Career
He was 27 years old, and a drummer in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, later the Duke of Wellington"s Regiment, British Army, during the Abyssinia Expedition when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Venture capital. On 13 April 1868 in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), during the assault on Magdala, when the head of the column of attack was checked by the obstacles at the gate, a small stream of officers and men of the 33rd Regiment and an officer of the Royal Engineers broke away from the main approach to Magdala and, reaching the defences, climbed a cliff, forced their way over a wall and through a strong and thorny fence, thus turning the defenders of the gateway. The first two men to enter Magdala were Drummer Magner and a private (James Bergin). He died in Melbourne, Australia on 6 February 1897.