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

Biography

Bryan Thomas Mahon was born at Belleville,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

on 2 April 1862. He became a lieutenant in the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars in 1883. He served in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in the

Dongola Expedition The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...

in 1896 as Staff officer to Sir Herbert Kitchener, and was present at the

Battle of Ferkeh The Battle of Ferkeh (or Firket) occurred during the Mahdist War in which an army of the Mahdist Sudanese was surprised and routed by British-led Egyptian forces, led by Sir Herbert Kitchener, on 7 June 1896. It was the first significant action o ...

and the operations at Hafir. In 1899, he took part in the final defeat of the

Khalifa Khalifa or Khalifah (Arabic: خليفة) is a name or title which means "successor", "ruler" or "leader". It most commonly refers to the leader of a Caliphate, but is also used as a title among various Islamic religious groups and others. Khalifa ...

as Assistant Adjutant general in charge of Intelligence, and was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

(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.

In recognition of his service in the Sudan, he received the

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

promotion to colonel on 14 March 1900. 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 Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

(CB) for his services during the operations, and was invested with the order by King Edward VII on 2 June 1902 after his return to the United Kingdom. Mahon was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in May 1902, and was briefly Governor of Khartoum in 1903. Bryan Mahon at Salonica 1916

During the First World War he commanded the

2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade The Sialkot Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Indian Army formed in 1904 as a result of the Kitchener Reforms. It was mobilized as 2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade at the outbreak of the First World War as part of the 1st India ...

and the

10th (Irish) Division The 10th (Irish) Division, was one of the first of Kitchener's New Army K1 Army Group divisions (formed from Kitchener's 'first hundred thousand' new volunteers), authorized on 21 August 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War. It included b ...

during the Gallipoli Campaign. The 10th Division landed at Suvla Bay on the night of 6–7 August 1915. 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 The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

. In 1916 General Mahon took up command of the

Western Frontier Force The Western Frontier Force was raised from British Empire troops during the Senussi Campaign from November 1915 to February 1917, under the command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF). Orders for the formation of the force were issued on 2 ...

in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He was then appointed as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, in 1916 in the lead up to the Anglo-Irish War. He retired from the British Army at the end of August 1921. After his retirement he was elected as a

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

member of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland. He was appointed to Seanad Éireann by the President of the Executive Council, W. T. Cosgrave, in 1922 and 1925. 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. He and his wife, Lady Mahon, formerly Lady 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. Mahon was elected to the Seanad in 1928, and served until his death in 1930.

References

External links

Photograph of Mahon
, by Filson Young at The Project Gutenberg * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Bryan 1862 births 1930 deaths Military personnel from County Galway 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers Commanders-in-Chief, Ireland Irish officers in the British Army British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army cavalry generals of World War I Irish generals Irish knights Irish people of World War I Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the 1922 Seanad Members of the 1925 Seanad Members of the 1928 Seanad People from County Galway Members of the Senate of Southern Ireland Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Independent members of Seanad Éireann British Army generals