THE O.B.E., BOER WAR, FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WAR CAMPAIGN GROUP AWARDED TO THE ACTOR, THEATRICAL PRODUCER AND THEATRE MANAGER MAJOR FREDERICK RUPERT ESMONDE DOWSE BRENAN, O.B.E. (WHO ADOPTED THE HYPHENATED SURNAME DOWSE-BRENAN DURING THE YEARS FOLLOWING THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR), 1/1ST BATTALION CAMBRIDGESHIRE REGIMENT (LATE GLOUCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT, EAST SURREY REGIMENT, SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY AND HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT).
DURING THE POST WW1 YEARS, DOWSE-BRENAN WENT ON TO SEE SERVICE WITH THE SPECIAL CONSTABULARY DURING THE 1920S, THE IMPERIAL WAR GRAVES COMMISSION’S 1921-1943 AND IN 1940 WAS GRANTED AN EMERGENCY COMMISSION (LIEUTENANT, REGULAR ARMY, LATE RESERVE OF OFFICERS), WHILST EMPLOYED WITH THE WAR GRAVES COMMISSION.
Nine: 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 named, impressed in plain block capitals: LIEUT. F.R.E.D. BRENAN. CAMB. R.); British War and Victory Medals (both officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: CAPT. F.R.E.D. BRENAN) Victory Medal with M.I.D. oakleaf on ribbon; I939-45 War Medal (unnamed, as issued); Special Constabulary Medal, George V (officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: FREDERICK E. DOWSE-BRENAN); France, Croix de Guerre, reverse dated 1914-1918, bronze palm emblem on ribbon (unnamed, as issued).
Mounted "court" style for display, Very Fine to Good Very Fine and better.
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, 13 pages copied documents and correspondence from Dowse-Brenan's WW1 Officer's Papers file (WO 374/8791), copied extracts from London Gazettes and Army Lists covering Brenan’s service during both WW1 and WW2, WW1 medal rolls (2) and Medal Index card, along with Major Brenan’s 4 page Imperial War Graves Commission record of service and an extensive file of correspondence between Major Brenan and the Imperial War Graves Commission regarding the erection of a memorial to his son, Flying Officer R.H.E. Dowse-Brenan, who was killed in an accident on 6th June 1940 at Murree Hill, India.
Frederick Rudolph Esmond Dowse (F.R.E.D.) Brenan (1879-1955), 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 schoolboy 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).
Dowse-Brenan first saw service during WW1 as a Private in the Hampshire Regiment, enlisting at Portsmouth on 12/9/1914, and was promoted Lance Corporal, 14/10/1914, Corporal, 26/10/1914, Lance Sergeant 18/12/1914 and Sergeant 12/2/1915. He 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. Having reached the limit of liability for recall to active service, Major Brenan was discharged from the Reserve of Officers on 9/6/1929.
In the inter-war years Brenan saw service with the Imperial War Graves Commission (an article in the Wiltshire Herald dated 20th May 1938 records Dowse-Brenan as an Area Inspector for Wiltshire). He 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. Dowse Brenan was appointed 1st Class Clerk, Imperial War Graves Commission, 1/4/1921. At the time of appointment he was 42 years of age, a married man with one child and stated that he had been previously employed as a manager and producer (theatre). Dowse-Brenan was promoted Area Inspector, 9/4/1924 and retired from the Imperial War Graves Commission on 1/10/1943.
Whilst employed with the Imperial War Graves Commission, Dowse-Brenan (late Reserve of Officers) was granted an emergency commission in the regular army (Lieutenant, without pay and allowances), 24/4/1940. Dowse-Brenan relinquished his commission on 1/10/1943, being re-granted the rank of Major.
Major Dowse-Brenan died in March 1955 in Windsor, Berkshire, aged 75.
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 with the 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.
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.
