Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Michael Brosnahan (90438), known as Mick, was the first-born of Timothy Michael (Thady Mick – Thady an Irish form of Timothy; son of Michael) and Mary (née Sullivan) Brosnahan, of Kerrytown. He was born on 1 February 1889 at Temuka and baptised Roman Catholic two days later at Temuka. 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). Perhaps Michael was the Mick Brosnahan who played football for the Temuka Club in the early 1900s; perhaps not.

From his youth, Michael was a farm labourer at Kerrytown where his father was a farmer. Michael Brosnahan, farmer, Kerrytown, Levels County was listed on the 1916 Reserve Rolls. Michael Brosnahan, farmer, Kerrytown was one of 1265 Canterbury reservists drawn in the eighth ballot on 6 June 1917 and so called up. He was medically examined at Timaru on 21 June 1917. He stood at 5 feet 7½ inches, weighed 129 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 35½-37 inches, a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed, but the movements of all joints were not full and perfect. He had had no illnesses or fits, was free from diseases, and was vaccinated. He was not in good bodily and mental health, however, and he did have slight defects though not likely to interfere with the sufficient performance of his duties. He had had right ankle and left wrist sprains, from which he still suffered. He was classed C2.

Michael enlisted the same day [21 June 1917] at Timaru. A self-employed farmer at Kerrytown, single and Roman Catholic, he named his immediately younger sister as next-of-kin – Miss Margrette Brosnahan, Kerrytown. On 21 October 1918 three men from Temuka and district — Mr M. Brosnahan one of them — left for C1 camp with the South Canterbury draft. The men, in accordance with their wish, were not entertained at a public dinner. The flags were dying on the staves in front of the Drillshed and Mr Gunnion’s. Several hundred persons assembled at the railway station to bid them good-bye. Just before the train came in Mr Gunnion, chairman of the Temuka P.E.C., and the Mayor (Mr A. Frew) made short addresses. Mr Gunnion said he was glad to see so many present to see the men away. He assured the men that the town and district were proud of them, They had up to this done their best for those who had gone away, and now they were going themselves to help them, and assist in winning the finishing battle. He hoped that they would not be required to fire a shot — that there would be no need for them to do so — and that they would return safely to their homes. Hearty cheers were given for the departing recruits. The Mayor wished them every success in their military career and a safe return. As the train left the station, the men were again heartily cheered. Having been posted to D Company C1 on 21 October 1918, Private M. Brosnahan was granted leave without pay from 12 November 1918 until 7 January 1919. His medical case sheet dated 29 October 1918, after four days’ service, recorded that he had an old injury to his foot and had evidently had Infantile Paralysis. Michael Brosnahan’s service was, indeed, brief. It appears that he was not fit to carry on.

Michael continued to farm at Kerrytown until sometime in the mid to late 1920s, when he was found in Timaru, still a farmer. In 1943 he married Beatrix Olivia Finlay (née Bushell), who had been married twice before. Beatrix had two daughters and a son from her first marriage (Krause – perhaps not father of all; divorced), the girls taking the Finlay name after she married James Finlay in 1919. James died at Timaru in 1939. Michael, Beatrix and her younger daughter were at the Grampians Station, Fairlie in 1943, he employed as a farm labourer. Her elder daughter had married in 1938. From there they moved to Belfast where Michael was a cowman, and in the 1950s they moved into Christchurch.

Michael Brosnahan died at Christchurch on 13 August 1968, aged 79 years, and was buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch, following a Requiem Mass at the New Brighton Church. Michael was buried with his stepdaughter, Iris Esther Finlay/Krause. When Beatrice Olive Brosnahan died on 29 December 1970, she too was buried there. Iris Esther Finlay – beloved daughter of Beatrix Olivia Brosnan and loved stepdaughter of Michael Brosnan – died at Christchurch on 2 October 1957. An In Memoriam notice was inserted by “mum and stepfather, Mick Brosnan” in 1958. Beatrice’s death notice made mention of two Brosnahan sisters-in-law, Kathleen and Mag. When Beatrix signed her Will in 1965, she bequeathed her property to her husband Michael Timothy Brosnahan and appointed him sole executor and trustee. Should Michael predecease her, she named her brother William Bushnell, and should William also predecease her, she named her husband’s nephew Patrick McCabe. Patrick Michael McCabe was the only child of Michael Brosnahan’s sister Margaret. On a few occasions, Michael used the name Michael Timothy Brosnahan – that is, he was Michael, son of Timothy. This family line was one which used the spellings Brosnahan and Brosnan interchangeably.

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 Michael, 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. His brother James Timothy Brosnan died at “The Gums”, Kerrytown in July 1955; his brother Eugene died in 1964; his half-sister Lucy Bridget Sullivan died in 1963. Michael was survived by his sister Margaret Rose McCabe (died 1980), his half-sisters Catherine Mary Brosnan (died July 1993, aged 96 years), Mary Frances O’Neill (died 1994), and his half-brother John Joseph Brosnan (died 1988).

Michael’s brother James Timothy Brosnahan served in World War One and Jim’s twin Eugene appealed in late December 1916 on the grounds that his hearing was defective. Mick’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 Cenotaph Database [25 February 2026]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5530 0018540) [27 March 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [08 February 2016]; Timaru Herald, 1 January 1917, 7 June 1917, 3 July 1918, 22 October 1918, 3 December 1918, 7 October 1919, 25 September 1944, Sun, 6 June 1917, Temuka Leader, 7 June 1917, 22 October 1918, NZ Tablet, 26 December 1918, Press, 25 September 1944, 9 & 10 March 1948, 3 October 1957, 2 October 1958, 12 September 1964, 15 August 1968, 31 December 1970, 2 January 1971, 24 September 1980, 10 June 1988, Ashburton Guardian, 9 March 1948 (Papers Past) [28 February 2014; 10 February 2016; 07, 24 & 26 February 2026]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [08 February 2016; 07 & 24 February 2026]; Ruru Cemetery burial records (Christchurch City Council) [08 February 2016]; Ruru Cemetery headstone transcription [08 February 2016]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• BROSNAHAN Michael - newspaper clippings (pdf, 100.7 KB updated 06-Apr-2026)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS