Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Edward Marshall was Cowell’s first residential doctor. Born in New Zealand, he studied medicine in Scotland and volunteered in the Kolar Goldfields Auxiliary Force (India) before relocating to Cowell in 1907.

Prior to this, the people of the Franklin Harbour area were served by a doctor from Wallaroo (a journey of over 40 miles across the gulf, sometimes hampered by rough weather). Occasionally medical assistance came from Pt Lincoln, involving a trying 100 mile journey over sand hills and bush country. A committee was formed and secured the services of Dr Marshall for three years with a guarantee of £400 per annum. After a few months Dr Marshall threw up the guarantee and continued to practice in the area. At his own expense, Dr Marshall bought a block of land and built a cottage hospital on the southern bank of the Franklin Harbour to accommodate female patients. After a new public hospital was established in Cowell in 1911, Marshall’s ‘cottage’ hospital accommodated the nursing staff.

Dr Marshall married Edith Jane Gillespie and they had three children. A son died not long after birth in 1909. A JP and magistrate at the Local Court, Dr Marshall was also the President of the Franklin Harbour Institute; the Franklin Harbour Regatta; the Jervois Motor Club and a member of the Masonic Lodge.

The Eyre’s Peninsula Tribune Fri 19 March1915 reported:
‘Dr Marshall, writing home from the Ascot Park camp, where he is busy examining recruits, attending military patients, and at various other camp medical duties, says that the volunteers from Franklin Harbour now in camp are looking well, doing good work, and are a credit to their district’.

In a letter in April 1915 to a friend, Dr Marshall (based at the Mitcham Military Camp in Adelaide) stated:
‘….I have seen the following fellows and they are doing well and keeping well – Fergusson, Denis Murphy, Kenneth Mudge, Marsh, Watson from Mitchellville, Mark Reed, Bob Jemison, Tamblyn, and Scotty Miller. I saw others whose names I can’t recall at present, Pengelly is also in camp now. I was vaccinating some fellows a few minutes ago, and one fine stamp of a soldier, whom I quite failed to recognise, asked me the latest news from Cowell, and told me that he was Bowden (the Carpa footballer). I am going to try to get hold of him to go in with my lot. I’ve also asked Tamblyn to go in and I expect he will…’

Aged 40 years, Dr Marshall enlisted on 1 May 1915 in the AIF with the 27th Battalion as a Medical Officer.

A farewell was held in the Franklin Harbour Institute for the popular doctor. The meeting took the form of a Smoke Social with refreshments and soft drinks, sweets, cigars and cigarettes tastefully arranged on a long table decorated with flowers. After many toasts and speeches, the Institute Committee presented Dr Marshall with a pair of field glasses (French mark) which they hoped would prove serviceable on the battlefield.

A prolific writer, Captain Marshall penned while destined for Egypt: ‘…….We seem to pass along our way under some mesmeric influence –…... The question of who is going to win and who is going to lose the battle doesn’t seem to worry the troops, the main idea of each man being to go in and do his job and fight like the clappers when the time comes and so on, until all is finished……’

Captain Marshall served with the 27th at Gallipoli. He suffered with jaundice and convalesced in Egypt. He then spent time with the horse artillery in Palestine where he commented “…..I've seen a number of Franklin Harbour lads about— all are a credit to the place."

With the 14th Australian Field Artillery Brigade on the Western Front, Captain Marshall recalled celebrating the New Year of 1917: ‘…But my two friends, the Adjutant and Veterinary Officer hadn't been initiated into the mysteries of ' first footing !' So we got a hold of them one on each arm, and goes around that village and wakes up every officer and every French family of repute … and they all had to sing 'Another Little Drink won't do me any Harm.' It was wonderful how the awakened French families took up that refrain. …. We had that French Village of 2,000 inhabitants as merry as crickets by 3 am, when we proceeded to our beds! And what a send off we got when we left that village. I had to drink at least six cups of coffee that morning in passing through the streets on the march out, and three breakfasts (or parts thereof) and half a bottle of Burgundy wine. They will, I think, never forget ' Le docteur's bon annee' at that spot. We put them in good form to win the war, and this war wants a little cheerfulness thrown in occasionally. A merry heart goes all the way — the sad tires in a mile, O! We are just getting out of our position today again, and I walked back to the guns to initiate my successor on how to be happy, though in a wet dugout….’

Marshall transferred to the 8th Field Ambulance in February 1917 and was promoted to Major. He served with the Field Ambulance through the Second Battle of Bullecourt. For the remainder of the war, Major Marshall served with the 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station on the Western Front. The work was very heavy during the mustard gas attacks and the Third Battle of Ypres - a battle defined by rain, mud and futility.

In 1918, while writing to the Cowell Cheer-Up Society to thank them for their gift, Dr Marshall observed:
'The worst sight of any was seeing the French people being driven back from their villages, very many of them just in what they stood. However, I won't write war as I am sure you have all had a long weary time there too, but by the time you get this I hope we will be within measurable distance of the end.
P.S. — As I finish I see another French village on fire, Strazeele.'

After the war, Major Marshall briefly returned to Cowell to catch up with mates and wrap up his practice. Again, the Franklin Harbour District threw numerous celebrations and farewelled their much-loved doctor. Dr Marshall then travelled to the United Kingdom where he lived with his family. His son Dr Charles Edward Marshall (1912-2005) served in WW2 and was a renowned pathologist in Seatle, USA.