Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

James Timothy Brosnahan, known as Jim, was the twin son of Timothy Michael (Thady Mick – Thady an Irish form of Timothy; son of Michael) and Mary (née Sullivan) Brosnahan. He was born on 23 September 1891 at Temuka (as James Brosnahan) and baptised Roman Catholic the next day at Temuka (as James Brosnahan). Timothy Michael Brosnan, who was from County Kerry, Ireland and had been in New Zealand for 13 years, married Mary Sullivan, who was also from County Kerry and had been in New Zealand for 3 years, on 7 May 1888 at St Joseph’s Church, Temuka, New Zealand. They had three sons and one daughter (the first registered as Brosnan, the next three as Brosnahan). Mary Brosnahan died on 16 February 1893, at the age of 26 years old, leaving Timothy with four little children, the eldest (Michael) having just turned four and the twins (James and Eugene) just 19 months old. Timothy married Bridget O’Neill in 1896 and had six more children (all registered as Brosnan). Jim was surely the J. T. Brosnahan who won the 100 yards boys’ race, and received 5 shillings, at the Pleasant Point Caledonian Society gathering on 16 December 1901. He was probably the Jim Brosnahan selected to play for the Temuka Athletic Football Club junior B team at the South Canterbury seven-a-side tournament in May 1909.

By 1914, James was possibly a labourer in the North Island (Piopio). James Brosnahan was medically examined on 23 August 1915. He stood at 5 feet 9 inches, weighed 11 stone and had a chest measurement of 35-37½ inches, a medium complexion, hazel eyes and dark brown hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. Two upper teeth were removed; his lower teeth were good. He was free from diseases, had had no previous illnesses or fits, was vaccinated, and was in good bodily and mental health. As of noon on 12 November 1915, James Brosnahan, Waipukurau, was one of the recruits recorded in the books at the Masterton office. James Timothy Brosnahan was a labourer at Waipukurau when he enlisted on 11 January 1916 at Trentham. Single and Roman Catholic, he named his father as next-of-kin – Timothy Michael Brosnahan. Kerrytown, Timaru. At Trentham, Private J. T. Brosnahan was posted to No. 4 Reserve Company, then transferred to the 13th Reinforcements at Featherston on 6 April 1916. The 13th Reinforcements, to a strength of 1447, paraded on the Trentham Racecourse on the morning of 24 May 1916 and were inspected by His Excellency the Governor (Lord Liverpool). “At 10 o’clock, the men fell in opposite their hutments, and company after company swung out on to the road leading to the parade ground. They created a favourable impression. In physique the men are as good as any that have passed through the camp, and their uniformity in build and height was particularly noticeable. Many of the former drafts contained a fair proportion of older men, but there were very few in the ranks that paraded yesterday.”

Rifleman J. T. Brosnahan embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of the 13th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 31 May 1916 per the “Willochra” (Transport 54) and disembarking at Devonport, England on 26 July. Rifleman Brosnahan actually arrived with the 13th Reinforcements draft and was posted to the NZ Rifle Brigade at Sling. On 7 July on the Ship he had incurred 7 days detention. Marching out to the Machine Gun Company at Grantham on 18 September 1916, he was struck off the Strength of the 5th Reserve Battalion, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He marched out from Grantham for overseas on 6 October and, marching in at Etaples on 8 October, he was posted to Strength in the Field in France five days later. On 13 November 1916 he was attached to the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot at Etaples, France. After joining the Machine Gun Battalion at Camiers on 21 January 1917, he was taken on Strength in the Field on 8 March.

Wounded in action on 25 June 1917, he was admitted first to No. 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance, then to No. 22 General Hospital at Camiers on 26 June. Embarking for England per Hospital Ship “Newhaven” on 29 June 1917, he was admitted to No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton. He had suffered gunshot wounds to his right shoulder. From 28 till 30 June 1917, he was attached to Walton on Thames Hospital, then on 2 July transferred to the New Zealand Convalescent Depot at Hornchurch. After leaving Hornchurch on leave on 17 August 1917, he reported at Grantham on 1 September 1917. He left for France again on 29 March 1918 and marched into camp at Camiers the next day. On 12 April he joined the No. 3 New Zealand Entrenching Battalion. Admitted to a [Lancs?] Field Ambulance on 16 June 1918, he was admitted to No. 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance two days later [18 June 1918], suffering from tonsillitis. Discharged to duty on 22 June, he rejoined his Battalion. Before long – 14 July 1918 – he went to hospital, sick, and was admitted to No. 48 Field Ambulance, again suffering from tonsillitis. Brosnahan was admitted to No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital in France on 17 July 1918, with tonsillitis, then to No. 3 General Hospital three days later [21 July 1918] with Vincents Angina. On 12 August 1918 he embarked for England per Hospital Ship “St David” and was admitted to the 1st New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst the next day [13 August 1918], suffering from Vincents Angina. He was transferred to the New Zealand Convalescent Depot at Hornchurch on 20 September [1918], then reported to the NZ Machine Gun Battalion on 16 October.

J. T. Brosnahan, 22933, of Timaru, arrived home in January 1919 by Return Draft 204. The “Tahiti”, carrying 950 soldiers, left from Liverpool on 3 December 1918 and reached Port Chalmers on 12 January after a voyage of 40 days. Along with James Timothy Brosnahan was fellow South Canterbury born Timothy Edward Brosnahan. The men had had a very warm welcome at Panama and were greatly indebted to the people there for their kindness. During the voyage physical training was conducted with excellent results. “When the troop train arrived, shortly before 5 o’clock, there was well on to a thousand people, from all parts of the district, awaiting it. The train steamed in amidst the cheers of those assembled and the strains of a welcoming air played by the Juvenile Brass Band.” Among the soldiers who arrived was Private J. T. Brosnahan, of Kerrytown. With the soldiers who arrived earlier in the afternoon, and “headed by the Band, playing inspiriting music, they were driven to the post office, where a thousand or more people soon assembled. It was as happy a gathering as was ever seen in Temuka.” Mr Gunnion “did not know how to express his feelings of gratitude. He could only say we are proud of you, and we are glad to see you back again. On behalf of the Temuka Patriotic Entertainment Committee he thanked them for what they had done. The Mayor said that they “had come back with victory. One of the great points, it seemed to him, was that they had been living by war, and now they had come to live by peace; as they had been successful in war, so he hoped they would be successful in peace.” At Timaru, Mr Craigie, M.P., had welcomed the men.

Jim was discharged on 9 February 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He had given a total of 3 years and 30 days of war service. Initially he was going to Kerrytown, South Canterbury, then to Waipukurau. By the mid-1920s, or earlier, he was at Masterton, a PWD employee. Lter he was a contractor at Molesworth, then a labourer at Mount Nicholas, before returning to Kerrytown in the mid-1940s.

This family line was one which used the spellings Brosnahan and Brosnan interchangeably. James Timothy Brosnan [sic] - dearly loved son of the late Timothy M. and Mary Brosnan - died at his residence, “The Gums”, Kerrytown on 25 July 1955, aged 63 years. Following a Requiem Mass at St Joseph’s Church, Temuka, he was buried with his father and his stepmother Bridget, two brothers and a sister in Temuka Cemetery. The inscription reads – In Loving Memory of . . . . . Jim Brosnan 25th July 1955 Aged 63 . . . . His mother Mary Brosnahan was buried at Temuka. His father Timothy Michael Brosnan died at “The Gums”, Kerrytown on 24 September 1944 and his stepmother Bridget on 3 May 1950. When a meeting was held at Pleasant Point in early October 1919 to discuss a proposal to erect a memorial to fallen soldiers, T. M. Brosnahan was selected as one of the two Kerrytown representatives on the committee. Timothy Leo Brosnan, half-brother of Jim, died at home at Kerrytown in December 1918, aged 17 years, a victim of the influenza epidemic. Patrick Fergus Brosnan, his youngest half-brother, died in March 1948, aged 40 years, as the result of a drowning accident at “The Gums”, Kerrytown. James was survived by his brothers Michael Brosnahan (died 1968) and Eugene Brosnahan (twin, died 1964), his sister Margaret Rose McCabe (died 1980), his half-sisters Catherine Mary Brosnan (died July 1993, aged 96 years), Lucy Bridget Sullivan (died 1963), Mary Frances O’Neill (died 1994), and his half-brother John Joseph Brosnan (died 1988).

Jim’s brother Michael Brosnahan enlisted for World War One but saw no service. His twin brother Eugene who may have been drawn in the first ballot in November 1916, appealed when the Military Appeal Board sat in late December 1916. Eugene Brosnan appealed on the grounds that his hearing was defective. He said he drove a team on a farm of 200 acres, belonging to a Mr Drummond. It would take six weeks to get in the harvest, at which time he worked a binder. His father was a farmer, and he (appellant) had two brothers. The father of the appellant said that sometimes his son could not hear at all. The appeal was dismissed, but two months were allowed to get over harvest. Jim’s half-brother Fergus Patrick Brosnan served in World War Two, as did his nephew Michael James Sullivan, son of Lucy Bridget Brosnan and grandson of Timothy Michael (Thady Mick) Brosnan. Many relatives (cousins among them) served in World War One, so intertwined were the Kerrytown families – Timothy John Brosnahan was killed in action in 1916 in France, son of Hugh (“The Pub”) Brosnahan; Louis Brosnahan and Patrick Joseph Brosnahan, sons of Hugh (“The Pub”) Brosnahan; Daniel Joseph Brosnahan, son of John Hugh Brosnahan; Hugh Hoare, son of Mary Brosnahan; James Francis Poff, Francis (Frank) Patrick Joseph Poff and Leo John Aloysius Poff, sons of Johannah Brosnahan; James Gregory Brosnahan, son of Timothy Brosnahan and Eliza); Michael (Mick) Anthony Spring died of wounds in 1915 at Gallipoli, son of Margaret Brosnahan; Thomas Leonard, son of Johannah (Hannah) Brosnahan; Timothy Gregory Breen, son of Norah Brosnahan; Daniel Scannell and Christopher Patrick Scannell, sons of Mary Brosnahan; Timothy Joseph Perry was killed in action in 1917 in Belgium, son of Catherine (Kate) Brosnahan; Timothy Joseph Brosnahan was killed in action in 1918 in France, son of Hugh Brosnahan. And in World War Two – Hugh Patrick Brosnahan, son of Hugh Francis Brosnahan; Cecil Patrick McEvedy served in the Navy, son of Emma Brosnahan; Timothy John McGrath served in the Air Force, son of Nora Brosnahan; Beatrice Mary Brosnahan served in the Air Force, daughter of Louis Brosnahan; Cecil Patrick Hoare, grandson of Mary Brosnahan; Eugene Augustus Breen, grandson of Norah Brosnahan; Hugh Brosnahan was killed in action in 1942 in North Africa, son of Hugh Brosnahan and brother of Timothy Joseph killed in action in 1918; Patrick Francis Brosnahan was killed in action in 1943 in North Africa, son of Hugh Brosnahan and brother of Timothy Joseph killed in action in 1918; Daniel Peter Brosnahan, son of Cornelius Brosnahan; in addition, Joseph Patrick Brosnahan, son of Joseph Patrick Brosnahan served in Malaya from 1948 to 1964.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 July 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5530 0018536) [16 April 2014]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [08 February 2016]; Temuka Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [28 August 2013; 23 February 2014]; Timaru Herald, 26 July 1955 (Timaru District Library) [17 May 2015]; Temuka Leader, 17 December 1901, 14 January 1919, Timaru Herald, 20 May 1909, 1 January 1917, 16 July 1917, 3 December 1918, 8 & 14 January 1919, 7 October 1919, 25 September 1944, Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 November 1915, NZ Times, 25 May 1916, Evening Post, 13 July 1917, Oamaru Mail, 14 July 1917, Press, 14 July 1917, 25 September 1944, 9 & 10 March 1948, 26 July 1955, 12 September 1964, 24 September 1980, 10 June 1988, Hawke’s Bay Tribune, 14 July 1917, Sun, 14 July 1917, 6 January 1919, Lyttelton Times, 14 July 1917, 6 January 1919, Otago Witness, 1 August 1917, NZ Tablet, 26 December 1918, New Zealand Times, 6 January 1919, Ashburton Guardian, 9 March 1948 (Papers Past) [28 February 2014; 10, 11 & 13 February 2016; 30 January 2018; 05 June 2019; 02 October 2020; 22 March 2022; 07, 24 & 25 February 2026]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [2014; 24 February 2026]; SCRoll web submission by M Brosnan, 25 June 2020.

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS