John Joseph Aloysius Colahan (30 March 1836 – 19 November 1918) was Surgeon Major General in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Family

The eldest of the four children of Professor Nicholas Colahan (1806–1890), and his first wife, Sarah Colahan (1814–49), née Whistler, John Joseph Aloysius Colahan was born in

Galway, Ireland Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

on 30 March 1836. His three siblings were Mary Josephine Colahan (1843–1912), Francis Colahan (1843–), and William Henry Colahan (1848–). He married Eliza McDowell Orr (1859–1899), a concert pianist, in Malta, in 1885. They had six children: Mary Margarita Colahan (1886–1965); Beatrice Clare Colahan (1889–1984); Frederick John Orr Colahan (1892–1982); John Maurice Orr "Jack" Colahan (1894–1917); the artist, Colin Cuthbert Orr Colahan (1897–1987); and Basil Nicholas Orr Colahan (1898–1980).

Medical career

Colohan graduated

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

at Queen's University, Galway in 1857, and served as an army surgeon in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Colahan served as Principal Medical Officer in Ireland. The family moved from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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in 1889, then to

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in 1896.

Death

He died at

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...

on 19 November 1918.Obituary: Surgeon-Major-General Colahan, ''The Advocate'', (Saturday, 30 November 1918), p.26.
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Footnotes

References

* ''The Colahans - A Remarkable Galway Family'', Diarmuid Ó Cearbhaill, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, volume 54, 2002, pp. 121–140.
Kinnane, Gary (1996), ''Colin Colahan: A Portrait'', Carlton South: Melbourne University Press.
Military personnel from County Galway Irish military doctors British Army major generals Irish emigrants to colonial Australia British Army regimental surgeons Royal Army Medical Corps officers 1836 births 1918 deaths Irish healthcare managers Alumni of the University of Galway Medical doctors from County Galway {{Ireland-med-bio-stub