St. George's Gazette
St. Batholemew
In
Loving remembrance
of
Eleanor Mary O'Daly
dearly loved daughter of
Edward and Mary E. Nicholson
whom God took to rest
Decr. 26th 1919.
also of
Dominic Doe Dathy O'Daly B.A. Oxon
2nd Lieut. Northumberland Fusiliers,
husband of the above
who fell in action at
the Butte de Warlencourt, France, on 14th November 1916.
Dominic Doe Dathy O'Daly was born in Handsworth, Birmingham and was the son of Dominick and Harriet Elizabeth O'Daly, later of 155, Exeter Road, Exmouth, Devon.
He was educated at Handsworth Grammar School and afterwards at Exeter College, Oxford where he matriculated in 1913 and was granted his B.A. degree in his absence in October 1916.
Whilst at Handsworth he was described as a highly respected Captain of the school and a splendid fellow whose school life was a beacon, conspicuously bright, whose nature was one of those ‘that gives delight and hurt not’. He was Junior Athletic Champion in 1908, Captain of Football in 1912 and Senior Captain in 1913.
He was a member and sergeant of the Handsworth G. S. O.T.C. and subsequently a member Oxford University O.T.C. when he went up to college.
He obtained his commission in the Northumberland Fusiliers on the 14th August 1915.
A note in the St. Georges Gazette, August 1916 from the 7th Reserve Battalion comments that ‘ 2nd Lieut. D. R. D. O’Daly – who is to be congratulated on the wedding we saw in the marriage column of the papers, but had heard nothing of previously – has left us for the front’. His fellow officers had clearly noted that he had married Eleanor Mary Nicholson (O’Daly) of Sea View House, Newbiggin–By–The-Sea, Northumberland.
O’Daly or ‘Daly’ as he was known by his friends had thoughts of a career within the church and the memorial to him and his wife, in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Newbiggin–By-The-Sea , states that he ‘Fell in action in the Great War Nov 14th 1916, whilst hoping to take Holy Orders’.
He entered the ‘Theatre Of War – France’ and joined the first line with the 1/7th Battalion on 14/8/1916.
Although he is said to have had an inherent abhorrence of war in itself, he proved to be an extremely talented ‘shot’ and secured a double first in the Bisley, Machine Gun and Lewis Gun course and after a further course at the front was subsequently appointed Lewis Gun Officer.
Handsworth School record states that Second Lieutenant D. R. D. O’Daly was killed in action on 14th November 1916 whilst gallantly leading his company in an attack on a German trench. The Fusiliers had taken one trench, which three other battalions had successively failed to take and in the attempt on the second they were met by a strong German party and Lieutenant O’Daly was killed by a bomb
TheSt. George’s Gazette, 30th December 1916 reports:-
In a letter to the late officer’s father, Lieut. Col. Scott Jackson, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, speaks in high terms of the deceased officer. He met his death whilst gallantly leading his men. They encountered a portion of the enemy and a bomb is feared to have caused Mr. O’Daly’s death. Col. Jackson stated: ‘He was the finest type of young Englishman and a splendid officer. He had been in command of the Lewis Guns for some time and had done so well that I felt justified in giving him a company.
As stated above, at the date of his death Dominic had been married for just over three months to Eleanor Mary O’Daly nee Nicholson of Sea View House, Newbiggin-By-The-Sea. who in a cruel twist of fate was to die on Boxing Day 1919.She died whilst trying to rescue her dog which had strayed onto a pond covered in this ice.
Photo: Alan Walker
Dominic Doe Dathy O'Daly is remembered on a plaque in St. Bartholomew's Church at Newbiggin by the Sea N10.11
