Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1888 (1839 Pte. M. Brennan 2d. Bn. R. Ir. R.) very fine £180-£220

Michael Brennan was born in Powerstown, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, in 1862 and attested for the Royal Irish Regiment at Clonmel on 4 April 1884, having previously served in the Regiment’s 4th (Militia) Battalion. He served with the 2nd Battalion in India from 8 March 1885 to 14 November 1891, and saw active service in the Hazara Campaign 1888. Returning home, he transferred to the Army Reserve on 20 November 1891, and was discharged on 3 April 1896, after 12 years’ service.

Following the outbreak of the Boer War, Brennan re-attested for the Royal Irish Regiment and served with the 1st Battalion in South Africa from 15 December 1899 to 3 February 1901 (entitled to a Queen’s South Africa medal with clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen and South Africa 1901). He was finally discharged on 26 March 1906, ‘character indifferent owing to frequent acts of drunkenness’, after a further 6 years and 111 days’ service.

Sold with copied service papers and medal roll extracts.