MAJOR FREDERICK RUPERT ESMONDE DOWSE BRENAN, O.B.E. (WHO ADOPTED THE HYPHENATED SURNAME DOWSE-BRENAN IN THE YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR), 1/1ST BATTALION CAMBRIDGESHIRE REGIMENT (LATE GLOUCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT, EAST SURREY REGIMENT AND SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY). Eight: Order of the British Empire, First Type, Officer, Military (O.B.E.), silver-gilt, reverse hallmarked London 1919 Queen's South Africa Medal, 2 clasps, Relief of Mafeking, Transvaal (renamed, contemporary re-engraved naming in plain block capitals: 498 TRPR. F.R.E.D. BRENAN B.S.A.P.) King's South Africa Medal (renamed, contemporary re-engraved naming in plain block capital: 498 TRPR. F.R.E.D. BRENAN B.S.A.P.) 1914-15 Star (officially impressed: LIEUT. F.R.E.D. BRENAN. CAMB. R.) British War Medal (officially impressed: CAPT. F.R.E.D. BRENAN) Victory Medal, M.I.D. oakleaf on ribbon (officially impressed: CAPT. F.R.E.D. BRENAN) Special Constabulary Medal, George V (officially impressed: FREDERICK E. DOWSE-BRENAN) France, Croix de Guerre, reverse dated 1914-1918, bronze palm emlem on ribbon (unnamed, as issued). O.B.E., Boer War and WW1 awards mounted loose style as worn, Special Constabulary Medal loose on ribbon, the Relief of Mafeking clasp on Brenan's QSA a contemporary tailor's copy.
Group accompanied by the original award certificate for Brenan's O.B.E., with printed signatures of George V and Edward as Prince of Wales,dated 1/1/1919 and an original Mentioned in Dispatches certificate, Sir Douglas Haig's dispatch of 9/4/1917, with printed signature of Winston S. Churchill.
Group also accompanied by biographical details, copied extracts census returns, copied service papers for service with the Gloucestershire Regiment and East Surrey Regiment, Boer War Service Record transcription, copied extracts from London Gazettes and Army Lists of the period, WW1 medal rolls (2) and Medal Index card.
Frederick Rudolph Esmond Dowse (F.R.E.D.) Brenan, born Plymouth, Devon, September 1879, the son of Fleet Paymaster in Chief Henry Patrick Brenan, was originally christened Frederick Rudolph Esmond Dowse, but in later years adopted the christian name Rupert in place of Rudolph. He is recorded in the 1891 census as an 11 year old school boy living with his parents, brother and sister at Dovercourt, Essex, his father then being employed as a Fleet Paymaster. In the 1901 census he is recorded as a 21 year old writer in the Mercantile Marine (Sea) resident in Paddington, London with his widowed mother, and in the 1911 census as a 31 year old married actor living with his widowed mother at Hanwell, Middlesex.
Brenan enlisted into the Gloucestershire Regiment with the rank of Private at Devonport on 19/9/1896 and was discharged at his own request on the payment of £18 on 29/4/1897. He subsequently enlisted with the rank of Private into the East Surrey Regiment at Kingston on Thames on 15/3/1899 but was discharged for a second time at his own request on 10/5/1899, on the payment of £10. After being discharged from the East Surrey Regiment Brenan travelled to South Africa and saw service there during the Boer War with the British South Africa Police (Boer War service record transcription confirms entitlement to QSA with clasps Relief of Mafeking and Transvaal and KSA with 2 clasps).
Brenan was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Cambridgeshire Regiment, 22/5/1915 and first saw active service during WW1 in France, from 9/8/1915 (the 1/1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment had previously landed at Havre as a unit on 15/2/1915). Brenan was seconded from the Cambridgeshire Regiment for duty as a Staff Captain on 30/6/1916 and saw service on the Staff at the 3rd Echelon of General Head Quarters in France (the 3rd Echelon of the GHQ, The Adjutant-General's Office, was based at Rouen throughout the war). Brenan was promoted Captain, 21/5/1917, Major, 11/3/1919, relinquished his commission on 1/1/1921, and transferred to the Reserve of Officers.
Brenan is recorded in the 1921 census (name given as Frederick Rudolph Esmond Dowse-Brenan) as a 42 year old Major, Reserve of Officers, employed by the Imperial War Graves Commission as Head of Branch, 80 Lancaster Gate, London W2., living at 155 Shooters Hill Road, Blackheath, Greenwich, London, with his 33 year old wife Frances Sarah and seven year old son Rupert Howard Edward. Having reached the limit of liability for recall to active service, Major Brenan was discharged from the Reserve of Officers on 9/6/1929.
Brenan also saw service during WW2, being appointed Lieutenant (General List), 24/4/1940 and promoted Local Major, 17/5/1940.
Brenan's O.B.E. was announced in the London Gazette of 1/1/1919 "For valuable services rendered in connection with military operations in France and Flanders".
Brenan was twice mentioned in dispatches during WW1, London Gazette, 15/5/1917 and 20/12/1918, on both occasions for for "Distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty". His Croix de Guerre was announced in the London Gazette of 5/11/1920, "For distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign".
Brenan is believed to have seen service as a Special Constable in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, during the 1920s, including during the period of the General Strike of 1926, the group thus perhaps worth of further research in this regard.
Brenan may also have been entitled to medals for service during WW2, probably a Defence Medal, possibly a War Medal and perhaps one or more of the campaign Stars The group thus also worthy of further research in this regard.
There is an error in the Ancestry biographical entries for Brenan and his father, to the effect that Henry Patrick Brenan, Major Brenan's father, was a knight of the realm. This is incorrect. He retired from the Royal Navy on 20/12/1895 with the rank of Paymaster in Chief, Royal Navy, without ever having been knighted. The ancestry profile for F.R.E.D. Brenan also incorrectly credits him with having been awarded a British Military Cross during WW1. He was actually awarded the French Military Cross, the Croix de Guerre.
