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17.I Crane Brush & Annn Skelton and their children , ann

This appears to be the central pivot of the Northern Irish Brush families. The AHB tree shows Crane [IR20] as being born on 16 October 1736 and as marrying Ann Skelton. The date he gives for ther marriage is 1/2/1783. He says they had six children:

James Francis 5 July 1785

Oliver born 11 June 1786, of which much is known - see below.

Margaret 28 february 1793

Edward 6 July 1795

Elizabeth Ann ( he says 1813!)

Crane Richard
I have put hm ast in the list as none of the dates for this man seem to add up. AHB says he was born on 4 January 1769, the eldest son but this is well before the 1863 marriage of Crane and Ann. FWB adds a note correcting this to 1789. A death notice in The Belfast Newsletter in 1858 gives the age of C.R. Brush of Gill Hall, Co.Down as 60 which equates to a birth in 1797/8. His marriage to cousin Mary Anne (or Marianne) is said by AHB to be 15 November 1816 in Dromore but the FWB slip suggests an alternative date of 1822. The children of Crane Richard and Mary Anne are consdered in section 17.J

The death of his "relict" is also recorded in The Belfast Newsletter. She died in London in 1862. FWB records her death (appatently sourced - SC and PPR)as being on 26 January 1862 at 24 Ovington Square, Brompton, Midlesex. AHB (copied by FWB) gives her birth as 5 May 1792. FWB records her executor as Henry Brush of 31 Duke Street Piccadilly, her son.

Oliver

Born 11 June 1786, the son of Crane of Dromore and Anne (Skelton)

The national backdrop to the last few chapters was the Napoleonic wars which began in and ended with Napoleons defeat at Waterloo in 1815. Bear in mind that Ireland was part of the British Isles at the time and that Irish troops formed part of the British Army.

Oliver BRUSH, a in the Regiment, was one of those present at the battle of Waterloo Seems more likely to be 89th foot as this was raised in Ireland in 1793 - first battalion then served in Java in 1811 but in India in 1815?? Served all over the palce. 14th were at waterloo and Java

The1814 rmy list shows him serving as lieeenat in the 89th Foot ,,commissioned 16/6/1808 [Uniform picture]

Royal Irish Fusiliers... Napoleonic Wars to the Boer War The Regiment was raised in response to the Napoleonic crisis. This war took Role of regiment in the battle? He also served with ???? in a campaign in Java in 1811.

On the 11th of June 1811 a fleet brought from India sailed from Malacca on an expedition destined for the conquest of the Dutch island of Java. On the fleet of ships were 10,760 officers and men, of whom very nearly half were Europeans.

After several stops "the fleet arrived on the 30th July 1811 off Boompies island, which lies nearly abreast of Indramayo river on the Java coast. Here [they] waited, in expectation of being joined by some frigates with intelligence. ………. We will take this opportunity of narrating two or three creditable little affairs, that occurred on the Java coast, while the expedition was on its way from Madra

s and waiting off Boompies island."

"During the night of the 30th the 18-gun brig-sloop Procris, Captain Robert Maunsell, in obedience to orders from Captain Sayer, stood in and anchored near the mouth of Indramayo river, and at daylight on the 31st discovered lying there six gun-boats, each armed with two guns, a brass 32-pounder carronade forward, and a long 18-pounder aft, and a crew of 60 men, protecting a convoy of 40 or 50 prows. The brig immediately weighed, and ran into a quarter less than three fathoms' water, but was then scarcely within gun-shot. Finding that the fire of the Procris made very little impression upon the gun-boats, and considering it an object of importance to attempt their destruction, Captain Maunsell proceeded to the attack in his boats ; embarking in them, in addition to their respective crews, Lieutenants Henry J. Heyland and Oliver Brush, and 40 privates of the 14th and 89th regiments, detachments from which happened to be on board his vessel.

Although opposed by a heavy fire of grape and musketry, the British boats succeeded in boarding and carrying five of the Dutch gun-boats ; the crews of which, after throwing their spears at the assailants, leaped overboard. The sixth gun-boat would have shared the same fate, but caught fire and blew up before the British could get alongside of her. This exploit was performed without any loss of life on the British side, and with no greater loss in wounded, than one master's mate (William Randall), seven seamen, one boy, and two soldiers. Captain Maunsell speaks in the highest terms, as well of the troops and their officers, as of his first lieutenant George Majoribanks, and the three master's mates George Cunningham, William Randall, and Charles Davies."

In Java in 1812 he marries Amelia Hunter In the period 25/12/1814 to 24/1/1815 he was stationed at Bangalore witht he 1st battalion of the 89th Foot. He was effectivly the lone officer in his company. His captain Lorenzo Nunn was in Europe in charge of Invalids, his fellow leitunnt was absent without leve and the ensign had not arived since his appointmet. AHB gives his death as 20 June 1817 but this ma bethe daeofburial: he says he died of @jungle fever@ Oliver Brush BIRTH unknown DEATH Jun 1817 Galle District, Southern, Sri Lanka BURIAL Dutch Cemetery, Galle Galle District, Southern, Sri Lanka MEMORIAL ID 213179534 · View Source MEMORIAL PHOTOS 0 FLOWERS 0 June 20, 1817—Oliver Brush, Lieutenant, 89th Regiment, aged 30. Date is of burial in Dutch Cemetery (Church of England register). He arrived with his wife on May 21, 1817, by the ship Carron. The 89th (Princess Victoria's) Battalion, now the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, arrived by the H. C. ships Lord Castlereagh and iiord Keith at Trincomalee, December 10, 1808. The battalion was 1,130 strong. They lost in Ceylon Major Hilliard, Captain Magrath, Lieutenants Brush, Reynolds, and Thompson, and Lieutenant-Colonel Macbean (transferred to the 19th Regiment). "Only the latter officer is commemorated" with an extant (in 1913) gravestone. Source: J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G.: List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon of Historical or Local Interest with an Obituary of Persons Uncommemorated, Colombo: H. C. Cottle, Government Printer, 1913. His wife then applies for a pesion

Oliver's son , John Ramsay BRUSH went on to be Surgeon of the Royal Scots Greys during the Crimean war. His story and that of his children is in the next section 17H.

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