Patrick O’Rourke

Letters By Author

Patrick O’Rourke (1896 - 1943)

Date of letters

22 September 1916 - 22 July 1919

Number of letters

18

Regiments

Mechanical Transport Army Service Corps 22 September 1916 - 22 July 1919

Rank

Private

Regimental number
346233

Patrick O’Rourke was born on 20 July 1896 in Latlurcan, Co. Monaghan to parents Margaret Brady and Patrick O’Rourke, then an RIC Sergeant. Several of Margaret and Patrick's children were born in Co. Monaghan but their home address was given as Dunlewey Street, Belfast. The family later moved to Clonard Gardens in Belfast.

In the 1911 Census O’Rourke’s occupation was listed as a clerk in a bakery. He joined the staff of Belfast Public Libraries on 7 February 1913 as an Assistant Librarian.

O’Rourke joined the Mechanical Transport Royal Army Service Corps on 10 November 1917. He witnessed air raid attacks in London including the air raid at John Bull’s place which killed and injured many people. When serving in France he received a wound to his left hip and was captured, becoming a prisoner of war in March/April 1918. At the end of the war O’Rourke was caught up in the haphazard process of demobilisation. Placed in a medical category which debarred him from re-enlisting, he was still seeking to return home in July 1919. Joseph Devlin, the Irish politician and journalist, “kindly took an interest in his case” and corresponded with the War Office on his behalf to secure his release from the Colours.

He returned to a position in Falls Road Library on 6 October 1919. It is believed that he was left traumatised as a result of his experiences in the war.


Belfast Central Library. © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum.