Pte Charles O'Neill 543787

[brimarge]

I do not know anything about his regiment, only his number which I got from the 1918 Electoral Roll

I cannot find anything on Ancestry

He married late 1918 and died 19 Jul 1919 aged 38 (perhaps from the effects of war) he lived in Hartlepool, (so perhaps Northumberland Fusiliers or DLI, does his number indicate a late enlistment

It is a long shot but I wonder if anyone else can find anything

Brian

[sotonmate]

Brian

No Medal Index Card found on my search,nor the number without using the name,which seems to be a Labour Corps number,but I may be wrong.

Sotonmate

[Ivor Lee]

Brian

I would agree with Sotonmate that the number may well be a Labour Corps one.

If it is then it would mean he became a member of the Labour Corps in March 1918 and was posted to an Agricultural Company in the UK although the exact company cannot be identified from the number.

Ivor

[brimarge]

Thanks for the replies, does mean an equivalent to WW2 land army

Brian

[Ivor Lee]

Brian

Agricultural Companies were created to provide labour to work on farms. In many respects they were similar to the land army although, I may be wrong, but I think the WW2 Land Army was made up of civilians rather than soldiers.

Ivor

[apwright]

Hi Brian.

Try searching the Ancestry "Pension" Records for Charles O'Neill with number 78070. Ancestry says 13 images, but there are only 12, from 1432 to 1443.

78070 Charles O'Neill, 154 Prt. Coy, Royal Defence Corps.

Transferred to reserve 15/2/19, address 46 Grace St, West Hartlepool. NoK mother Catherine (in early 1918).

He was previously B/572 in the Rifle Brigade (indexed D/572 in the Ancestry MICs).

He served with the RB for 2 years, but seems to have gone AWOL a number of times, and was sent back to England "for transfer to Home Establishment" on 12/8/17.

Ancestry image #1435:

Regtl no. 543[cut off], Regiment: 492 Agric Coy, Labour Corps

(but "Age on enlistment: 44 years" doesn't match your man!)

Transferred from 492 Ag. Co. to Labour Centre Ripon 27/5/18

Transferred RDC, 166 Protection Coy, 30/6/18

Posted 200th Res.Coy. RDC 12/7/18

Posted 154 Coy. RDC Wakefield ??/7/18

Dispatched to Dispersal Station Ripon for demob 17/1/19

Tried to claim pension for "Loss of Teeth, aggravated by service", but application was rejected.

On discharge he is suddenly "Married", and 45 years old...

BINGO! On Ancestry image 1441 it says "Names of children: Allan Clarkson 17/12/16" and I see from the BMDs that your man is most likely the Charles O'Neill that married Frances Clarkson in Hartlepool in Q4 1918.

Image 1442 finally confirms the number 543787 in 492 Agricultural Coy LC. Says he was born in Govan, Scotland, and was 44 in 1914.

Then image 1443 (the last one for your man) links all 3 numbers B/572 in 7th Bn RB, 78070 in RDC and 543787 in Labour Corps... and then gives his declared age on 22/8/14 as 35 years 234 days!

Is this him?

Adrian

[brimarge]

Thanks Ivor, hada look at your web link, so I am a bit clearer now

Brian

[brimarge]

Adrian, Brilliant, this is him, his conduct sounds very much like his brother Peter O'Neill alias Peter OCallaghan, and yes he did marry and die soon after.

I found a cutting from the local Hartlepool paper when he died, it said that he was a member of the "Silver Club" and I thought this might refer to a wound medal, but it does not sound as if this would be the case.

Incidently would a wound medal appear on a medal card, did you get a bar if you were wounded more than once (seperate incident)

What a contrast, Peter and Charles are compared to brother Joseph winning the MM and promotion to Sgt

Brian

[Ivor Lee]

Thanks to Adrian's research I can add another snippet for you

492 Agricultural Company has its HQ at Beverley - so you can be fairly certain that he worked on a fram in that area whilst with the Company

Ivor