Laverty, Joseph (Joe)
Second Lieutenant
13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Thursday 16 August 1917 (aged 30)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 138 to 140 & 162 to 162A & 163A)
Lisburn’s Dead 1914 – 1919 (Friends School Lisburn WW1 Research Project)
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance
BIOGRAPHY
The death of Second Lieutenant Joseph Laverty was reported in the 25 August 1917 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle under the headline Former Newtownards School Teacher Killed.
In some records, his surname is spelt Lafferty.
Joseph Laverty was born on 15 December 1886 and he was a son of James and Margaret (Maggie) Laverty (nee Lyle).
James Laverty was a grocer and tailor and he and Maggie had at least eleven children:
Mary (Minnie, born 24 July 1877 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Sarah (born 1 January 1879 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Margaret (born 16 February 1880 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
James (born 28 August 1881 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Margaret (Maggie, born 19 April 1884 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Hugh (born 15 June 1885 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Joseph (Joe, born 15 December 1886 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Samuel (born 28 February 1889 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Anne Jane (born 18 May 1890 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Lizzie Loftee (born 1 June 1891 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Margretta (born 3 July 1892 in Tobermore, Co Londonderry)
Their mother, Maggie, died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 19 June 1905 (aged 46). Her son Joseph was with her when she died.
Joseph Laverty was a National School teacher by profession he held posts at Edenderry in Omagh, Co Tyrone; Ballinalee, Co Longford; Wilson’s Hospitals Endowed School in Co Westmeath and Newtownards Model School, Co Down before being appointed principal at Castlerobin National School, Lisburn.
Joseph Laverty and Gretta Diver were married on 22 July 1910 in Cappagh Parish Church of Ireland Church, Omagh, Co Tyrone. Joseph Laverty (aged 23) was from Edenderry. Gretta Diver (aged 23), a National School teacher from Cappagh was a daughter of James Diver, a Sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).
In 1911, they were living in the townland of Gorteenreevagh, Ballinalee, Co Longford. Joseph Laverty volunteered for the Army and entered Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) on 22 November 1915. He was a member during 1915/16 and then served as a Second Lieutenant with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Laverty was 30 when he was killed in action on 16 August 1917 at Langemarck during the Third Battle of Ypres and he has no known grave.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Laverty is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium; in Lisburn’s Dead 1914 – 1919 (Friends School Lisburn WW1 Research Project); on the QUB War Memorial and in the QUB Book of Remembrance (Page 31).