THE INDIAN MUTINY MEDAL AWARDED TO PRIVATE GEORGE BRYAN, 3RD MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT (108TH MADRAS INFANTRY REGIMENT OF FOOT/ 1ST BN ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS)

THE INDIAN MUTINY MEDAL AWARDED TO PRIVATE GEORGE BRYAN, 3RD MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT (THE POST 1860 108TH MADRAS INFANTRY REGIMENT OF FOOT AND THE POST1880 2ND BATTALION ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS), ONE OF THE ORIGINAL RECRUITS TO THE 3RD MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT WHEN IT WAS RAISED IN 1853, WHO SAW SERVICE WITH THAT REGIMENT DURING ITS ENTIRE PERIOD OF SERVICE WITH THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, AND ONE OF THE FEW ORIGINAL RECRUITS TO AGREE TO TRANSFER TO THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1861 WHEN THE 3RD MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT BECAME THE 108TH FOOT. Indian Mutiny Medal, 1 clasp, Central India (officially impressed: GEO. BRIEN, 3rd. MADrs. EURPn. REGt.). A few minor edge nicks and bumps, otherwise Good Very Fine.

Note different spellings of surname. George Bryan also spelt his surname Brien. On the medal roll for the Indian Mutiny his surname is recorded as Brien, but on his discharge papers and on the subsequent census returns his surname is spelt Bryan. However, both medal roll and discharge papers give same number and rank, 690 Private.

Medal accompanied by photocopied extract from medal roll, confirming medal and clasp to 690 Private George Brien, 3rd Madras Fusiliers. Medal also accompanied by 4 pages photocopied discharge papers, photocopied extract from the regimental history re. the raising of the 3rd Madras European Regiment in 1853 and the transfer of that regiment from the East India Company to the British Army in 1861, along with photocopied extracts from the census returns for 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911.

George Bryan was born in the parish of Drumlay (Irish spelling Drimoleague), Cork. He enlisted into the 3rd Madras European Regiment at Westminster, Middlesex, on 23/12/1853. At the time of enlistment he was 22 years of age and gave his trade as labourer. Bryan was among the men from the 3rd Madras European Regiment who agreed to transfer to the British Army in 1861, when the 3rd Madras Regiment became the 108th Madras Infantry Regiment in the British Army (when doing so, Bryan opted to receive any future pension payments on the basis of Indian Pension Regulations). He never rose above the rank of Private, and was eventually discharged at Netley on 6/7/1869, after serving 17 years and 196 days with the colours. Bryan was discharged as a result of chronic ophtalmia (partial loss of sight in the right eye). At time of discharge his conduct was described as good, and his intended place of residence was given as Woolwich.

As noted, on discharge Bryan opted to receive his pension on the basis of Indian Pension Regulations. His discharge papers note increases in pension up to 16/5/1902, and also the rejection of a request to become an in-pensioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on 9/7/1896.

In 1875 Bryan was convicted at Lambeth of an assault on his wife, for which he was imprisoned for three months, and during this period his pension was suspended (though half of his pension continued to be paid directly to his wife for the duration of his imprisonment).

Service papers also confirm payments from the Clive Fund in 1889 to Bryan.

1871 census records Bryan as a 38 year old pensioner from 108th Regiment living with his 20 year old wife Mary Ann Bryan at 30 Watermans (?) Fields, Woolwich. The 1881 census records him as a 49 year old furniture dealer living at 44 High Street, Norwood, London, with his wife and four sons. The 1891 census records Bryan as a 59 year old shop, general dealer resident at 72 Conway Street, Hove, and living with his wife, five sons and two daughters, and the 1901 census records him as a 69 year old wardrobe dealer resident at 96 Doggett Road, Catford, London, with two of his sons.

George Bryan does not appear in the 1911 census, but four of his sons are recorded, three of the sons resident at 58 Shirley Street, Hove, where they were trading as wardrobe dealers, having obviously taken over the family business. The fourth son was resident at 21 Doggett Road, Catford, and was employed as a labourer at a wine merchants (resident on the same road that his father was living on at the time of the 1901 census).

Although George Bryan does not appear in the 1911 census, a descendant confirms that he was still alive in that year, and died at Catford in 1912. Descendant stated that Bryan probably made his application to become an inpensioner the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 1896 because he had had one of his legs amputated. Descendant confirms George Bryan as having married his wife, Mary Ann, at Lambeth in 1869. He is buried in Ladywell Cemetary, Lewisham, London. A photograph of George Bryan with his wife, on his wedding day, and a recent photograph of a descendant placing a grave marker on his burial place, accompany his medal.

As his regimental number, 690, indicates, George Bryan was one of the original recruits to the 3rd Madras European Regiment, the regiment being raised by an order dated 18/11/1853, just over four weeks before Bryan enlisted. The regimental history notes that the battalion was raised in 1853 by drafting in 131 volunteers from the Madras Fusiliers and 86 from the 2nd Madras Light Infantry, along with a large number of recruits from Ireland. In 1859, when it was first proposed that the East India Companys regiments be transferred to the British Army there was much unrest in the ranks of the East India Companys European regiments, many men of the opinion that, rather than being transferred directly, they should have been discharged and, given the option of re-enlisting, with a bounty paid if they chose to do so. Some 491 men from the 3rd Madras European Regiment, from a strength of 827, refused to transfer. All that remained were 336 men, 48 Sergeants, 30 Corporals, 23 Drummers and 235 Privates. George Bryan was among the privates who volunteered to transfer, and was undoubtedly by then one of the few men still serving with the regiment who had enlisted when it was originally raised in 1853.