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Pat McGowan - a Zulu War vet and oldest D.E.O.V.R. in the Anglo Boer War? 3 years 6 months ago #71457

  • Rory
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Patrick McGowan

Private, 2nd Regiment of Foot – Anglo-Zulu War
Private, Duke of Edinburgh Own Volunteer Rifles – Bechuanaland Campaign
Private, Duke of Edinburgh Own Volunteer Rifles - Anglo Boer War


- SAGS with 1879 clasp to 675 Pte. P. McGowan, 2nd 4th Foot
- Cape of Good Hope GSM with Bechuanaland clasp to Pte. McGowan, D.E.O.V.R.
- QSA with CC clasp to 1825 Pte. P. McGowan, D.E.O.V.R.
- LSGC medal to 675 Pte. P. McGowan, 2nd 4th Foot.


Patrick McGowan was born in the town of Castlebar in County Mayo, Ireland in 1840.

At the age of 18 he enlisted with the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Regiment, The King’s Own Royal at Liverpool in Lancashire on 6th July 1858 for service with the colours. At the time of enlistment he was, not surprisingly, a Labourer by occupation in search of a better life.

Having been awarded no. 675 and the rank of Private, McGowan settled down to the life of a redcoat in the British Army. The first 128 days of his service were blemish free but, on 11 November of 1858, he deserted only to report back for duty on 6 January 1859. This escapade naturally incurred the displeasure of the authorities and he was tried, found guilty and imprisoned for desertion until 1st June 1859. This effectively cancelled his previous accumulated service and his record indicated that he commenced with the colours only from 6 January 1859, the day he returned.

The next 9 years and 223 days were spent as a Private with the 4ths based in the Ionian Islands in 1859 before moving on to Malta in 1864 and Nova Scotia in the America’s in 1866. According to McGowan’s Statement of Service he spent 6 years 292 days at Corfu and in the Mediterranean with a further 2 years and 104 days in America.

On the 31st January 1865 the War Office restored McGowan’s initial 128 days of service which had been forfeited by his desertion.

In 1869 the Battalion returned to England and McGowan was re-engaged for the 2/4th Regiment at Dublin on 11 January 1869 “for such term as shall complete a total service of 21 years.”

Still stationed in England he appears in the 1871 census on the night of 2nd April as being resident at 22 Brunswick Place in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool. Now aged 31 he was listed as a Soldier. By this time he had met and married a 30 year old Dressmaker, Mary Duffy, in the West Derby district the preceding month that the census was taken. Mary was an Irish lass born in Galway.

The 2/4th,s were to spend the next three years stationed in Ireland which, no doubt, gave McGowan and his bride plenty of opportunity to visit family and friends and renew old acquaintances. From there it was back to England in 1877 before the Regiment left England in mid-December 1878 and, having reached Cape Town, marched up through Natal to Zululand by Detachments.

By this time the Zulu War was in full swing and the Regiment was supposed to be in on the action however, the leading two companies were approaching Fort Bengough when they met a galloper bringing news of the disaster at Isandhlwana. They hurried on through the night towards Rorke’s Drift, but the Drift had already been relieved by the time they arrived.

As a result the Battalion saw little of the fighting, being engaged in the unrewarding, but necessary, task of guarding lines of communication and key border locations. It did, however, provide a detachment of Mounted Infantry which saw action at the Battle of Inhlobana Hill and Kambula, during the reconnaissance before Ulundi and at the Battle of Ulundi.

After the main campaign had ended, on 8 September, three companies of the Battalion were engaged in the attack on the caves on the Intombe River occupied by Manyanyoba. The two men killed and one wounded were the last British casualties of the war. All who served with the 2nd Battalion in the campaign received the medal, and the vast majority also received the bar ‘1879’. McGowan was no exception being awarded the Zulu War Medal with 1879 clasp.

Meanwhile Mary, who had accompanied her husband, had been left in the care of the Roman Catholic priest in Cape Town, her husband being paid a separation allowance since 25th January 1879.

McGowan served a further 1 year and 33 days in South Africa in order to achieve the milestone of 21 years service. In point of fact he was allowed to claim an additional 166 days of service before being discharged on termination of his second period of limited engagement.

According to the Proceeding’s of a Regimental Board conducted at .....Krantz, Natal on 15 January 1880, Colonel Studholme Hodgson, Lt. Colonel Twentyman and Captain Knox found that 675 Private Patrick McGowan was entitled to reckon 20 years and 356 days service during which period 10 years and 235 days were served abroad. His Character and Conduct were reckoned as Very Good.

He was in possession of four Good Conduct Badges and would have been entitled to a fifth on 25 January 1880. He had no School Certificate and his name appeared but once in the Regiment’s Defaulters Book where, as we have seen, he was once tried by Court Martial but the Regimental Defaulters Sheet was “not forthcoming”.

Patrick McGowan was awarded the South Africa Medal with clasp “1879” as well as the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, both issued by the War Office (ref: 68/4/152) on 18 January 1901.

McGowan was finally discharged from the army on 29 June 1880 after a total of 21 years 156 days service. He elected to remain in South Africa having been reunited with his wife at Cape Town. On discharge he was described as being 39 ½ years old with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He was 5 feet 6 ½ inches in height and had no scars about his person. His intended place of residence was given as c/o the Roman Catholic priest, Cape Town.

Having left the military life McGowan quietly went about his business. Tragedy struck for him when his wife passed away in the New Somerset Hospital at Cape Town on 12 September 1882, at the age of 42. After a brief period of mourning, McGowan, described as a Labourer by occupation , tied the marital knot for the second time - on this occasion with widower Alice Hill at St. Mary's in Cape Town on 1st January 1883. He was recorded as living in Napier Street, whilst his bride lived in Adderley Street.

The search for adventure must have been strong, however, as he enlisted with the D.E.O.V.R. (Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifles), a Cape Town based regiment, on 22 February 1897 being assigned no. 679. He stated his age as "49" - clearly a distortion of the truth! From February to August 1897, the Dukes were on active service in Bechuanaland, as part of a government military operation to capture dissident Tswana leaders who had taken refuge in the Langberg Mountains. McGowan retired again on 1 January 1898.

Although only authorised in 1900, McGowan earned the Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal with Bechuanaland clasp for his efforts. This was some 16 years after he had last seen serviced and he was already at the age of 56 in 1896.

With war clouds having gathered over South Africa in 1899 McGowan re-enlisted with his old Regiment, the D.E.O.V.R. for service in what became known as the Boer War. Having been awarded no. 1825 and the rank of Private he was ready, at the age of 60 to do his duty in the defence of the Cape Colony against any potential Boer incursions. The Regiment played an active role initially deployed to protect a long stretch of the railway line through the Western Cape. In May 1900, it was assigned to Lt Gen Sir Charles Warren's column, to recapture areas of Griqualand West from Boer and Cape Rebel forces. From June 1900 until the end of the war in May 1902, the Regiment was split up into small detachments, which manned outposts and blockhouses in the Northern Cape.

As a result of his service he was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal with Cape Colony clasp on 15 July 1901 by Lt. Colonel Woodhead, O.C. There is every chance that he was the oldest serving volunteer with the Regiment.

On 17 May 1906 a Certificate was issued to certify that “there is no objection on the grounds of unsecured minor’s portions to the remarriage of Patrick McGowan” This was dated at Pretoria. He does not appear to have remarried however and, on 29 November 1924, he passed away from Cardiac Disease and Dropsy at Nazareth House in Cape Town. Interestingly, he was deemed to be “single” and not a widower as one would expect. Perhaps he had entered Holy Orders as there was also no mention of his two children, Minnie Collinette and Kate Good.

He bequeathed the sum of £211 to be divided equally between the Superior of the Salesian Institute in Sea Point, Cape Town and the Superioress of the Nazareth House.

Although we know him to have been 84 years old, he was registered as being 70 on his death notice – a mystery to the last.




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Pat McGowan - a Zulu War vet and oldest D.E.O.V.R. in the Anglo Boer War? 3 years 6 months ago #71458

  • QSAMIKE
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Thank You Rory...... Your work is greatly appreciated..... Mike
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Past-President Calgary
Military Historical Society
O.M.R.S. 1591
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Pat McGowan - a Zulu War vet and oldest D.E.O.V.R. in the Anglo Boer War? 3 years 6 months ago #71495

  • RobCT
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Thanks Rory. I am pleased to see that you are taking good care of Mr McGowan!
RobM
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Pat McGowan - a Zulu War vet and oldest D.E.O.V.R. in the Anglo Boer War? 3 years 6 months ago #71535

  • gavmedals
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Hi Rory, another great write up. Really enjoyed reading it and a lovely medal group
Regards

Gavin
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