THE HALLMARKED CIGARETTE CASE OF MAJ. C.R.M. O'BRIEN, ROYAL GUERNSEY LIGHT INFANTRY

Lt.-Col. Sir Charles Richard Mackey O'Brien was the son of Sir Terence O'Brien, Governor of Heligoland and Newfoundland and educated at Felsted School and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned with the 30th Foot in 1878, O'Brien narrowly escaped death with 5 other ensigns who missed their berth on the SS Princess Alice which sank in a collision, resulting in the loss of 700 lives.

Promoted to Lieutenant in Sep 1880 and Captain in May 1887, O'Brien was appointed Adjutant of the 1st Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (Militia) in Apr 1894, serving for 5 years and appointed Major in Oct 1897, before being posted to South Africa. Transferring to the 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, O'Brien was appointed President of the Military Tribunal in Johannesburg and twice Mentioned in Despatches. He was then appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Transvaal Town Police in 1901 and promoted to Brevet Lt.-Col, marrying Selina Beatrice Elphinstone, fourth daughter of Sir Howard Elphinstone, 3rd Baronet, at the Anglican Cathedral in Bloemfontein on 26 Dec 1902.

After his service in the Army, O'Brien was made Colonial Secretary of the Gambia in 1910 and two years later was appointed Governor of the Seychelles. In Apr 1918 he was made Governor of Barbados and appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St Georgein 1920, finally serving as Special Government Commissioner in Sierra Leone in 1926.