John Doran (British Army officer)


General Sir John Doran was a British Army officer from an established Irish family with links to Irish nobility. He saw extensive service in India and the North West Frontier.
He had originally taken a commission in one of the East India Company Regiments in 1842.
In 1893, whilst serving as a senior officer in India, Doran was knighted. He was promoted full general on 1 April 1894.

Family

Doran's younger brother Robert Doran, also a British Army officer, was killed in the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852.
Doran married Georgina Sultana Magrath in London on 13 November 1856. The Dorans would have four sons and four daughters; three of the sons would have military careers and serve as officers in World War 1. Two would retire in the rank of general. One daughter would marry a senior British Army officer, and another daughter would serve as a sister in the Army Nursing Service, and died after contracting gastritis whilst nursing at Carnarvon, Cape Colony, during the Boer War.
This military family had strong links with the County Wexford in Ireland. His father was Major John Doran of Ely House, Wexford. General Doran died in Surrey, England. His wife survived him by a further nine years; she died in Wexford, Ireland in 1912.