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Sgt. Thomas O'Neill
British Army 22nd Btn. Durham Light Infantry
from:Jarrow
(d.26th Mar 1918)
22/493 Sgt. Thomas O'Neill enlisted at Jarrow and joined the 22nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry. The 22nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry were the Division's Pioneers and as such would have been involved in work on trenches, roads, accommodation and trench railways. He died on the 26th March 1918 and is remembered at St. Paul's Church and the Pozieres Memorial Panel 68 to 72.
His medal card shows him awarded with the British War and Victory Medals - a pair which was commonly referred to as Mutt and Jeff - again cartoon characters of those times.
The date of his death was just before the German Offensive and the great retreat in April 1918 so he was probably killed during defensive preparation works as a Pioneer near the front line.
Thomas was born in Jarrow in 1891 and the 1911 census has him living at 45 South Street, Jarrow with his wife Betsy O'Neill nee Sanderson and their daughter Catherine aged 1. He is employed as a labourer in the Platers section of a Boilermaking Works.
