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Bryan Mahon

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The Right Honourable

Sir Bryan Mahon

KCB KCMG DSO KCVO PCi
Born(1862-04-02)2 April 1862
Galway, Ireland
Died29 September 1930(1930-09-29) (aged 68)
Dublin, Ireland
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1883–1921
Rank General
Unit8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars
Commands
Battles / warsMahdist War

Second Boer War

World War I

Awards
Senator
In office
11 December 1922 – 29 September 1930
Personal details
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
Amelia Milbanke
​
(m. 1920)​

Sir Bryan Thomas Mahon, KCB, KCMG, DSO, KCVO, PC (Ire) (2 April 1862 – 29 September 1930) was an Irish general of the British Army, a senator of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland,[1] and a member for eight years of the Irish Free State Senate until his death.[2]

Biography

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Bryan Thomas Mahon was born at Belleville, County Galway, on 2 April 1862.[3] After having served in the Galway Militia, into which he had been commissioned as a second lieutenant in April 1879,[4] he transferred to the 21st Hussars in January 1883,[5] before finally transferring to the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars in February 1883.[6]

He served in Sudan in the Dongola Expedition in 1896 as staff officer to Sir Herbert Kitchener, and was present at the Battle of Ferkeh and the operations at Hafir. He was promoted to major in October 1897.[7]

In 1899, he took part in the final defeat of the Khalifa as Assistant Adjutant general in charge of Intelligence, and was mentioned in despatches (dated 25 November 1899) by Colonel Wingate with the following words:

I cannot speak in sufficiently strong terms of the excellence of the services performed by this officer. I invariably placed him in general command of all the mounted troops; his personal disregard for danger, intrepid scouting, and careful handling of men, all fit him for high command; his bold and successful seizure of the position in front of Fedil's camp, and his conduct of the fight before I came up, show him to possessed of exceptional qualities as a commander.[8]

In recognition of his service in the Sudan, he received a brevet promotion to colonel on 14 March 1900,[9] and a substantive promotion to lieutenant colonel after transferring to the 12th Lancers (later the 12th Royal Lancers).[10]

During the Second Boer War Colonel Mahon led a flying column, 2,000 strong, consisting mainly of South African volunteers from Kimberley, which came to the Relief of Mafeking. The town, which had been under siege for seven months by Boer forces, was facing starvation. Mahon was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his services during the operations,[11] and was invested with the order by King Edward VII on 2 June 1902 after his return to the United Kingdom.[12]

Mahon was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in May 1902,[13] and was briefly governor of Khartoum in 1903. In December 1906 he was promoted to major general while commanding a brigade in India.[14]

He was promoted to lieutenant general in September 1912, one of the youngest of his rank in the army.[15]

Mahon at Salonika, 1916.

During the First World War, which began in the summer of 1914, he commanded the 2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade[citation needed] and in October was assigned to be the first general officer commanding (GOC) of the 10th (Irish) Division,[16] a Kitchener's Army formation composed of civilian volunteers for the army. Despite being "both a protestant and a unionist", it was hoped "that his public image would boost recruitment".[17]

Mahon led his division during the Gallipoli campaign and, "like the majority of generals in this affair, did not emerge with his reputation intact".[17] The 10th Division landed at Suvla Bay on the night of 6–7 August 1915. Although Mahon's division was "potentially the best of those sent to Suvla", it was split up by General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and thus "deprived Mahon of the chance to show what he could do".[17] Furthermore, Hamilton chose to select Beauvoir De Lisle as the new commander of IX Corps, believing Mahon was not up to the task. Mahon, who "loathed" De Lisle, refused to serve under him and resigned his command.[17]

In September he moved with the division to be head of the British Salonika Army to support Serbia at the onset of the Macedonian campaign. In 1916, after relinquishing command of the Army to Lieutenant-General George Milne, Mahon took up command of the Western Frontier Force in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.[18]

Lieutenant-General Mahon and French General Maurice Sarrail, along with other senior officers, at Salonika, March 1916.

He was then appointed as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, in November 1916 in the lead up to the Irish War of Independence.[19][20]

He retired from the British Army at the end of August 1921,[21] after having being promoted to the rank of full general the month before.[22][17]

After his retirement he was elected as a privy council member of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland.[1] He was appointed to Seanad Éireann by the President of the Executive Council, W. T. Cosgrave, in 1922 and 1925.[23] His home, Mullaboden in Ballymore-Eustace, County Kildare, was burned down by the IRA in February 1923 during the Irish Civil War. The most valuable furniture had been removed to Dublin after the destruction of Palmerstown, the residence of Lord Mayo, another Kildare member of the Irish Senate, the previous month. A gramophone and typewriter were stolen and one of Mahon's tunics was taken and worn by one of the republicans for a photo taken of the squad that carried out the arson. [24]

He and his wife, Lady Mahon, formerly Lady Amelia Milbanke, widow of Sir John Milbanke, V.C., were not home at the time. In 1923, "malicious injury claims" by the Mahons were filed with Kildare County Council in the amount of more than £60,000; they were awarded £21,341.[24]

Mahon was elected to the Seanad in 1928, and served until his death at the relatively young age of 68 in September 1930.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Senate of Southern Ireland, 1921". www.ark.ac.uk.
  2. ^ "Members of the Senate of the Irish Free State". www.oireachtas.ie.
  3. ^ Murphy, David. "Mahon, Sir Bryan Thomas". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ^ "No. 24715". The London Gazette. 29 April 1879. p. 3059.
  5. ^ "No. 25192". The London Gazette. 26 January 1883. p. 464.
  6. ^ "No. 25198". The London Gazette. 13 February 1883. p. 793.
  7. ^ "No. 26908". The London Gazette. 9 November 1897. p. 6145.
  8. ^ "No. 27159". The London Gazette. 30 January 1900. pp. 598–600.
  9. ^ "No. 27173". The London Gazette. 13 March 1900. p. 1710.
  10. ^ "No. 27222". The London Gazette. 21 August 1900. p. 5174.
  11. ^ "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6303.
  12. ^ "The King's Levee and Investiture". The Times. No. 36784. London. 3 June 1902. p. 10.
  13. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36767. London. 14 May 1902. p. 12.
  14. ^ "No. 27974". The London Gazette. 7 December 1906. p. 8648.
  15. ^ "No. 28649". The London Gazette. 1 October 1912. p. 7194.
  16. ^ "No. 28930". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 October 1914. p. 8017.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Who's Who". Gallipoli Association. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Sir Archibald Murray's Despatch". 21 November 2007. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007.
  19. ^ Macardle, Dorothy (1965). The Irish Republic. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 226.
  20. ^ "No. 29925". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 January 1917. p. 1128.
  21. ^ "No. 32441". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 August 1921. p. 6912.
  22. ^ "No. 32401". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 February 1921. p. 5915.
  23. ^ "President's nominees for Seanad". Houses of the Oireachtas. 6 December 1922. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  24. ^ a b "THE BURNING OF MULLABODEN HOUSE". www.kildare.ie.
  25. ^ "Bryan Mahon". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
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Military offices
New post GOC 10th (Irish) Division
1914–1915 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander of the British Salonika Army
1915–1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
1916–1918 		Succeeded by
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