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2050   Private John James Ormsby
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Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 01/11/2021
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 1st Battalion, Irish Guards (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 19/09/1886
Died: 01/11/1914 (Killed in Action)
Age: 28
Summary      
John James Ormsby was the son of George and Anna Maria Ormsby. He was born on 19 September 1886 in Ballybunion County Kerry. George Ormsby The 1901 records the family as living in Aghareville Lower, Kilcolman, County Mayo. John was a 14 year old scholar. George Ormsby had retired from the Royal Irish Constabulary. John J Ormsby had been a Irish Guardsman before the War but left the regiment to become a policeman in the Royal Irish Constabulary. When war broke out he returned to Mayo where he enlisted in Castlebar with the Irish Guards again. He was living in Dungannon, County Tyrone at the time. Private John James Ormsby was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards when he was killed in action about 1st November 1914, age 28. The CWGC records he was the son of Burris and Anna Maria Ormsby, of I, Belle Vue Terrace, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.
Further Information
John James Ormsby was the son of George and Anna Maria Ormsby. He was born on 19 September 1886 in Ballybunion County Kerry. George Ormsby
Family: Burris Ormsby, Anna Maria Ormsby, George Ormsby (born about 1883), May Ormsby (born about 1885), John James Ormsby (born 19th September 1886, Kerry), Burris Ormsby (born about 1890), Harriet Ormsby (born about 1891), Emily Ormsby (born about 1893).
The 1901 records the family as living in Aghareville Lower, Kilcolman, County Mayo. John was a 14 year old scholar. George Ormsby had retired from the Royal Irish Constabulary.
The family is still living in Mayo at the time of the 1911 census, but John James is not living there.
John J Ormsby had been a Irish Guardsman before the War but left the regiment to become a policeman in the Royal Irish Constabulary.
1914
When war broke out he returned to Mayo where he enlisted in Castlebar with the Irish Guards again. He was living in Dungannon, County Tyrone at the time.
Medal card
Private Ormsby arrived in France with the Irish Guards on 13th August 1914.
From an unknown Irish Midland newspaper article: “Home from the front”.
”His many friends in Portarlington and in the R.I.C. at Kilmalogue, County Offaly were glad to see during the week Gunner Ed. R. Ryan, of the Garrison Artillery, who paid a visit to Portarlington after his discharge from hospital where he has undergone treatment for injuries from shrapnel. He now looks fit and well and has returned to his station at Gosport, England. Driver Ryan was a member of the R.I.C. and stationed at Kilmalogue barracks at the outbreak of war. He and Constable Ormsby joined the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards and nothing has been heard of him for some months although the minutest inquiries have been made by his friends. It is presumed he was killed in action.”
Private John James Ormsby was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards when he was killed in action about 1st November 1914, age 28.
1915
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 15th March 1915
News is awaited of the fate of Private John G Ormsby (2050), 4th Company, 1st Battalion Irish Guards, who was reported missing in November last. Repeated inquiries at the War Office and the Prisoners Bureau having failed, information from any of the Guardsmen returned home would be thankfully received by his parents who reside at 5 Bellevue Terrace, Dungannon.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 18th March 1915:
News is anxiously awaited of the fate of Private John G Ormsby (2050), 4th Company, 1st Battalion Irish Guards, who was reported missing in November last. Repeated inquiries at the War Office and the Prisoners Bureau having failed, information from any of the Guardsmen returned home would be thankfully received by his parents who reside at Bellevue Terrace, Dungannon.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 1st July 1915:
Mr John K Kavanagh, Queen Street, Newry, having made inquiries as to the fate of a missing Irish Guardsman named John J Ormsby, who belonged to Dungannon, and was a member of the R.I.C., has received a letter from Private J Cully, a Newry man in the Guards, stating that Ormsby was killed on November 1.
1916
From the Tyrone Courier dated 13 April 1916:
The fate of John J Ormsby, Irish Guards, who has been reported missing since 6th November 1914, has been investigated, and his parents, who reside at 5 Bellevue Terrace, Dungannon, have been notified that he was killed in action. At the outbreak of war, Private Ormsby had been a constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) at Portarlington. He was then a reservist of the Irish Guards, and on being called up went to the front with the first Expeditionary Force.
Memorials
Private John James Ormsby has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 11 on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres in Belgium.
Private John James Ormsby is commemorated locally on Dungannon War Memorial and on the WWI Roll of Honour in St Anne's Church Of Ireland in Dungannon.
The CWGC record Private John James Ormsby as the son of Burris and Anna Maria Ormsby of Belle Vue Terrace, Dungannon, County Tyrone.
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References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 1901 Census lists Ormsby family Lists John as age 14 living with the family at house 1 in Aghareville Lower, Kilcolman, Mayo
2 1911 Census lists Ormsby family Does not list John as living with the family at house 3 in Aghareville Lower, Kilcolman, Mayo
3 Belfast Telegraph 06/07/2018 Brief details on Private Ormsby
4 Kerry birth records John James Ormsby date of birth and actual register image
5 Kerry War Dead - PDF Information on John James Ormsby
6 National Archives UK Medal Card can be purchased here
7 The RIC in WW1 John James Ormsby listed as Royal Irish Constabulary
Dungannon District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2015-2023