Francis ‘Frank’ O’Hara – 31st August 1883 to 12th July 1915

17/09/2021  -  12.00

Andrew Rowley

Chelsea Graves Society was formed in the Autumn of 2020 by Nathan Whitehouse and Paul Carter. Two very knowledgeable supporters on all things Chelsea FC. Peter Wollaston, John Dalton, Robert Randall and myself, Andrew Rowley came along a little later to support the great work that had been started.

Our aim at the beginning was to research and record the final resting places of all ex-first team players. This has expanded over the last year to include ex-officials, non-first team players and others that have played a part in the club’s 116-year history.

So far, we have found the final resting places of 209 out of 341 ex-first team players. Some were straight forward, there is a lot of information that has been published over many years and was easy to verify. Others being a little harder to verify and be 100% certain the person you’ve found is the player that played football for us.

Sources include all the general family history sites, military records, websites recording our match and player history, the British Newspaper Archive and help from other similar groups researching their own players.

One source that has been a great help and support has been the relatives of our players. Being clarification that we’ve got the right person, to sharing some treasured memories, stories, and photographs.

There was always going to be a group of players that were going to be particularly difficult to find. These include those that played for us pre-World War One that were generally born 1875 to late 1890s. Records can be difficult to find, already published details would conflict on dates and places of birth and in our case whether a player recorded as playing one match for Chelsea FC ever existed at all.

One area that has been particularly well documented has of course been those players that fought for their countries during World War One.

2046 Lance Corporal Francis ‘Frank’ O’Hara - 31^st Aug 1883 to 12^th July 1915

One of those players we struggled with at the beginning was Francis ‘Frank’ O’Hara. All we were certain of was that he played three matches, scoring three goals in our first season 1905/06. There was conflicting published material on both place and date of birth and in some cases date of death. There had been no link to any military history recorded.

A smartly attired Francis ‘Frank’ O’Hara. Source: 1905/06 Chelsea FC Handbook.

Recently we all got together virtually and had a concerted effort to trace Francis and more importantly find that link to Chelsea FC.

From newspaper clippings we were able to piece together his football career and a few instances of being in court. Importantly, we picked up both that he came from Coatbridge, Scotland, a town just east of Glasgow and that he had a military career.

He played for Strathclyde and Albion Rovers before signing for Chelsea FC in August 1905. He returned to Albion Rovers in the summer of 1906, before playing for Bathgate, Wigan Town, Birmingham, Pendlebury and Royal Albert. Hanging his boots up we believe at the end of 1908.

Chelsea FC 1905/06 Squad - Francis ‘Frank’ O’Hara is seated in the middle row, fourth from the right. Source: 1905/06 Chelsea FC Picture Postcard.

One newspaper report as published in the Sheffield, Dundee and London Evening Standard newspapers has him in court for assaulting a police officer in Fulham on the 24^th April 1906. A summons was issued but he failed to appear, being subsequently arrested in Coatbridge and brought down to court in London on the 29th September 1906. Francis said “I am very sorry, but I am glad the bottle did not hit you” saying he was in drink at the time. He was fined 10 shillings or one day in prison. The police were rebuked for bringing Francis down to London and trying to claim £4. The judge stating “Well that does seem unnecessary – out of all proportion to the offence.”

This type of offence was repeated after returning to Coatbridge, both Francis and his brother Owen were well known and ‘colourful’ characters in the town, being frequent visitors in front of the local beak according to contemporary newspaper reports.

Francis was born to parents Bernard O’Hara and Rose nee Hernon (possibly only 15 at the time) on the 31st of August 1883 in Coatbridge. Bernard was an illiterate Irish Steel worker. The first four children including Francis were all recorded as O’Harrow not O’Hara. This can be explained by his father being illiterate and the similar sounding surnames being recorded by a clerk. This was the initial problem we had tracing Francis.

Living in very difficult conditions eight out of at least eleven children died in infancy. It’s very possible that Francis and brothers Owen and Michael were the only three that survived into adulthood.

Bernard died in 1897 and possibly because Francis didn’t get on with his stepfather, he lied about his age and joined the Army (3^rd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry) in December 1899. He served in South Africa between the 14^th July 1902 and the 11^th January 1903, he was then transferred to Egypt on the 12th January 1903, serving until the 21^st October 1904.

It was at this point he started his football career. He remained in the Army as a reservist until the 15^th January 1913. One reason for his travels as a footballer could be due to his ‘colourful’ character and numerous visits to court.

At the outbreak of World War One, Francis, Owen and Michael enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry. Owen had served in the Cameronians in the early 1900s. Owen was captured in France in late 1914 and was held as a prisoner of war by the Germans for the remainder of the war. He lived until 1964. Michael was killed in action on the 6th August 1916 and is buried in Dartmoor Cemetery, France.

Francis was killed in action during the Gallipoli Campaign, on the 12^th July 1915. One of the 4,000 casualties as the Scottish Division suffered massive losses in the sixth and last attempt to capture the hill at Achi Baba (Bloody Valley) only ten days after he landed. There is no known grave. Francis is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Panel 174-178.

We were able to link all the details together with documents showing war gratuities paid to both his mother Rose and brother Owen. Neither Francis or Michael is commemorated on the Coatbridge War Memorial, this may be because mother Rose emigrated shortly after the end of the war.

All our research has been verified by Chelsea FC Official Historian Rick Glanvill, who alongside the Chelsea Supporters Trust, will have Francis added to the Club Roll of Honour and see that he is commemorated appropriately this November, 2021.

Francis O’Hara 1883 to 1915 – Never Forgotten.

Biography

Andrew Rowley has been a Chelsea FC supporter since 1970, seeing many games, some fantastic, some not quite so good over the last 51 years. He is a collector of Chelsea FC memorabilia, mainly programmes and old photographs. Being almost retired now has given Andrew time to explore another passion, being family history, which led him to joining the Chelsea Graves Society. He is fascinated in not just the recorded history of the club and players but the unknown stories and memories the Chelsea Graves Society has uncovered with help from ex-players’ relative