By the time Oliver Sydney Phinn joined Westoe Secondary School in August, 1908, his father had died and his mother, Mary Isabel Phinn, was working as a dressmaker.

When Oliver left the school, only 8 months later, he went to become a draughtsman with J Redhead shipyard.

For the war, he joined the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry and was killed while serving in Mesopotamia on 17-Jul-1916.