Thomas Henry Healey was born in May 1859, joining the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in 1878. He reached the rank of sergeant in 1881 and served with the regiment in Egypt at Tel-el-Kebir. When the Nile Expedition was formed, the regiment was part of Garnet Wolseley’s force but Sergeant Healey was seconded to the Egyptian Army and was acting Sergeant-Major responsible for Sudanese troops in the 9th Battalion in the Sudan Frontier Force. His battalion fought alongside the Cameron Highlanders at Fort Kosheh and the battle of Ginnis. He was awarded the DCM for his actions at Ginnis. After the Camerons left Sudan and Egypt in 1887, he remained with the 9th Battalion and fought with great bravery at Sarras where he killed the Dervish leader, Emir Nur el Kanzi. He was wounded five times in this battle and gained a bar to his Distinguished Conduct Medal.
He was promoted to the local rank of Lieutenant in April 1887, still with the 9th Battalion, and fought at Arguin and Toski, in 1889. The seven hour battle of Toski was fought by the Egyptian Army with only a handful of British Hussars. Healey’s bravery earned him the third bar to his DCM. In October 1895 Thomas Healey was commissioned and given the rank of second lieutenant in the Cameron Highlanders. However, he remained with the 9th Sudanese Battalion, Egyptian Army. He took part in all the campaigns in Sudan, the Dongola Expedition, action at Abu Hamed, the Nile Expedition of 1898, The battle of the Atbara and Khartoum. He was a full lieutenant in April 1898 and the following year reached the rank of captain. He had served 10 years in the Egyptian Army, 17 years of almost continuous active service mostly without the privileges of an officer. He had sustained many wounds and on at least one occasion suffered severe sunstroke. Captain Thomas Healey died in April 1928, two years before the 9th Sudanese Battalion was disbanded.
