Shane Edward Robert O'Neill, 3rd Baron O'Neill (6 February 1907 – 24 October 1944) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

peer and British Army officer. He served during World War II and was killed in action in Italy.

Early life and family

O'Neill was born on 6 February 1907 to The Hon, Arthur O'Neill and his wife Lady Annabel Hungerford Crewe-Milnes. His mother was the eldest daughter of Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe. He was educated at Eton College, an all-boys public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. He did not attend university. His brother Terence was a politician who became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He married Ann Charteris, granddaughter of the 11th Lord Wemyss, on 6 October 1932. They had two children, Hon. Raymond Arthur Clanaboy O'Neill (b. 1933; later 4th Baron O'Neill) and Hon. Fionn Frances Bride O'Neill (b. 1936), who married Sir John Albert Leigh Morgan and had issue. After his death, Ann remarried, firstly to the 2nd Lord Rothermere, a press tycoon and former Tory MP, and later to

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

, the creator of James Bond, as well as having affairs with the Labour politicians

Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. An economics lecturer and wartime civil servant, h ...

and

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

.Andrew Lycett, ‘Fleming , Ann Geraldine Mary ther married names Ann Geraldine Mary O'Neill, Lady O'Neill; Ann Geraldine Mary Harmsworth, Viscountess Rothermere(1913–1981)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 9 Feb 2017
/ref> His great-grandson is British record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ, Fred again...

Career

In 1929, O'Neill joined the Gillett Brothers Discount Company as a director.

Military service

On 30 August 1929, he was promoted to lieutenant in the

8th King's Royal Irish Hussars The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces ...

. With the outbreak of World War II, he was granted an emergency commission on 20 September 1939 as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the North Irish Horse, Royal Armoured Corps. In October 1939, he was granted the acting rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In December 1939, he was promoted to

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

and appointed the officer commanding. He was killed in action in Italy on 24 October 1944, aged 37, and is buried in the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery near Riccione.

Peerage

His father, Arthur O'Neill, and grandfather, Edward O'Neill, 2nd Baron O'Neill, were Members of Parliament representing Mid Antrim and Antrim respectively in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

. As the 2nd Baron O'Neill's eldest surviving son, Shane's father was heir to the title of Baron O'Neill. At his birth, Shane became second in line to the title of Baron O'Neill. However, his father died in action during World War I and he, therefore, became his grandfather's heir. He succeeded to the title after his grandfather's death in 1928, becoming the 3rd Baron O'Neill. As a

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

with a

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

, he was able to sit in the House of Lords. Though he had inherited the title in 1928, he first took his seat in the Lords on 3 April 1930. In 1937 he attended the Coronation of George VI at Westminster Abbey and paid homage to him with the other

Lords Temporal The Lords Temporal are secular members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament. These can be either life peers or hereditary peers, although the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords was abolished for all but n ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Shane ONeill, 3rd Baron 1907 births 1944 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Chichester family 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers North Irish Horse officers People educated at Eton College British Army personnel killed in World War II Royal Armoured Corps officers