THE INDIAN MUTINY MEDAL TO SURGEON (LATER DEPUTY INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF MEDICAL SERVICES) DANIEL O’CALLAGHAN, BENGAL ARTILLERY, WHO WROTE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE INDIAN MUTINY AT MEERUT AND ALSO SAW SERVICE DURING THE SECOND ANGLO-CHINA WAR

THE INDIAN MUTINY MEDAL TO SURGEON (LATER DEPUTY INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF MEDICAL SERVICES) DANIEL O’CALLAGHAN, BENGAL ARTILLERY, WHO WROTE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE INDIAN MUTINY AT MEERUT “SCATTERED CHAPTERS OF THE INDIAN MUTINY: THE FATAL FALTER AT MEERUT” AND ALSO SAW SERVICE DURING THE SECOND ANGLO-CHINA WAR OF 1856-60 (ALSO ENTITLED CHINA WAR MEDAL 1856-60 WITH PEKIN 1860 CLASP). DANIEL O’CALLAGHAN WAS THE SON OF JOHN O’CALLAGHAN (BORN CIRCA 1770), ONE OF THE FIRST CATHOLICS ADMITTED TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN IRELAND FOLLOWING THE ABOLITION OF THE PENAL LAWS IN 1793 AND THE BROTHER OF JOHN CORNELIUS O’CALLAGHAN (1805-1883), THE POLITICAL ACTIVIST, HISTORICAL WRITER AND STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF DANIEL O’CONNELL, WHO TOGETHER WITH THE SCULPTOR JOHN HOGAN PLACED A CROWN ON THE HEAD OF DANIEL O’CONNELL AT A POLITICAL RALLY ON THE HILL OF TARA ON 15TH AUGUAT 1843. Indian Mutiny Medal, 1 clasp, Delhi (naming details unofficially corrected, hatched in block capitals: DAN O’CALLAGHAN SURGEON BENGAL ARTILLERY). Almost Extremely Fine.

Although renamed, careful examination of the remaining underlying original naming details confirms that this is in fact the recipient’s original medal, which was issued named to him officially impressed “SURGn. D. CALLAGHAN ARTy”. Obviously, O’Callaghan was unhappy about losing the O prefix to his surname, and had his medal renamed to correct the mistake.

Medal accompanied by biographical details, extracts 1871 and 1881 UK census returns, copied extract marriage register, extract from Dictionary of National Biography giving details of the career of Daniel O’Callaghan’s brother, John Cornelius O’Callaghan, details from Bengal Army Medical List 1862 and and War Services of Officers of the Bengal Army 1863 from FIBIS and copied extract Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615-1930.

Daniel James O’Callaghan (1814-1900), born Dublin, Ireland, 31/8/1814, was the son of John O’Callaghan (born circa 1770), solicitor of Talbot Street, Dublin. He graduated M.R.C.S. 1839, and was first appointed Assistant Surgeon, Royal Navy, 1839, and saw service with the Royal Navy 1839-41, seeing service in Europe, the West Indies, and North and South America. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Surgeon, HEIC’s Bengal Forces, 8th January 1842, and served with the Army of the Sutlej, 1846. Promoted Surgeon 6th December 1855, O’Callaghan was Surgeon in Chief Medical Charge of the Foot Artillery of the Army of Delhi, 1857-58, being present at the siege and capture of Delhi (awarded Indian Mutiny Medal and clasp), and and went on to take part in the the Second China War of 1856-60, including the capture of Peking (awarded medal and clasp). Subsequently appointed Surgeon Major 8th January 1862, Deputy Inspector-General 31st March 1868, O’Callaghan retired on 28th October 1872.

O’Callaghan married, 5th June 1841, Elizabeth Walsh, at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. Together they had a daughter, Florence, born 1844 in West Bengal, India. Following his retirement O’Callaghan settled in England and is recorded in the 1871 UK census as a 56 year old surgeon resident at 17 Redecliffe Roak, Kensington, London with his wife Elizabeth and two servants, and in the 1881 census as a 66 year old surgeon living alone at 6 Hawick Place, Hanover Square, London. he had a lengthy retirement, and died in London on 12th August 1900.

O’Callaghan was the author of “Scattered Chapters of the Indian Mutiny, The Fatal Falter at Meerut”, which was published in 1881, an account of the mutiny of the sepoys at Meerut and the Indian Mutiny.

O’Callaghan’s father, John O’Callaghan, was one of the first catholics admitted into the legal profession in Ireland following the abolition of the penal laws in 1793.

His brother John (1805-1883) was called to the bar in 1829, but never practiced, instead becoming a prominent journalist, historical writer and political activist. A staunch supporter of Daniel O’Connell, he contributed to anti-establishment newspapers of the time, including The Comet, a weekly newspaper published in Dublin 1830-33, which advocated the disestablishment of the Protestant church in Ireland and whose other contributors included Daniel O’Connell. When The Comet ceased publication he continued writing for the “Irish Monthly Magazine”, his articles for The Comet and the Irish Monthly Magazine being published in 1840 as “The Green Book; or Gleanings from the Writing Desk of a Literary Agitator”. When the “Nation” newspaper was established in 1842 as the organ of the Young Ireland party, O’Callaghan joined its staff, its first edition containing O’Callaghan’s “The Exterminator’s Song”, O’Callaghan subsequently publishing “Spirit of the Nation”, a collection of poetry dedicated to the Young Irelanders. Today O’Callaghan is principally remembered as a historical writer, his first work being an annotated edition of Charles O’Kelly’s “The Destruction of Cyprus, A Secret History of the Revolution in Ireland of 1688-1691”. O’Callaghan’s best known work was his 8 volume “History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France” (Glasgow, 1860), which he published after 25 years researching the subject. O’Callaghan was a staunch supporter of Daniel O’Connell, and with John Hogan, the sculptor, placed a crown on O’Connell’s head at the monster meeting held at the Hill of Tara, the ancient crowning place of the High Kings of Ireland, on 15th August 1843. John O’Callaghan died in Dublin on 24th April 1883, aged 77.

Surgeon Major O’Callaghan’s Indian silver-barrelled flintlock pistol was sold at Sothebys on 24/10/2018 (lot 157), the pistol bearing an inscription in Nasta’liq, which translates as follows: “Dan O’Callaghan Sahib, the doctor of the arsenal of the Delhi troops. The date of the victory, twentieth of the month of September, corresponding to the first of the month of Safar, [1247] the Christian year 1857”

The “Monster” meeting at which O’Callaghan’s brother crowned Daniel O’Connell was one of a series of mass meetings that O’Connell addressed during his campaign for the repeal of the Union. The Tara meeting, which took place on 15th August 1843 was attended by, according to contemporary estimates, 1 million people and it took O’Connell’s carriage two hours to make its way through the crowds, accompanied by a harpist playing Thomas Moore’s popular melody “The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls”. O’Connell had planned to close his repeal campaign on 8th October 1843 at an even larger demonstration at Clontarf, on the outskirts of Dublin, the site of Brian Boru’s famous victory over the Danes in 1014, but when his rhetoric prior to the meeting led to fears of civil disturbance, Clontarf was occupied by troops and O’Connell immediately cancelled the rally.