Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

POWELL Henry Arthur CMG VD MB BS FRACS

1868-1944

Henry Arthur Powell was born on the 31st January 1868 in Kadina SA, the son of Charles Bendin Powell and his wife Mary Ann nee Ward. He was educated at Glenelg Grammar School and the University of Adelaide where he graduated MB BS in 1891. He first practised in Angaston and subsequently established a surgical practice in Kadina for 18 years where he was Mayor in 1902 to 1904. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1900, promoted captain in 1905 and he was advanced to the rank of major in 1913 and posted as RMO of 23rd (Barossa) LH.  He married Katie Frances Smith of Yalumba in the Barossa Valley.

Powell joined the AIF in October 1914 as second in command of 1 ASH.  Aged 46 years he was 5ft11ins tall and weighed 12st 12lbs. He travelled to Egypt on the Kyarra and, shortly after arrival in Cairo on 27th January 1915, took half the unit which included Henry Newland and Stanley Verco to Ismailia in support of the Australian Light Horse defending the Suez Canal. Captain Charles Bean, writing for the The Press describes; The personnel of the 1st [Australian] Stationary Hospital also took a route march through the desert on the other side of the canal which was suspiciously like a picnic. Their first patient was a Dutch woman who gave birth in the hospital. The officers observed the Turkish attack on the canal on 3rd February 1915 before returning to the Cairo suburb of Maadi. He served on Lemnos where 1ASH was the first medical unit on the island, at sea during the early part of the Gallipoli campaign, before the threat of enemy submarines sent the unit back to Lemnos and, when Lieutenant Colonel Bryant was evacuated, was promoted to command the unit in December 1915 and established the unit at North Beach, Anzac. Bryant described Powell as “a most capable and efficient officer, and his executive ability was of great value”. He was Mentioned in Despatches by General Sir Ian Hamilton for his work at Gallipoli. He was promoted lieutenant colonel in January 1916, and took the unit to Ismailia until September, and then to Dartford in England, where it became 3 AAH.  In October 1916 Colonel Neville Howse VC wrote of him, “He is one of the best officers in the AAMC, and his work at Lemnos, Anzac, and Ismailia was of the highest order”. He was appointed CMG in May 1916 for good and hard work with the Australian Hospitals established in England. Powell worked at 3 AAH until June 1917 when he was posted to 2 AGH at Wimereux as CO. He was made temporary colonel in July, and in August he was brought to notice. He commanded the hospital for 16 months, and was given substantive rank in May 1918. He relinquished command in November, a few days after the Armistice and was returned to Australia. His AIF appointment terminated on the 8th March 1919. Powell transferred to the Reserve at the end of the war, and retired from the Army in 1926. He was issued 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal with Oak Leaves. He received the VD in 1920.

Powell resumed his practice at Norwood; with his appointments to the Adelaide Hospital, where he was honorary assistant gynaecologist; on the consulting staff at the Queen’s Home, and with rooms at Brougham Place, North Adelaide. He succeeded Dr Alfred Austin Lendon as president of the District Trained Nursing Society in 1929. His family interests included Arbor Day and the success of the Kiosk at the Adelaide Hospital. The Director General Medical Services, Lewis Wibmer Jefferies described his valuable and important work as Controller of Medical Equipment in the Medical Coordination Committee in the early part of WW2. Henry Arthur Powell died on 7th June 1944 at home, at Le Fevre Terrace, North Adelaide.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australia, who Served in World War 1. 

Verco, Summers, Swain, Jelly. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2014. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD