History & Learning

Information supplied by Frances Orr (daughter).

Frank was born on 10th August 1919 and was the third of five sons of John and Martha Teggarty, from the fishing village of Kilkeel, Co. Down.  Another son, Archie, joined the Merchant Navy in 1942 and assisted with the D-Day landings.

Frank joined the Royal Navy on 27th August 1940. He was on HMS Caroline until 5th April 1941, HMS Drake from 6th to 28th April 1941, and then HMS Bergamot from 28th April 1941 to 20th August 1945. He finished his service on HMS Drake on 6th May 1946. HMS Bergamot served in convoys: PQ-18,  QP-15, JW-53, and RA-53.

He was Mentioned in Dispatches on 8th December 1942.

When he returned home, he married my mother, Ethel, and they had four children. He became a fisherman on a boat called the ‘Bonnie Ethel’ for a few years, before joining the engineering firm , Charles Brand. During his time with them he worked building jetties at Coolkeeragh Power Station (Londonderry) and Kilroot Power (Belfast Lough), the Dry Dock (Belfast), the Queen Elizabeth Bridge (Belfast) and the Eisenhower Pier (Bangor, Co. Down).

He died as a result of a brain tumour on 24th December 1981.

Click to expand photos