For casualties whose surnames begin with other letters of the alphabet please visit the main Roath Virtual War Memorial page.
MELVIN EDWARD O’BRIEN
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Cromarty (Service Number: D/SSX 24305)
Melvin Edward O’Brien was born in Cardiff on 14 Mar 1920 to Stanley Thomas O’Brien, an engineer, originally from London and Florence May O’Brien nee Bonfield from Cardiff. When his parents married his father Stanley was serving as a sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Cardiff Intermediate School on Newport Road which had been converted into a hospital for injured soldiers. In 1922 the family were living at 113 Cyfarthfa Street so probably the address Melvin was born. His mother Florence had already lost a brother in WWI and was to lose her father in the WWII blitz in nearby Crofts Street. Melvin joined the navy aged 16 before the start of WWII. He served on HMS Drake and then the minesweeper HMS Cromarty. He died on 23 October 1943 aged 22 when HMS Cromarty hit a mine and sank the waters between Sardinia and Corsica in the Mediterranean. The last contact the family had of Melvin was when his elder brother, Douglas, met him quite by accident in Tripoli a little while before his ship went down. He is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial (Panel 79, Column 3). Commonwealth War graves Commission record.
MICHAEL O’BRIEN
Private, 6th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (Service Number: 25506)
Michael O’Brien was born at 12 Union Buildings, Cardiff on 18 Aug 1880 to John O’Brien, a coal trimmer and Catherine O’Brien nèe Donovan, originally from Cardiff. He was baptized at the St David’s Roman Catholic church on 22 Aug 1880. Michael lost his father when he was an infant and his mother remarried to John Donovan in 1886. At the time of the 1891 census the family were living at 43 Mary Ann Street. In 1911, , aged 30, Michael was living with his mother and step-father at 190 Penarth Road and working as a mason’s labourer, employed by Wisbey builders and contractors. Michael was a well-known Cardiff District rugby union forward who played in the league for Mackintosh and Roath clubs (whether the family ever lived in the Roath area has yet to be established). During WWI he was a Private in the 6th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. The battalion landed at Boulogne in May 1915. He was injured on 7 Sep 1916 and after that entitled to wear a wound stripe. Michael was killed in action on 12 Mar 1917, aged 37, in the Arras area, France. He is buried at the Beaurains Road British Cemetery just south of Arras (grave C24). Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. His next of kin was his sister Ellen Alderman.
MICHAEL O’NEIL
Driver, Royal Army Service Corps (Service Number T/231570)
Michael O’Neil was born on 28 Nov 1909 to Edward O’Neil, a wharf labourer, from Cardiff and Catherine ‘Kate’ O’Neil née Connolly originally from Skibbereen, Co Cork, Ireland. In 1911 the O’Neil family were living in 25 Planet Street, Adamsdown and in 1939 at 30 Glenroy Street, Roath. Michael attended St Illtyd’s school between 1923 and 1928. In 1939 he is working as an insurance agent and marries Dorothy Eleanor Balmer, a company secretary, in Cardiff and they live at 10 Four Elms Road, Roath . He joins the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver but is dies in what is now Israel on 8 Nov 1941 aged 31. He is buried at the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel (plot S20). He is remembered on the St Illtyd’s School War Memorial plaque now restored and in St Alban’s church. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
WILLIAM HENRY ORCHARD
Private, 1st Battalion, Welsh Regiment (Service Number: 38191)
William Henry Orchard was born in Cardiff around 1868. He married Florence Ann Greening at St John the Baptist church on 17 Jun 1899. At that time he was living at 65 Cathays terrace and working as a labourer. The wedding certificate indicates that his father was William Orchard, a sailor. In the 1901 census they are living at 69 Coburn St, Cathays with their newly born daughter Enid. He was a member of the Cathays Conservative Club as well as a members of the Workers Union. In 1911 they are living at 19 Lionel Road, Canton and William was working as a timber merchant. By this time they have four children and go on to have a fifth in 1913. He served with the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment. He died of illness in hospital in Salonika on 29 Jan 1916 aged 45. He is buried at the Salonika Lembet Road Military Cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record records their address as being 32 Harriet Street, Cathays. There is a possibility he is the William Orchard named on the Bethany Baptist church war memorial.
THOMAS WILLIAM ORCHARD
Private, 11th Battalion, Welsh Regiment (Service Number: 14802)
Thomas William Orchard was born in Cardiff in 1874 to William Orchard, a ship’s fireman, and Elizabeth Jane Orchard née Davies, both originally from Cardiff. He grew up in central Cardiff in the Wharton Street area (Baker’s Row and Green Gardens) and then at 12 Ruperra Street. He worked as a glass and china warehouseman. In Apr 1915 he married Maria Wilkins in Cardiff. He served with the 11th battalion Welsh Regiment but he died of dysentery on 17 Sep 1916 aged 42 in Salonika, Greece. He is buried at the Salonika Lambet Road Military Cemetery. He may be the William Orchard remembered on the Bethany Baptist church war memorial plaque. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
WALTER HENRY OSMOND
Private, 15th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (Service Number: 23243)
Walter Henry Osmond was born in Cardiff in 1890 to William Osmond, a labourer at a railway loco works, originally from Clyst St Lawrence, Devon, and Sarah Ann Osmond née Ware, originally from Poughill, Devon. He was baptised at St Teilo’s church on 17 Dec 1890 when the family were living at 11 Coburn Street, Cathays. By 1901 the Osmond family had moved to 22 Topaz Street. In the 1911 census for 22 Topaz Street, Walter, aged 20 and working as a mason’s labourer. He later worked as a sawyer at Cardiff Docks. Walter enlisted at Cardiff in the Durham Light Infantry in Jan 1915. Ten months later he was in France with the 15th Battalion. On the first day of the Somme his Battalion went over the top north of Fricourt, and succeeded in capturing the German front line trenches before advancing 600 metres to the edge of Shelter Wood. Having beaten off a German counter-attack it was relieved at the end of the day. The 1st Jul 1916 cost the 15th Battalion 440 casualties, including Walter aged 25. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
JOHN AUBREY OWEN
Lieutenant, Royal Naval Reserve, H.M. Trawler ‘John Pollard’
John Aubrey Owen was born on 12 Jun 1878 at at 14 Park St, Cardiff to William Frank Owen, a coal merchant, originally from Cardiff and Selina Maud Owen nèe Rees originally from Bridgend, Glamorgan. By 1881 the family were living at 9 Crwys Road. He was baptized on 18 Mar 1885 at St Augustine, Panarth and in 1891 the Owen family were living at 24 Pembroke Terrace, Penarth. John joined the merchant navy as a boy sailor at the age of 16, working on the four masted ships sailing out of Cardiff docks. In the 1901 census he is recorded as living at 10 Belle View Terrace, Penarth, aged 22, and a sailor. He soon progressed , gaining his First Mate’s (1905) and then his Master’s certificates (1907). On 8 Nov 1905 John married Gwendoline Mary Morris, the daughter of a Congregational minister from Glynneath. They settled in Cwmgwrach, in the upper Neath Valley and had two sons. John served in the Royal Naval Reserve during the First World War, and was made a temporary lieutenant in February 1917. He died from a fractured skull on 27 Oct 1917, after falling from the upper deck of his vessel into the stoke hold and fracturing his skull, while the ship was docked in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He was aged 39. He is buried in Cathays Cemetery (grave S 509A). Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. John Aubrey Owen was great grandson of David Lewis, Cardiff Mayor in 1854. His grandson is Lord Dr David Owen, politician, Foreign Secretary in James Callaghan’s labour government who then went on to be a founder of the SDP party.
WILLIAM DAVID OWEN
2nd Lieutenant, 15th Battalion, Welsh Regiment
William David Owen and his twin brother Richard Austin were born on 10 Nov 1886 at 5 Mackintosh Place, Roath to William Owen, an accountant, originally from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire and Sarah Jane Owen nèe Jones originally from Methryr. In 1891 the twins were living separately with different grandparents; William in Penrhiwceibr. They attended Albany Road and Roath Park primary schools then Wood Road board school in Treforest before being registered at Howard Gardens School, Cardiff. In 1901 the Owen family were living together in Castle Street, Treforest including their sister Morfydd who was to go on to become a composer of notoriety. After leaving school William became a bank clerk with the London and Provincial Bank. At the time of the 1911 census he was working in Ruthin, Denbighshire. He later worked in a bank in Cowbridge. William married Ivy Keturah Owen in Portsmouth in 1917. William had joined the Officer Training Corps. He held a temporary commission in the 4th Battalion the Welch Regiment (a territorial battalion). He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieut on 26 Sep 1917. He was serving with the 15th (Service) Battalion Welsh Regiment when he died from influenza in a British military hospital near Lyon on the 11 Oct 1918, aged 31. A newspaper report said he had been on his way to Salonika. He is buried in Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d’Or Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. He is also remembered on the Cowbridge War Memorial and on the Welsh Regiment WW1 Memorial in Sandhurst and the Pontypridd War Memorial in Ynysangharad Park . His sister, Morfydd Owen, had died tragically a month before William in Mumbles, aged 25. William’s daughter was born after he died, in April 1919 and given the middle name Morfydd after his sister. Megan Morfydd Owen lived to be 100 years old. William’s twin brother, Richard Austin Owen, served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in WWI (service no.16377) and was received a gunshot wound in the right hand on 2 Aug 1917. After the war he taught at Grangetown and Gladstone schools and died in 1931, aged 45, and is buried in Cathays Cemetery. Richard’s widow, Margaret Mary Owen, remarried Thomas William Pugh, father of Muriel Agnes Pugh the Royal Eye Surgeon.
Roath Local History Society 