transferred to (228110) Labour Corps
Service No: 26545
Died: 27/12/1917
Age: 28
Interred in Bangor Cemetery
Francis Patrick Murray was born in Bramley, Leeds, in 1889 (possibly 1st January). He was the son of Richard Murray, an Excise officer and Elizabeth Murray nee Trevor, and the second of their four sons.
His father's position saw the family, including his older brother Richard, move to Ireland where his brother William was born in Dublin in 1894 and then Monasterevin, Co Kildare, where brother Eugene was born in 1897.
In the census of 1901, Francis, now aged 12, and his three brothers were living with their aunt Maria Carroll, in Richmond Terrace, Bray
In 1911, Francis was working as a Chemists Assistant and living in a Hotel in Harcourt Street.
Francis was working as a Chief Dispensing Chemist and was a licentiate of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland when he enlisted in the 10th (Commercial) Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers in Dublin on 24 March 1916.
His father Richard, now a retired Surveyor of Customs and Taxes, died in Dublin in October 1916.
Little is known of exact service but in March 1917 Francis was admitted to Huddersfield War Hospital with Valvular Disease of the Heart, the record stating that it was present at enlistment.
He was posted to the 11th Battalion on 9th April 1917 before being transferred to the Labour Corps in July 1917.
Francis was stationed in Clandeboye South Camp when he was admitted to the Camp Hospital on 13th December suffering from tonsillitis and was discharged to "Light Duty" on the 18th December having recovered.
A surviving medical note records that on the morning of 27th December 1917: "He was found dead near a latrine close to his Barrack Room, the Police were notified and an inquest was not considered necessary... I am informed the night previously joined in Xmas festivities with some of his comrades at Bangor. This man's condition was in my opinion aggravated by his military service."
