Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Sydney Ough DEALY was born in 1896 in  Craigmin East Peak, Hong Kong, China

His parents were Thomas Kirkham DEALY and Anna Margaret OUGH who married on 17th January, 1894 in the Cathedral Church in Hong Kong

His father was born in Sheffield in England & his mother was born in Stratford in Essex, UK

His brother 2802 L/Cpl. Frank Henry Dealy (/explore/people/105257) of the 43rd Battalion AIF was killed in action on 26 August 1918

Lieutenant Thomas Sydney Ough Dealy,Regimental number3502, served at one time with the  School of Air Fighting, Royal Flying Corps, later with the  Australian Flying Corps.

Thomas was born in Hong Kong, the youngest son of Mr Thomas Kirkman Dealy, who was for 34 years in the Hong Kong Civil Service, and late Headmaster, Queen's College, Hong Kong and Mrs. Anna Margaret Dealy, of 19, Rue Voltaire, Grenoble, Isere, France, later of 45 Brougham Place, North Adelaide, South Australia.  He was educated at Stonyhurst College , Aighton Bailey, near Blackburn, Lancashire in England before moving to Adelaide. Stonyhurst College is a now a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The college is inherited from the Shireburn family who once owned the original mansion on the site; the family emblem is emblazoned, in stone, with the motto, above the fireplace in the Top Refectory. At the far end of the same room, once the dining room of the Shireburns, the motto can be seen again, carved into the minstrel's gallery: Quant Je Puis. Hugo Sherburn armig. me fieri fecit. Anno Domini 1523. Et sicut fuit sic fiat.

The college was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer, at a time when penal laws prohibited Catholic education in England. After moving to Bruges in 1762 and Liège in 1773, the college moved to Stonyhurst in 1794.

The school's alumni include three Saints, twelve Beati, seven archbishops, seven Victoria Cross winners, a Peruvian president, a Bolivian president, a New Zealand prime minister, a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence and several writers, sportsmen, and politicians.

 He was a student  at Roseworthy Agricultural College, South Australia (1st Class Diploma), aged 19 when he enlisted in 48th Infantry Battalion-3rd Reinforcement in Adelaide on 15 April 1916. He had served for 3.5 years in the English Officer Training Corps.

He was soon promoted to Acting Sergeant, and attended an NCO School at Duntroon - he had qualified for a Commission there [RMC], but, when told that he must wait a while for his Commission, asked to be sent with the earliest contingent to Europe.

He left Adelaide on HMAT A48 Seang Bee on 10 February 1917. After arrival in the UK, [disembarked Devonport, England, 2 May 1917,] he was promoted to Lance Corporal and then transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in July and sent off for pilot training. He was injured in a training accident in October, shortly after being trained to fly the DH 5, and was sent to hospital for a short period.

He qualified as pilot, and commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and posted to Australian Flying Corps. 29 September 1917.
He was Taken on Strength with 30th Training Squadron on 17 December 1917 and promoted to Lieutenant 29 December 1917.

He was killed in an aircraft accident at Ayr, Scotland, on 7 March 1918 while flying Sopwith Camel B7418 after the aeroplane spun into the ground from 8000 feet.

He is buried in Grave 3 at Stonyhurst College , Aighton Bailey, Lancashire, England where he and his brother had been educated. The school’s motto, “QUANT JE PUIS” (As Much as I Can) forms part of the inscription on his brother’s war grave. His only and elder  brother,  Lance Corporal Frank Henry Ough Dealy, Service Number 2802, 43rd Bn. Australian Infantry, A.I.F. was killed in action on August 26th 1918.

 
The family were Roman Catholic and the brothers are honoured in Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral in London. [Commemorated as a member of the Catholic Soldiers' Association in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs, Westminster Cathedral, London.]