Patrick Oneil

My Uncle Patrick Oneil was killed whilst serving on the Merchant Navy ship SS Sampa in 1945. He was 20 years old. My mum Eileen and family lived just a couple of doors away from the Winston Club, looking on to Laindon Station. My late mother’s other brother stayed in Australia after the war, never to return to England. His daughter has just returned to Australia after a two weeks holiday here. Whilst on a visit to London she came across a memorial outside London Tower Hill underground station with my Uncle Patrick’s name inscribed upon it. We had heard there was a memorial in London but was never sure, so it was great news that my cousin found it.

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  • A fireman named O’Neill who died on the Sampa is mentioned in the excellent book ‘Survivors’ by G H & R Bennett.
    Page 65.

    The book is a well written assessment of the dangers faced by merchant seaman during WW2 and the measures taken to try to increase their chances of survival.

    You may already be aware of the book and the mention but thought it would be of interest to his family.
    May he RIP.

    By Bods (17/02/2021)
  • My Uncle Joseph Knight was also killed whilst serving on the Merchant Navy ship SS Sampa in 1945. He was 21 years old and from Tilbury Essex. He is listed as being a assistant steward on the plaque on the memorial at Tower Hill

    By Lesley Veitch (21/08/2018)
  • Yvonne, was Patrick Oneil part of Josephine Oneil’s family? (I always thought her name was O’Neil.) Josephine and I were classmates at Langdon Hills School from 1939 to 1945. Her family lived in the area you describe although I do not think I ever knew exactly where. I think it was Hazel Fox, another classmate from Langdon Hills, who may have told me that Josephine (or Josie as we knew her) married Alan Collins whose family had a general hardware shop a couple of doors north of Barclay’s bank, possibly on the corner of Denbigh Road.

    By Alan Davies (21/01/2018)
  • My uncle, Geoffrey Vincent Swarbrick Kelly, also 20, served on the SS Sampa and was killed at the same time. He was the First Radio Officer. I have visited his plaque on Tower Hill and on the War Memorial in his hometown of Southport in Lancashire.

    By Tony Houlihan (20/01/2018)

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