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Michael Sleavon

Irish soldier (c. 1826 – 1902); recipient of the Victoria Cross

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ6834443 ↗
Source-derived summary

Michael Sleavon VC (c. 1826 – 15 August 1902) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross.

Details

Michael Sleavon was born in Magheraculmoney, County Fermanagh. At the age of 31, he was a corporal in the Corps of Royal Engineers during the Indian Mutiny. On 3 April 1858 at Jhansi, India, his actions led to the award of the Victoria Cross:

For determined bravery at the attack of the Fort of Jhansi, on the 3rd of April, 1858, in maintaining his position at the head of a sap, and continuing the work under a heavy fire, with a cool and steady determination worthy of the highest praise.

Further information

He died in Dromard, Kesh, County Fermanagh on 15 August 1902 and was buried in Bannagh Roman Catholic Churchyard, Tubrid.

References

The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)

Clarke, Brian D. H. (1986). "A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men". The Irish Sword. XVI (64): 185–287.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Michael Sleavon” is irish soldier (c. 1826 – 1902); recipient of the Victoria Cross. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Michael, Sleavon and Irish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1826, 1902, 1858, 1981—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1894-01-01. For this dossier, Michael, Sleavon and Irish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “irish soldier (c. 1826 – 1902); recipient of the Victoria Cross” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6834443. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1826, 1902, 1858 and 1981.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Michael Sleavon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Michael Sleavon primary sources, Michael Sleavon archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Michael Sleavon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.