Profile

O'NEILL, William
(Service number 75845)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank

Birth

Date	31 January 1891	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	(1) 26 June 1916; (2) 30 October 1917	Age	(1) 25 years; (2) 26 years 9 months
Address at Enlistment	N.Z. Railways, New Plymouth
Occupation	Railway fireman
Previous Military Experience	Railway Engineers (serving); as at October 1017, previously in a NZ Expeditionary Force camp - 18th Reinforcements - unfit.
Marital Status	Single. Then married. Married Gladys HAIGH on 18 March 1917 at New Plymouth. Children - Arthur Edward O'NEILL born on 25 March 1918? at New Plymouth; Joan Mary O'NEILL born on 16 April 1918 at New Plymouth.
Next of Kin	Mrs M. O'NEILL (mother), 75 Town Belt, Roslyn, Dunedin; Mrs Gladys O'NEILL (wife), care of Mrs Haigh, Liardet Street, New Plymouth, Taranaki
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 8¾ inches. weight 144 lbs. Chest measurement 32-36½ inches. Complexion medium. Eyes blue. Sight, hearing and colour vision all normal. Limbs well formed. Full and perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart and lungs normal. Free from hernia, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Varicocele - slight left. Good bodily and mental health. Slight left varicocele but not sufficient to cause rejection. No fits. No notifiction for consumption. Never under treatment in a sanatorium or mental institute. Never absent from work through accident or ill health.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	39th Reinforcements, B Company
Date	13 June 1918
Transport	Athenic
Embarked From		Destination	Liverpool, Merseyside, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals	British War Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date	18 October 1919	Reason	Termination of his Period of Engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	23 January 1947	Age	55 years
Place of Death	Wellington
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Karori Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Soldiers Section, Plot 20 Q/3
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William O'NEILL was born on 31 January 1891 at Timaru, the son of Irish born parents, Edward O'NEILL and Mary née DUGGAN. William's brother Edward O'Neill also served in World War I.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [31 May 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5549 0088649) [03 June 2016]; Timaru Herald, 10 October 1910, 11 October 1910 [x 2], 21 May 1914, Hawera & Normanby Star, 17 January 1918, Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1918, 4 April 1918, New Zealand Herald, 22 February 1940 (Papers Past) [02 & 03 June 2014]; Karori Cemetery, Wellington, headstone image & burial record (Wellington City Council) [03 June 2016]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!