John O'Neill

Thornton Cleveleys War Memorial 1914-1918 | Index

John O'Neill was born in Wallsend, Northumberland on 10 April 1880 and baptised at the Catholic Church in Willington on the following 2 May. John was the eldest of eight children of Bernard O'Neill and his wife Martha Mary Wann who had married in Gateshead, County Durham, in 1879. Bernard was born in Crossmaglen, Armagh. He had come to England by the time of the 1871 Census when he was recorded as living in Railway Row, Felling on Tyne (now a district of Gateshead) and working as a chemical labourer. Martha was born in Felling in 1856 and recorded there with her parents in the censuses of 1861 and 1871.

John O'Neill's grave

In the 1881 Census, the O'Neill family were at 9 Carlisle Street, Felling, with Martha's widowed father who was a hairdresser. Perhaps they were just paying a visit because their second child, Ellen was also born in Wallsend the following year. Another daughter, Mary Ann, was born in Gateshead on 31 December 1883 and baptised at St. Joseph's on 13 January 1884. The family then returned to Felling where three more daughters were born: Martha in 1886, Sarah in 1888 and Kathleen Frances in 1890.

When the next Census was taken on 5 April 1891, Bernard, Martha and their six children were living at Providence Place, Felling and Bernard was said to be a chemical foreman. After son Bernard Alphonsus was born in 1893, the O'Neill family moved to Thornton where their eighth and youngest child, Francis, was born in 1895. The family lived at 12 Heys Street in 1901. Bernard senior was a process worker at the United Alkali works, John was an apprentice bricklayer, Ellen a dressmaker and Martha a pupil teacher. Ellen married Thomas Malley in 1905 and their daughter Cecilia Mary was born on 1 March the following year.

In the next Census, taken on 2 April 1911, seven of the eight O'Neill children were at home with their parents who lived at Green Villas (now 84) Fleetwood Road. Francis was the odd one out. Aged 15, he was a student at St. Edward's Roman Catholic College, St. Domingo Road, Everton. When he left school he joined his two elder brothers at United Alkali but they worked in different trades. John was a bricklayer, Bernard junior was a joiner and Francis was a chemist. All three would serve their country during the coming hostilities, although it appears that only John served overseas.

John O'Neill enlisted in the army at Blackpool on 11 December 1915. Fragments of his war service record have survived showing that he was mobilized on 27 March 1916 and that he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner on 1 April that year. He was posted to the 330th Seige Battery on 27 April 1917 and was sent to France on 24 May. It was whilst in France that John was diagnosed with tuberculosis on 14 June 1919. He returned to Britain on 6 July and was stationed briefly at Prees Heath camp in Shropshire before being discharged from the army on 5 August 1919.

John's health never recovered and he died on 17 February 1920. He was aged 39 and unmarried. Gunner John O'Neill, 71937, 330th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery is buried in Grave J.14 at Poulton le Fylde Old Cemetery.