7th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth:
06/06/1896
Died:
06/09/1916 (Killed in Action)
Age:
20
Summary
Joseph Porter was the only son of Samuel and Isabella Porter. He was born on 6th June 1895. He was one of seven children, all born in the Fivemiletown area. Joseph’s father died on 7th February 1899. Joseph would have been three years old. The family lived at Aghintain, between Clogher and Fivemiletown, By 1911 the family had moved to Belfast. Joseph had left school and was working as a labourer in a brick works. Sergeant Joseph Porter was serving with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action in the Somme region on 6th September 1916.
Further Information
Joseph Porter was the only son of Samuel and Isabella Porter. Samuel Porter and Isabella Keys were married on 9th August 1884 in the district of Fermanagh.
Joseph Porter was born on 6th June 1895 in Fivemiletown. He was one of seven children, five surviving, all born in the Fivemiletown area.
Family: Samuel Porter, Isabella Porter, Mary Porter (born 10th May 1885, died 29th August 1894, age 10), Margaret Porter (born 2nd December 1886), Anne Porter (born 8th February 1889), Susan Porter (born 29th September 1891), Elizabeth Porter (born 27th May 1893), Joseph Porter (born 6th June 1895), May Porter (born about 1899).
Joseph’s father, Samuel Porter, died on 7th February 1899 in the Fivemiletown area. He was 42 years old. Joseph would have been three years old.
The 1901 census records the family living at Aghintain (between Clogher and Fivemiletown) in County Tyrone. Joseph was 5 years old. His mother was a widow and washerwoman.
By the time of the 1911 census the family were living in Wansbeck Street, Cromac, Antrim which is now in the Stranmillis area of Belfast. Joseph had left school and was working as a labourer in a brick works.
Joseph Porter enlisted in Belfast.
Sergeant Joseph Porter was serving with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action in the Somme region on 6th September 1916.
In his will, he left all to his younger sister, May Porter, who was living at 5 Wansback Street, Belfast,
Last Will and Testament of Joseph Porter dated 4th August 1916:
In the event of my death, I leave the whole of my property and effects to my sister May Porter, 5 Wansback Street, Belfast, Ireland. Signed Joseph Porter Sergeant. 7th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Date 4th August 1916.
Sergeant Joseph Porter has no known grave has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
Sergeant Joseph Porter is commemorated locally on Fivemiletown War Memorial.
The CWGC record Sergeant Joseph Porter as the brother of Miss May Porter of Brockhaugh, Tempo, County Fermanagh.
Sergeant Joseph Porter is listed on page 42 of the Fivemiletown book, from which most of these details come from. Many thanks to Mark Byers for the information.
