Born at Newcastle-under-Lyne, Staffordshire.
Enlisted at Athlone on the 6th of June 1849.
Age: 18 years 2 months.
Height: 5' 11".
Trade: Clerk.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Brown eyes. Dk. brown hair.
From Private to Corporal: 12th of May 1854.
Joined the regiment in the Crimea from Varna on the 6th of February 1855.
From Corporal to Sergeant: 17th of April 1855.
At Scutari from the 4th of April — 11th of May 1855.
Tried by a Regimental Court-martial and reduced to Private on the 4th of October 1860.
Discharged from Dublin on the 26th of November 1860:
"Has rupture of the left side. Medical report states — 'I am under the opinion that the disability under which Private John Bourke now labours has been caused by the sudden muscular activity of mounting his horse.
The accident was not reported at the time and was first observed whilst he was being detained as a prisoner.'"
Served 11 years 172 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 6 months. Aged 29 years 6 months on discharge.
Conduct and character: "a good soldier". Once tried by Court-martial.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasp for Sebastopol.
Documents confirm the award of the Crimean and Turkish medals.
Awarded a pension of 6d. per day for three years.
To live in Athlone after discharge, but he was living in Cork in 1861.
Not recorded by Lummis and Wynn.