Hand-coloured photograph of Corporal Michael McMahon seated facing slightly right. He is wearing a blue military jacket and a red hat and his left arm is in a sling. There is a folded letter in his right hand. A sheet is draped behind him and there is a bed with a tartan blanket to the right.

Corporal Michael McMahon served with the 1st (the Royal) Regiment during the Crimean War. He was shot through the neck on 24th Aug 1855 which fractured his shoulder. He was one of the wounded veterans seen by Queen Victoria at Chatham Military Hospital. Following her visits to the hospital she commissioned a series of photographs of the veterans from the photographers Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett.