Joseph Orr was a member of the Hill End Presbyterian Church with his friend William McNae. Both played for Hill End’s soccer club – Orr at left back – before enlisting together in October 1914. Neither would survive the war. According to the notice of Orr’s death in the Brisbane Courier on 12 June 1915, he worked as a dispatch clerk for A. M. Hertzberg and Co, a wholesale business, though his record listed his occupation as Ironmonger, which may have been consistent with some of the products the company sold.
Orr’s record of active service was a mere two lines, one listing his arrival at Gallipoli on 12 April 1915, the other his death on 3 May. Most of the documents in his records were letters between his father and the military records office. Thomas Orr, as was usual in these circumstances, first wrote requesting an official confirmation of death so he could finalise his son’s affairs. He found an ally in William’s McNae’s father who, also writing for a death certificate, also asked about Orr’s. Another flurry of letters was written after a package arrived with Orr’s personal effects only containing a prayer book and his military disc. Thomas Orr wrote to ask about some items considered missing: a gold ring, a fountain pen and a pocket knife. The Records Office investigated the matter by tracking down officers in the Battalion. Sergeant Skinner stated he had collected Orr’s personal effects, including two gold rings, and had handed them to Lieutenant Leitch, who then, according to Skinner, gave them to Sergeant McIntosh. Leitch stated all of Orr’s personal effects were handed into the Orderly Office. McIntosh said he had no memory of the matter, but if the items were given to him, he would have passed them on to Orderly Room officer Sergeant Bull who was now, according to McIntosh, deceased.
Orr’s effects were never recovered.