Upon the outbreak of the First Boer War, Danaher joined the Nourse's Horse (Transvaal), South African Forces.

[citation needed] He was 20 years old, and a Trooper, on an excursion from Pretoria with the Nourse's Horse (Transvaal) when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 16 January 1881 at Elandsfontein, near Pretoria, South Africa, Trooper Danaher, with a lance-corporal of the Connaught Rangers, (James Murray) advanced for 500 yards under heavy fire from a party of about 60 of the enemy, and brought out of action a private who had been severely wounded.

[1] Danaher resigned from the Nourse's Horse in March 1881, and subsequently joined a British Army unit, the Connaught Rangers.

He was the landlord of the Dog & Duck Public House at 115 Fratton Road, Portsmouth from 1913 until his death on 9 January 1919.