Samuel Thomas's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Samuel Thomas Orme was born at Leekfrith in 1881 and baptised on 25 December 1882 at St Edward's Church, Leek, Staffordshire, the son of Mary Elizabeth (née Clowes) and Samuel Orme, a labourer, of 87 Grove Street, Leek.
In the 1891 census, the family was living at 25 Duke Street, Macclesfield, where ten-year-old Samuel was living with his parents and siblings Hannah (23), Mary (22), Elsie (19), Sarah (16), Edith (13) and Maude (6). Samuel's mother died in 1899 and by 1901, his father had remarried; Samuel was working as a postman and living at 14 Old Mill Lane with his sister Sarah and younger siblings Maude (15), George Gilbert (8), Elizabeth Edith (7), and Mary Elsie (1).
On 17 June 1906, Samuel married Ada Eleanor Hayre at St Michael's Church, Macclesfield. By 1911, the couple were living at 184 High Street, Macclesfield, and had a son, Wilfred.
Samuel's wife Ada later lived at 19 Lyon Street, Macclesfield.
WW1 SERVICE
Samuel joined the South Lancashire Regiment on January 10th, 1916. In September, after training at Thornton, near Liverpool, he was drafted to France and transferred to the Manchester Regiment.
The death of Private Orme was reported in the Macclesfield Times on 31 August 1917:
LOCAL POSTMAN KILLED - SYMPATHETIC LETTER FROM AN OFFICER
Mrs Orme, 19 Lyon St, Macclesfield, has received news of the death in action of her husband, Private Samuel Thomas Orme, Manchester Regt. The information was contained in a letter written by Lieut. H Falconer, which stated: "Perhaps you have heard from the authorities about your husband, Private Orme (41,298). Words cannot properly convey my thoughts, but I hope you will accept my heart-felt sympathy.... Your husband always worked with ready willingness and great energy under all conditions, and paid the supreme sacrifice whilst nobly going into action. Enclosed [is a] letter which was found in a parcel which was opened and the contents given to his pals..."
Private Orme was thirty-six years of age and received his education at Duke Street Day Schools. On leaving, he entered the employ of the General Post Office as a telegraph messenger and worked himself up to the position of postman. He attended Christ Church, and his name appears on the Roll of Honour there. Private Orme joined the South Lancashire Regiment on January 10th, 1916 and after training at Thornton, near Liverpool, was posted out to France the following September, when he was transferred to the Manchester Regiment. While in training he used to come home once a fortnight and had four days' leave before going to the front.
Mrs Orme has three children. Her brother, Private V Hayre, is serving in France, as also is her sister's husband. Private Orme's father, Mr Samuel Orme, resides in Brown St. The deceased soldier's nephew, Private W Clowes, who is in the Sherwood Foresters, has been in France since the outbreak of the war. Upon receipt of the news of Private Orme's death the flag at Christ Church was hoisted half-mast, and the "Dead March" was played at the service on Sunday evening.
COMMEMORATION
Private Samuel Orme has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel Ref. 120 to 124 of the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Samuel Orme, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
Private Samuel Orme is commemorated in Macclesfield on the Park Green, Town Hall, St Michael's Church, and Christ Church war memorials, and on the Macclesfield Post Office war memorial and roll of honour.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages, Deaths
Cheshire Parish Marriage Registers (Find My Past): St Michael’s Church, Macclesfield
Census (England & Wales): 1891, 1901, 1911
Soldiers Died in the Great War (Find My Past)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Lives of the First World War website
Macclesfield Times: 31 August 1917, 23 September 1921 (photo supplement)
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.