IGS Burma 1887-89 1688 Pte. T. McCawley. Royal Munster Fusiliers

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1887-89 (1688 Pte T. Mc Gawley 2nd Bn R. Muns. Fus.),

Condition  contact mark to obverse, very fine

Thomas McGawley was born at Navan, Meath, Ireland in 1846 and attested with the Royal Munster Fusiliers on 22 August 1866. Embarking with them aboard the transport Euphrates on 4 October 1887 the Battalion was ordered to Burma. Here they were tasked with quelling ongoing resistance in the wake of the Third Anglo-Burmese War. McGawley's service record makes it clear that he was present in Mandalay by December 1887.

The climates in Burma and India were famously poor for Europeans and he was to suffer from a number of complaints while deployed. Namly Ague, Enteric Fever and notably the perennial soldiers complaint Syphilis. Back in India by 1888 McGawley is noted as suffering from Debility as a result of the climate. He was soon invalided and upon examination was discharged on 26 August 1890; sold together with copied service papers.