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John Lysaght PENNEFATHER (1798-1872)
| Name: | John Lysaght PENNEFATHER |
| Sex: | Male |
| Father: | - |
| Mother: | - |
Individual Events and Attributes
| Birth | 9 Sep 1798 | |
| Occupation (1) | 14 Jan 1818 (age 19) | Cornet, 7th Dragoon Guards |
| Occupation (2) | 20 Feb 1823 (age 24) | Lieutenant |
| Occupation (3) | 5 Nov 1825 (age 27) | Captain, half pay |
| Occupation (4) | 8 Apr 1826 (age 27) | Appointed to 22nd Regiment of Foot (The Cheshire Regiment) |
| Occupation (5) | 22 Mar 1831 (age 32) | Major |
| Wounded | 17 Feb 1843 (age 44) | |
| Occupation (6) | 1848 (age 49-50) | Relinquished command of the 22nd and went on half pay |
| Occupation (7) | 1849 (age 50-51) | Assistant Quartermaster General of the Cork District |
| Occupation (8) | 1854 (age 55-56) | Appointed to command 1st Brigade of 2nd Division (Sir De Lacy Evans'division) |
| Occupation (9) | 20 Jun 1854 (age 55) | Major General |
| Occupation (10) | 20 Sep 1854 (age 56) | Commanded his Brigade at the battle of Alma |
| Occupation (11) | 26 Oct 1854 (age 56) | Commanded his Brigade at the battle of "Little Inkerman" |
| Occupation (12) | 25 Nov 1854 (age 56) | Commanded the Division at the battle of Inkerman, De Lacy Evans being ill. Mentioned in despatches. |
| Occupation (13) | Dec 1854 (age 56) | Appointed commander of the 2nd Division when Evans invalided home. Appointed Colonel of the 46th Regiment |
| Occupation (14) | 5 Jul 1855 (age 56) | KCB |
| Occupation (15) | Jul 1856 (age 57) | Invalided home |
| Occupation (16) | 25 Sep 1856 (age 58) | Appointed to command the troops in Malta |
| Occupation (17) | 13 Feb 1860 (age 61) | Appointed Colonel of the 22nd |
| Occupation (18) | 1860 (age 61-62) | Appointed to command the troops at Aldershot |
| Occupation (19) | 12 Nov 1860 (age 62) | Lieutenant General |
| Occupation (20) | 13 May 1867 (age 68) | GCB |
| Occupation (21) | 9 May 1868 (age 69) | General |
| Occupation (22) | 27 Aug 1870 (age 71) | Appointed Governor of Chelsea Hospital |
| Death | 9 May 1872 (age 73) | 1872 1-Mar Chelsea 1a 141 |
| Burial | 1872 | Brompton Cemetery |
Additional Information
| Wounded | Wounded in battle of Miani (Meanee) under General Napier, Awarded CB |
| Occupation (22) | - Commander of the Sardinian Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus
- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour - 2nd Class of the Order of the Medjidie - |
Marriage
| Spouse | Katherine CARR ( - ) | |
| Marriage | 1834 (age 35-36) | |
Individual Note 1
John Lysaght Pennefather was born (in 1800, according to Army records) the third son of Rev John Pennefather of County Tipperary and was descended from Richard Pennefather of New Park, Cashel in Co. Tipperary and the Hon. Mary Lysaght daughter of John Lord Lisle and Catterive, daughter of Lord Chief Justice Baron Deane of the Court of the Exchequer, Ireland and Grand-daughter of Henry, Earl of Shannon. He married Katherine, eldest daughter of John Carr, of Mountrath, Queen's County in 1834. He died in 1872 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.
His Army career began in January 1818 when he joined the 7th Dragoon Guards as Cornet. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1823 and to Major in 1831. Immediately prior to the Crimean War he was appointed Major General in the Cheshire Regiment, having command of the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division (under Sir De Lacy Evans). He took part in the battles of the Alma and Inkerman and took over from Evans when he fell ill during the latter. His command of the 2nd Division was confirmed in December 1854. He was invalided home in July 1856 and later served in Malta and as Colonel of the 22nd at Aldershot. He was appointed Governor of Chelsea Hospital in 1870.
Individual Note 2
Royal Garrison Church - General Sir John Pennefather -
Location
On the South wall of the nave.
Description
The memorial appears to be made of plaster and has suffered considerable weathering. Some of the text is barely legible. Attempts have been made to improve the legibility.
IN
AFFECTIONATE
AND DUTIFUL
REMEMBRANCE OF
GENERAL SIR JOHN
LYSAGHT PENNEFATHER G.C.
COLONEL H.M. 22ND CHESHIRE REGIMENT
GOVERNOR OF THE ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA
BORN 9TH SEPTEMBER 1798: DIED 9TH MAY 1872
DD: HIS FORMER AIDE-DE-CAMP MAJOR HENRY
DOHERTY: LATE 3RD KINGS OWN HUSSARS
Individual Note 3
PENNEFATHER, LIEUT.-GENERAL JOHN LYSAGHT, K.C.B., for a time Commander of the Second Division of the Army of the East, is the son of an Irish clergyman, the Rev, John Pennefather, late of New Park, Tipperary. He was born in 1800, entered the army as Cornet in January 1818, and obtained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1839, without having purchased any of his grades. Pennefather's name first came prominently before the world as a trusted officer of that distinguished commander, the late Sir Charles James Napier. The operations which secured the conquest of Scinde have been declared by the Great Duke " the most extraordinary of which he had ever heard or read;" and in these Pennefather performed an important part. In 1843 Napier, taking Pennefather for his brigadier, started from the banks of the Indus with a force chiefly native, marched across the desert without fear of wanting supplies, captured and destroyed the fort of Imannughur, and then concluded a peace with the Ameers of the country. This peace was broken within twenty-four hours after its signature by a treacherous attack on Major Outram's residence, in February 1843. When Napier heard what had taken place, he determined promptly to punish the treachery. Having ascertained that the Ameers were in position at Meannee, ten miles distant from his own camp, with a ferce of 22,000 men, he resolved not to wait until reinforcements should increase their numbers and add to their confidence, but to attack them on the 17th. One who was present at the battle has described the falcon face of Sir Charles as beaming with delight when he greeted Pennefather after victory. Upon a subsequent public occasion in England, Napier declared that to his brigadier he owed the rietory of Meannee. In the grand charge, as our regiments were adnncing up the bank of the river, Pennefather was shot quite through fte bodj, notwithstanding which he remained at the head of his troops until the victory was completed. For his services in Scinde he was Bade a Commander of the Bath, and received the thanks of Parliament; his name was also inscribed with that of Napier on the Bombay triumphal column, cast from the metal of the guns captured at Hyderabad. In 1846 he received the colonelcy of the 28th Foot, having in the same year attained the rank of Colonel in the army. Upon the formation of the Eastern army in 1854. Pennefather was appointed to command the first brigade of the Second Division, with the rank of Major-General. At the battle of the Alma he led his regiments across the river, opposed by the enemy's artillery from the heights above, and pressed on with the greaU'st gallantly and steadiness. An eye-witness of the engagement writes of tha encounter which succeeded the passage of the river.—" Brigadier Pennefather was in the thickest of the fight, leading on and cheering his men, the 55th, 30th, and 95th Regiments. Again and again they were checked, yet they never once drew back in their onward progress, which was marked by a fierce roll of Minie musketry." At the siege of Sebastopol the Second Division was posted to the right; where, on the 20th of October, it was attacked by several strong columns of Russian infantry. Upon this occasion Pennefathert regiments chased the enemy over the ridges, and down to the Bay of Sebastopol; and their Brigadier received again the marked approbation of the Divisional General. At the battle of Inkcrmann the Second Division was under the chief command of Pennefather, General Evans having gone on board ship in the harbour on account of illness. It was the first to sustain the Russian attack, and, in the words of Lord Raglan, "gallantly maintained itself under the greatest difficulties throughout this protracU-d conflict." Pennefather's " admirable behaviour" was brought under the notice of the Minister of War in the despatch of the Commanderin-Chief. One who was at the battle of Inkermann wrote two days after the event,—"To-day I visited a shipful of wounded (the Talavera), including six officers. General Pennefather is among the many astonishing instances of merciful preservation from violent death. He and his Brigade-major Thackwell (both unhurt) had their horses shot under them. I saw the carcase of the eeneral's horse, and beside it the unexploded shell, which had passed into the animal's head and out through his neck." After the battle of Inkermann, Pennefather was compelled by the state of his health to retire for a time from the field. He, however, returned soon afterwards, and took the permanent command of the Second Division, with the rank of Lieutenant-General. In June, 1854, he was appointed Colonel of the 48th Foot- For his services against the Russians Sir John has been created a K.C.B., Commander of the Sardinian Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.