoker on board the battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.

On 31st May 1916 the British intercepted messages that the German High Sea Fleet was to enter the North Sea and the Battlecruiser Fleet, including Queen Mary, were sent to stop them.  At 4.26pm a shell from SMS Derfflinger hit the Queen Mary detonating one of its magazines. The ship broke in half and sank and Stoker William Orr was one of the 1,266 crew lost.

Queen Mary, along with the other Jutland wrecks, has been declared a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 to discourage further damage.

His widow received a pension of 24 shillings and 6 pence from the end of November 1916 and was paid £18 15 shillings in naval prize money in 1923.

Acknowledgements: Barney Rice.

William Orr is remembered at Norton on N68.02, at Stockton in S138.18 page 43 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.