James Orr (1770 – 24 April 1816), known as the ''Bard of Ballycarry'', was a poet or '' rhyming weaver'' from Ballycarry, Co. Antrim in the province of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

in Ireland, who wrote in English and Ulster Scots. His most famous poem wa
The Irishman
He was the foremost of the Ulster Weaver Poets, and was writing contemporaneously with

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

. Orr joined the Irish nationalist

Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

in 1791 and took part in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

. The United Army of Ulster, of which he was a part, was defeated at the Battle of Antrim and after a time hiding from the authorities, he fled to America. He remained there for a short time, earning a living by working for a newspaper, but returned to Ballycarry in 1802 under an amnesty. He died in Ballycarry in 1816 at the age of 46. An imposing monument to Orr, erected by local

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in 1831, is sited in the Templecorran cemetery near Ballycarry, in memory of the great Mason and Ulster Weaver Poet. Orr had been a charter member of the Lodge. The version of the Irish passport issued in 2013 has lines of poetry in Irish, English and Ulster Scots. The Ulster Scots lines are from Orr's poem ''Written in Winter'' and appear on page 28 of the document.

Poems

James Orr (1770–1816) writes from his experience of the story of the exiles from Ballycarry after the ill-fated 1798 Rebellion.Ballycarry – Co Antrim – Home of Poet James Orr http://www.weavers-trail.co.uk/poems-of-orr-passengers The Passengers

References

External links

SEARC's webguideLarne Borough CouncilArticle on James OrrIrish Freemasons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, James 1770 births 1816 deaths 18th-century Irish poets 19th-century Irish poets Irish Freemasons People from County Antrim Ulster Scots people United Irishmen Ulster Weaver Poets Ulster Scots-language poets

Poems

See also

References

External links