Bryan Mahon

General Sir Bryan Thomas Mahon KCB, KCVO, PC, DSO (2 April 1862 – 29 September 1930) was an Irish born general of the British Army and Senator of the Irish Free State.

Military career
Mahon was born at Belleville, County Galway. He became a lieutenant in the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars in 1883.

During the Second Boer War Colonel Mahon led a flying column, 2,000 strong and consisting mainly of South African volunteers, from Kimberley which came to the Relief of Mafeking. The town, which had been under siege for seven months by Boer forces, was facing starvation. Mahon was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his services during the operations.

During the First World War he commanded the 2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade and the 10th (Irish) Division during the Gallipoli campaign. The 10th Division landed at Suvla Bay on the night of 6-7 August 1915. In September he moved with the Division to be head of the British Expeditionary Force in Serbia at the onset of the Mesopotamian campaign. In 1916 General Mahon took up command of the Western Frontier Force in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

He was then appointed as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland in 1916 in the lead up to the Anglo-Irish war. He retired from the British Army at the end of August 1921.

After his retirement he was elected as a privy council member of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland. He was appointed to Seanad Éireann by the President of the Executive Council, William T. Cosgrave, in 1922 and 1925. He was elected to the Seanad in 1928, and served until his death in 1930.