Arthur O'Neill

O'Neill was the second but eldest surviving son of Edward O'Neill, 2nd Baron O'Neill, and his wife Lady Louisa Katherine Emma (née Cochrane). Hugh O'Neill, who was later created Baron Rathcavan, was his younger brother.

O'Neill joined the British Army as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards on 26 May 1897, and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 June 1898.Hart's Army list, 1903. He saw active service in South Africa between 1899 and 1900, during the Second Boer War, for which he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps.{{cite web |title=O'Neill, Hon. Arthur Edward Bruce |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U189582 |website=Who Was Who |publisher=A & C Black |access-date=26 November 2014 |date=April 2014}} On 3 January 1902 he was promoted to captain,{{London Gazette |issue=27474 |date=16 September 1902 |page=5959}} and temporary appointed adjutant to the 2nd Life Guards.{{London Gazette |issue=27403 |date=4 February 1902 |page=716 }}

File:O'Neill Memorial Hall - geograph.org.uk - 667946.jpg, South Antrim, built in 1926]]

O'Neill fought in the First World War as a captain in "A" Squadron 2nd Life Guards. He was killed in action at Klein Zillebeke ridge on 6 November 1914, aged 38, the first MP to be killed in the conflict. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.{{CWGC|id=1622815|name=O'Neill, The Hon. Arthur Edward Bruce|access-date=30 August 2016}} O'Neill is also commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.{{cite web |title=Recording Angel memorial Panel 8 |publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk) |website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall |url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wwi-angel-memorial/recording-angel-panel8/ |access-date=31 August 2016}}{{cite web |title=List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall |publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk) |website=Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorial-Westminster-Hall-WW1.pdf |access-date=31 August 2016}} O'Neill is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.{{cite web |title=O'Neill |publisher=UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk) |website=Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War |url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/memorials/in-the-collection/world-war-i/wars-heraldic-shields/oneill/ |access-date=1 September 2016}} A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of O'Neill.{{Cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS118171206/TTDA |newspaper=The Times |publication-place=London |title=House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker |date=6 February 1932 |page=7 |issue=46050 |access-date=2023-12-21 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}{{cite book |editor-last=Moss-Blundell |editor-first=Edward Whitaker |title=The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918 |publisher=E. Mathews & Marrot |year=1931}}

He was elected to the House of Commons for Mid-Antrim in January 1910, succeeding his uncle Robert Torrens O'Neill. His brother Hugh succeeded him as MP for Mid-Antrim.

File:Lady Annabel Crewe-Milnes (1881–1948).png

O'Neill married, at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, on 21 January 1902, Lady Annabel Crewe-Milnes, daughter of Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe. The Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, performed the ceremony.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-court-circular/137197373/ |newspaper=The Times |publication-place=London |title=Court circular |date=22 January 1902 |page=10 |issue=36671 |access-date=2023-12-21 |via=Newspapers.com}} Lady Annabel later remarried and died in 1948.

O'Neill and his wife had five children; three sons and two daughters. Their eldest son Shane succeeded his grandfather in the barony in 1928, while their third son Terence, who was less than two months old at the time of his father's death,{{cite ODNB |last1=Mulholland |first1=Marc |title=O'Neill, Terence Marne, Baron O'Neill of the Maine (1914–1990) |id=39857}} was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland between 1963 and 1969.

Their children were:{{London Gazette |issue=33567 |date=3 January 1930 |page=45 }}

• Hon. Sibyl O'Neill (1902–1946), married Lt Col Edward North Buxton in 1924
• Hon. Mary Louisa Hermione O'Neill (1905–1991), married Lt Col Derek Ernest Frederick Orby Gascoigne in 1934; parents of Bamber Gascoigne
• Shane O'Neill, 3rd Baron O'Neill (1907–1944 killed in action)
• Hon. Brian Arthur O'Neill (1911–1940 killed in action)
• Terence O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine (1914–1990), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

{{Reflist}}

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, {{Page needed |date=February 2013}}
• {{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}

• {{Hansard-contribs | hon-arthur-oneill | Arthur O'Neill }}

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{{s-bef|before=Robert Torrens O'Neill}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for Mid Antrim|years=January 1910 – November 1914}}

{{s-aft|after=Hugh O'Neill}}

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Category:1876 births

Category:1914 deaths

Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (1801–1922)

Category:UK MPs 1910

Category:UK MPs 1910–1918

Category:British Life Guards officers

Category:British military personnel killed in World War I

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:British MPs who died in office

Category:Irish Unionist Party MPs

Arthur

Category:Irish people of World War I

Category:Younger sons of barons

Category:Heirs apparent who never acceded

Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War