Joseph Charles Brennan

Bringing guns under fire, he forced an enemy battery to flee

Joseph Charles Brennan was a Royal Artillery soldier whose Victoria Cross was won during the storming of Jhansi in the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58. He served as a bombardier in the Hyderabad Contingent attached to the Central India Field Force. In the spring of 1858, British and allied forces under Sir Hugh Rose moved against Jhansi, where defenders held a fortified city and fort above the surrounding plain.

On 3 April 1858, during the assault, Brennan helped bring two guns of the Hyderabad Contingent into exposed positions under heavy fire from the fort walls. He directed their fire so effectively that the enemy abandoned its battery. His citation recognized the difficult gun movement and the accuracy of the artillery fire, not simply his presence in the assault. The Victoria Cross award was published in the *London Gazette* on 11 November 1859. He received the medal at Gwalior on 20 April 1860.

After Jhansi, Brennan continued in the Royal Artillery and served in the Bhutan campaign of 1864–65. He later held the rank of sergeant. His service record also includes a serious disciplinary episode: in 1863, while serving as a quartermaster-sergeant, he was court-martialled for failing to attend a commanding officer’s parade and reduced to gunner. He returned to sergeant’s rank before his death. Brennan married Mary Eliza Broomfield in 1870; they had two young children. He died of pneumonia at Shorncliffe Camp, Kent, on 24 September 1872, and was buried in Shorncliffe Military Cemetery. His medal group, which includes the Victoria Cross and campaign medals, is held in the Lord Ashcroft Collection.

### Victoria Cross citation

> For marked gallantry at the assault of Jhansi, on the 3rd of April 1858, in bringing up two guns of the Hyderabad Contingent, manned by Natives, laying each under a heavy fire from the walls, and directing them so accurately as to compel the Enemy to abandon his battery.