John Augustus Conolly

Lieutenant Colonel John Augustus Conolly VC (30 May 1829 – 23 December 1888), born in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

John Augustus Conolly
Depiction of the Siege of Sebastopol
Born30 May 1829
Celbridge, County Kildare
Died23 December 1888 (aged 59)
Curragh, County Kildare
Buried
Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankLieutenant Colonel
Unit49th Regiment of Foot
Coldstream Guards
Battles/warsCrimean War
AwardsVictoria Cross

Early life and education

Conolly was a younger son of Edward Michael Conolly (an MP), by his wife Catherine Jane, daughter of Chambré Brabazon Ponsonby-Barker (also an MP).[1] He was born in Ireland and educated in England at King Edward's School, Birmingham.

Award

Conolly was 25 years old, and a lieutenant in the 49th Regiment of Foot, British Army during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 26 October 1854 at Sebastopol, the Crimea, an attack by the Russians was repulsed and the enemy fell back pursued by men of the 49th Regiment, led by Lieutenant Conolly, whose gallant behaviour was most conspicuous in this action. He ultimately fell, dangerously wounded, while in personal encounter with several Russians, in defence of his post.[2]

Later life

Conolly eventually achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He died in Curragh, County Kildare, on 23 December 1888 and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

Personal life

Conolly married Ida Charlotte, a daughter of Edwyn Burnaby, by whom he had several children.[1] His son, John Richard Arthur Conolly, was a member of parliament in Western Australia.[3][4]

Medal

Conolly's Victoria Cross is on display at the Guards Museum, London.

gollark: For example:- the average person probably does *some* sort of illegal/shameful/bad/whatever stuff, and if some organization has information on that it can use it against people it wants to discredit (basically, information leads to power, so information asymmetry leads to power asymmetry). This can happen if you decide to be an activist or something much later, even- having lots of data on you means you can be manipulated more easily (see, partly, targeted advertising, except that actually seems to mostly be poorly targeted)- having a government be more effective at detecting minor crimes (which reduced privacy could allow for) might *not* actually be a good thing, as some crimes (drug use, I guess?) are kind of stupid and at least somewhat tolerable because they *can't* be entirely enforced practically
gollark: No, it probably isn't your fault, it must have been dropped from my brain stack while I was writing the rest.
gollark: ... I forgot one of them, hold on while I try and reremember it.
gollark: That's probably one of them. I'm writing.
gollark: > If you oppose compromises to privacy on the grounds that you could do something that is misidentified as a crime, being more transparent does helpI mean, sure. But I worry about lacking privacy for reasons other than "maybe the government will use partial data or something and accidentally think I'm doing crimes".

References
  1. "Person Page 32092". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  2. "No. 21997". The London Gazette. 5 May 1857. p. 1579.
  3. John Richard Arthur Conolly – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  4. "J. R. A. CONOLLY, J.P., M.L.A.", The W.A. Record (Perth, Western Australia), 15 December 1900.

Listed in order of publication year

  • The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
  • Clarke, Brian D. H. (1986). "A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men". The Irish Sword. XVI (64): 185–287.
  • Ireland's VCs (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)
  • Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
  • Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)
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