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Auction: 20002 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Space Exploration
Lot: 77

New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1865 to 1866 (954 Richd. O'Connell, 57th Regt.), officially impressed naming, contact marks, very fine

Richard O'Connell was born at Kinsale, Cork in 1843 and enlisted in the 2nd Battalion, 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment on 9 January 1861. Suffering with bronchitis in May 1861 and a spell in hospital in January 1862 with influenza, he was promoted Corporal and married in October 1862, before advancing Sergeant a year later. O'Connell departed England for New Zealand aboard the Nelson in October 1864 and landed on 20 January 1865. They were soon posted in the line between Wanganui and Taranaki and he transferred to the 57th Regiment on 1 October and served with them. O'Connell landed back in England on 6 August 1867 on the Electric.

The Autumn brought home service and required the Regiment onto the streets to put down 'The Manchester Outrages' which broke out following the murder of a Police Officer by three Fenian members. The three were eventually executed but it required men from the 57th Regiment to be on patrol. Accidentially wounded on 14 June 1869, he spent two weeks in hospital but went missing for one day in December which resulted in his reduction to Private.

Brownston saw further active service in South Africa (Medal & Clasp), including at the relief of Eshowe and at the battle of Ginghilovo. Transferred to the reserve on 29 December 1881, he was discharged to pension on 12 February 1882. He re-enlisted on 20 August 1885, aged 42, into the Commissariat Corps. Signed on for five years, he spent time at Woolwich, before signing for another five years with the Army Service Corps. Deployed to Ceylon in January 1891, he suffers malaria whilst overseas and is eventually discharged on 31 March 1896 after some 33 years of service. After his first wife died in Ceylon in 1892, with whom he had seven children, O'Connell married the 23 year-old Ellen Croker in 1893, with issue of a further three children. O'Connell and his young family - but without his wife - are listed as resident at the Plumstead Workhouse in 1903; sold together with a detailed file of copied research including muster rolls and extracts.

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Sold for
£480

Starting price
£240