Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 87

W ORLD W AR O NE (1914 - 1918) INCLUDING THOSE WHO DIED LATER AS A RESULT OF THIS WAR

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name LEON ALFRED O’MEARA (Sec Lt)

Lef SES 1915

Roll Number 1446 Died 06:02:1917

Set / House C

Arrive SES 1913

Where KUT, MESOPOTAMIA Serving with 3RD EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT

Age 20

Buried Near the Tigris River Remembered The Basra Memorial, The St. Edward’s Chapel (Wooden Plaque) and The Cloisters Stone Memorial Born 1897 in Camberley, Surrey, the only surviving child of an Army Major. He was only at St. Edward’s a short time. Apparently he was physically weak but very keen on the OTC and ‘very willing and did good deal of useful work in the Corps’ (Chronicle). He left in the Shell Form. He was entered for Pembroke College, Cambridge and intended to take up engineering as a profession. His plans were scuppered by the outbreak of war and in January 1916 he enlisted as a Private in The London Regiment (Artists Rifles). In September he was commissioned in the 3rd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment based at Efford Camp at Plymouth, Devon. In November the regiment were shipped to India. After only three months he was shot by a sniper while being relieved of guard duty near Kut in Mesopotamia. He died instantly and was buried one mile from the Tigris. His battalion had suffered many casualties. He was a married man.