Harold CRAWFORD

CRAWFORD, Harold

Service Numbers: Q119626, QX48898
Enlisted: 9 October 1942
Last Rank: Major
Last Unit: Convalescent Depots
Born: KERANG, VIC, 5 January 1891
Home Town: Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Melbourne University
Occupation: Medical Practitioner
Died: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 31 August 1958, aged 67 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

9 Oct 1942: Involvement Captain, Q119626, also QX48898
9 Oct 1942: Involvement Captain, QX48898, also Q119626
9 Oct 1942: Enlisted
21 Jul 1944: Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Major, QX48898, Convalescent Depots
Date unknown: Enlisted QX48898

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Born in Kerang, Victoria in 1891 Harold was the eighth of nine children of Robert (Bob) Crawford (b1855 in Geelong, Victoria) and first wife Anne Elizabeth Neale (b1855 in Warwickshire, England). Bob (a Baker) and Anne married in 1875 in Carisbrook, Victoria. The family lived in Maryborough, Timor, Durham Ox and Kerang where Bob was a Baker. By 1894 Bob had moved Anne and the children to Box Hill in Melbourne, Victoria and in 1895 left for the WA Goldfields with his sister-in-law Mary Jane (and their two children together) and Bob's eldest son Jim.

Harold and his twin Percival settled in Melbourne, Victoria where Harold studied at Melbourne University and was a Medical Practitioner in 1918 when he enlisted in the AIF (Captain). Harold served in Egypt and England with 14th Australian General Hospital and 14th Light Horse Field Ambulance. In 1919 in London he was given leave to visit UK hospitals to 'become conversant with the latest developments in surgery' (National Archives Australia). Harold was Discharged in March 1920.

In December 1920 Harold was a Medical practitioner in Chinchilla, QLD when he married Edith Janet Adams (b1895 in Gladstone QLD) - Edith was a Nurse at Townsville Hospital. By the late 1920s the couple had relocated to Nundah in Brisbane QLD.

Harold enlisted in WWII - initially in the ACMF (Captain; Service No:Q119626) in 1941 and in January 1943 he transferred to the AIF (Major; Service No:QX48898). Harold served with the Australian Army Medical Corps and was attached to 101 Convalescent Depot when he Discharged in July 1944.

In 1945 Harold was an Orthopaedic Specialist at the Brisbane Children's Hospital, and was active throughout his life in the medical field, including for example - an advocate for access to health services for people in regional Queensland; Senior Counsellor for QLD Royal Flying Doctor Service (1940 - 1957); a member of the 4BH Community Chest Committee; Convenor (1948) of the QLD Presbyterian Medical Social Services Committe; Chairman of St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital Appeal (1953); A/Chair of the National Fitness Council QLD (1952); and Chair of the St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital Board of Governors. Harold died in 1958 and Edith in 1970.

 

 

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