Service
Cornet in the 15th Hussars: 2nd of April 1848.
Lieutenant: 14th of October 1851.
On to half-pay (Reduction of the Regiment): 8th of September 1854.
Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars: 14th of December 1854.
Appointed Acting Adjutant (vice John Yates) on the latter's return to England, until the 1st of December 1854.
Joined the regiment in the Crimea on the 14th of July 1855, and returned to England on the 9th of December 1855: "requesting leave to England on private affairs, consequent upon the death of my parent."
Captain: 5th of March 1858.
Hart's New Army List, 1859.
(Click on image to enlarge)
1861 Census
Cavalry Barracks, Hulme.
Capt E Harnett, unmarried, 31, Full Pay, Ireland.
Major: 20th of July 1866.
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in the 11th Hussars: 17th of November 1875.
Went to the 7th Dragoon Guards as Second Lieutenant-Colonel: 17th of May 1875.
Brevet-Colonel; 17th of November 1880.
On to half-pay: 23rd of April 1881.
Retired (with the rank of Hon. Major-General): 23rd of April 1886.
Life after service
Assumed the additional surname of Meridith in April 1890.
1901 Census
35, Piccadilly, St James, Westminster.
Edward M Harnett, 70, Retired Military Officer, Major General Army Officer. born Sand Ville House, Killarney, Co Kerry.
Death & burial
Death registered
Edward M Harnett, aged 77, December Quarter 1904, Westminster.
Extracts from The Times for the 2nd of January 1905:
"Death. — On the 29th of December (1904) at No. 35 Piccadilly, London, Major-General Edward Meridith-Harnett, late of the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 11th Hussars. Funeral at St. Mary's Cemetery, Kensal Rise, on Tuesday the 3rd of January, at 11.30 a.m.
Obituary. — The death is announced of Major-General Edward Meridith Harnett, who served with the 11th Hussars in the Crimea, including the battles of the Tchernya and the Siege and fall of Sebastopol, receiving the medal with clasp and the Turkish medal.
He received his first commission more than 56 years ago, and served with the 7th Dragoon Guards after the 11th Hussars, becoming a Major-General in 1866 and died in London on Thursday last, in his 76th year."
In his will, made on the 6th of February 1893, he left estate to the value of £11, 440111d.
He left a gold watch and chain to a cousin, Edward Smith Harnett, but the bulk of his effects were left to a nephew, William, a son of his late brother, and included a number of proof prints by various artists, "which were not to be disposed of, but retained by the family."
Bequests were made to several charities, including the Association for the Blind, The Charing Cross Hospital, the Cancer Hospital at Brompton and the Home for Incurables at Putney.
He also left instructions that "his funeral was to be conducted in a plain and unostentatious manner and with as little expense as possible."
He was buried in Grave No. 2880 in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Rise, London. He was the only person buried in the grave and the erected memorial stone bears the inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Edward Meridith Harnett, Major-General, Late of the 7th Dragoon Guards and 11th Hussars, who died 29th of December 1903, aged 77 years. R.I.P."
There is also another stone a short distance away, which reads:
"In loving memory of our dear mother, Mary Ellen Harnett, widow of Edward Harnett (Castle Island, Co. Kerry) Born 15th of July 1806 — Died 26th of November 1893. 'On whose soul, sweet Jesus, have mercy.' "
Also buried in the same grave is "Also her daughter, Jane, who departed this life, 3rd. of June 1906. R.I.P.
What relationship (if any) existed between the people named is not known.
