Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

POWELL Harold MC MB BS

1886-1963

Harold Powell was born on 29th September 1886 at Wilpena near Hawker South Australia, son of Charles Bendin Powell and his wife Mary Ann nee Ward, and grandson of Charles Powell who had landed at Kangaroo Island South Australia in 1836.   He was educated at St Peter’s College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide and graduated in 1913. He married Mary Elizabeth Milne on 8th October 1914.

Powell enlisted in Adelaide on the 8th November 1915 when he was 29 years, 5ft 10ins tall, weighing 10st 11lbs, of dark complexion with grey eyes and dark brown hair. He nominated his wife of 57 Cheltenham St, Malvern South Australia as next of kin. He was commissioned in December 1915 and posted to 4 FdAmb and sailed for Egypt on the Kanowna in December 1915. He joined the unit in Egypt in February 1916, and went with it to France in June. The 4 Div did not take part in the Battle of Fromelles, but moved to the Somme in August 1916 to relieve 1 Div. where their objective was to capture Mouquet Farm; after six successive night attacks they failed to take the Farm. Their losses were 4649 men, and the FdAmb was swamped with casualties. Powell was transferred to 50 Bn as RMO in December 1916. He remained with the Bn until October 1917 and was awarded the Military Cross in August 1917. The citation refers to ‘his complete disregard for his personal safety working under heavy fire and the most adverse conditions’, but it does not identify a particular action in which he showed his ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’.  He suffered concussion from a shell burst in September 1917, and was evacuated to England. After recovering he was posted to 3 AGH at Abbeville with the temporary rank of major. He was admitted to hospital with pleurisy in January 1918, and again evacuated to England, where he was admitted to 3 LGH. He returned to Australia in March 1918 with his appointment terminated on the 26th October 1918. Harold Powell was issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Powell settled in Largs Bay, and in 1920 was commissioned as a surgeon lieutenant in the RAN Brigade (SA). He was appointed MO to St Margaret’s Convalescent Hospital in, Semaphore in 1933. Harold Powell died on 9th July 1963. Both of Harold Powell’s brothers and one of his sisters served in WW1. Henry Arthur Powell served at Gallipoli, and in France as CO of 2 AGH. Charles Baxter Powell served as a trooper in 9 LHR and was killed in action at Bir el Abd in August 1916. He is buried in the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery. Edith Mabel Powell served as a Nursing Sister on the Karoola and at Auxiliary Hospitals in London. She returned to Australia in March 1919.

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