San Francisco County

Biographies

FRED ALLEYNE ORR

FRED ALLEYNE ORR, an attorney of San Francisco, was born in Innishannon, Ireland, in 1855, a son of Dr. Samuel and Emily (Alden) Orr. Grandfather Orr, born in the north of Ireland, became a linen manufacturer in Innishannon, which is situated about seventeen miles from the city of Cork, in the county of that name. The father, Dr. Samuel Orr, died in Ireland at the age of fifty-seven; the mother is a resident of this city in 1890. F. Alleyne Orr received his education in the model school and in Perrott’s Academy in his native town, learning the classics and higher mathematics as well as the usual branches of a general English course. At the age of seventeen he went to England and entered King’s College, in Cambridge University, where he acted as tutor in preparing others for admittance to the university, while he attended the regular lectures for about three years. In 1875 he went to London and entered the Middle Temple to study for the bar, still supporting himself by “coaching” young men for the universities and by writing for the press. He continued his studies for the bar in Middle Temple three years, and became interested in politics as a member of the Liberal and Home Rule party. He was one of the organizers of the Home Rule Association of England, and a public lecturer in that and related lines of work for several years. He was instrumental in uniting about 100 radical clubs in London into what was known as the South London Radical Liberal Federation, in support of Gladstone and home rule. He is still the Vice-President of T. P. O’Connor’s Star Radical Club of London, and his interest in the success of the agitation for home rule in England as well as Ireland, is still unabated, though he can no longer devote his time and energy to the work of propagandism. The climate of this coast being recommended for his invalid mother, he was compelled to forego his labors for the success of liberalism in England, in the hope of bettering her condition. They arrived here in August, 1888, and in April, 1889, Mr. Orr was admitted to the bar of the Superior Court. On May 6, 1890, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, and he had built up a fair business, though somewhat handicapped by the differences in practice and pleading between American and English courts. That, however, will soon be overcome by a young man of his energy, ability and varied experience as a debater and pleader. In September, 1890, he moved his office to San Francisco, as a wider field for the exercise of his powers. Mr. Orr has a younger brother, Waldemar Orr, who is second officer on the steamer Sydney of the Pacific Mail line, plying between San Francisco and Panama.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, pages 675-676, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

California Biography Project

San Francisco County

California Statewide

Golden Nugget Library