O’BRIEN – Kennedy HEIC Bombay Artillery and Bengal Artillery

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HEIC – Painting of
Battle of Ferozeshah 1845

Lived Northam – pictured Railway Station

Name	O’BRIEN – Kennedy
Regiment (s)	Honourable East India Company Bombay Artillery and Bengal Artillery
Regiment Number (s)	76
Date/Age/Place/Trade or Profession at Attestation	7th August 1829 / 19 years / Westmeath Ireland Tailor
Description – Height Complexion/Eyes/Hair/Scars	5 Ft 7 in Dark / Blue / Brown / None
Overseas Service/Duration	To India per ship Thomas Coutts 31 December 1829.
Length of Service	17 years 5 months
Rank/Date/Place of Discharge	Gunner / 16th June 1847 / location not stated
Campaign Medals	Not yet known
Intended Residence at Discharge	Not yet known
Pension Districts	1849 Jersey 1849 – 1851 2nd East London 1851 2nd North London 1852 – 1860 Van Dieman’s Land 1860 2nd East London 1861 – 1877 Western Australia
Pension Paid	9d per diem
Date of Departure and Place England or Ireland	10th November Portland Dorset England
Ship and Date of Arrival Western Australia	PALMERSTON 11th February 1861
Date/Place of Birth	1811 Dublin Ireland
Date/Place of Baptism	Not yet known
Father Date/Place of Birth	Not yet known
Mother Date/Place of Birth Marriage	Not yet known
Siblings	Not yet known
1^st Wife Date of Birth or Baptism	FINAN Margaret/Mary 1826 Ireland
Date/Place of Marriage	Tentative 4th Quarter 1850: Kanady O’Brian (sic) married Margaret/Maria FINAN at Billericay Essex, England
Children by 1^st Wife	John B 1847 Essex England Mary Ann B 1849 Essex England M WHELAN James 1868 Western Australia and common-law wife of TIDEWELL Frank D 1894 Western Australia Buried 30th April 1894 East Perth Cemetery William B 4th May 1852 Hobart Tasmania D 7th April 1854 Hobart Tasmania Catherine B 18th September 1854 Hobart Tasmania (residence Argyle Street)
Father of 1st wife Date/Place of Birth	Not yet known
Mother of 1st wife Date/Place of Birth Marriage	Not yet known
Land Grants Western Australia	20th February 1883 Land Grant Northam P 30 of ten acres given to daughter Mary Ann Tidewell (title deed 5/1431)
Occupation after Arrival	Tailor although his obituary said he was late of the Victorian Gold Escort
Newspaper Articles	Colonial Times (Hobart, Tasmania: 1825-1857) Tuesday 19 December 1854 page 2 Wrongful arrest Victoria The Herald Saturday 21st July 1877 page 2 short Obituary
Departure from Western Australia	Not applicable
Date/Place of Death/Burial	16th July 1877 Northam Western Australia
Date/Place of Death/Burial Wife	Possible death Mary O’Brien died 1885 age 53 Western Australia. 23rd March 1878 Mary O’Brien, widow of pensioner, applied for outdoor relief but was offered admittance to work house. (see SROWA Cons 36 CSR Vol 893 folio 128)
Will or Probate	None known
Further Information	1851 Census HO107/1488/41 page 75 28 Henrietta Street St. Marylebone, London, Middlesex. Kennedy O’Brien, Head, Married, age 40, Tailor, born Kingston, Ireland Margaret O’Brien, wife married, 26, born Ireland John O’Brien, son age 4 born Essex Mary Ann, daughter, age 2, born EssexPlace of birth differs from document to document WO97 1811/Dublin Ireland. 1851 Census said Kingston, Ireland [The town formerly known as Kingston is about 12 kms south of Dublin and is now known as Dun Laoghaire.]M/MIL/9/100 said Place of Birth Dunleary, Dublin which is an alternative name for Dun Laoghaire. L-AG-23-2-68 List of EIC Pensioners who have emigrated: Kennedy O’Brien, 9d, emigrated to VDL as part of the Convict Guard December 1851 on the Convict transport Aboukir. He returned to Britain with his family in 1860 and enrolled the same year as a Convict guard for a second time, this time to Western Australia on the Palmerston. Kennedy O’Brien departed Launceston 14^th April 1860 on the Royal Shepherd for Melbourne with 2 of his children age 7 and 9 years (indistinct and no names) He then left Melbourne on the Eagle in April 1860 with John age 11 and Mary Ann age 7 for Liverpool England. There is no mention of his wife or daughter Catherine (born Tasmania) and he may have arrived in Western Australia as a widower with 2 children but as there is no mention of John in WA Mary Ann may have been the only child to accompany him. For an account of the wrongful arrest of a Kennedy O’Brian at Ballarat on 24^th December 1854 See http://eurekapedia.org/Kennedy_O%27Brien Although there is no account of him living in Victoria except in his obituary.