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DR. C. BRYAN: DEATH IN AMERICA - A Varied Career.

The West Australian newspaper reported on January 19, 1940, the death of Dr. Cyril P. Bryan, the well-known medical man from Perth, who died in Reno, Nevada, USA on January 17. He was enroute to England, via America, having left Perth in October last.

The late Cyril Phillips Bryan was born in Perth in 1884. The second son of the late Lieutenant Thomas Bryan and Mrs. Annie Louisa Bryan (nee Biggins), he received his early education at Christian Brothers' College, Perth, and he and his eldest brother, William Thomas (who was killed in action at Messines in 1917), were the first and second scholars of the school. His scholastic brilliance was exemplified by his passing the junior university examination at 14, and at 15 he gained a matriculation and scholarship for the Adelaide University. The University of Western Australia had not then been established.

Leaving school at 15, he entered the tramway service, devoting his leisure to the volunteer artillery. He was attached to the old Perth battery, under Major Hobbs-the late Lieutenant-General Sir Talbot Hobbs--and the late Captain Frank Parker. In 1901, following his father's death, he made many attempts to join contingents leaving the State and finally went at his own expense to South Africa, where he entered the South African Constabulary, under Major de Castella, with which he served until the completion of the Boer War.

When Swaziland became a British protectorate, he was transferred to that territory. At the outbreak of the rebellion in Natal in 1906 he volunteered and was accepted for Sir Abe Bailey's mounted force which took part in quelling the rising.

Returning to Perth for a short time, he later left to take up an appointment with the Revenue Department at Madras, India. He came back to Perth in 1910 to begin an intensely active association with the Clerks' Union and for some time he was secretary of the Railway Officers' Union. Politics and work as an officer in the volunteer Light Horse also claimed much of his attention. Soon he was representing East Perth in the Perth City Council.

The outbreak of the Great War found the late doctor at the end of his first year in medicine at the newly established University of Western Australia. Studies were forgotten in the excitement of the moment and he quickly volunteered for service, joining the first Artillery Division of the A.I.F. This division, after a stay in Egypt, was among the first of the Australian troops to land at Mar-seilles. His subsequent experiences on active service with the A.I.F. in France were the subject of a series of racy articles appearing in "The West Australian. After a period of service, during which he rose to the rank of captain, he was returned to Australia, badly shell-shocked, and also suffering from what was at the time an obscure blood disease, which he contracted in Egypt. Australian conditions tended to stimulate this disability, and he was for a period regarded as a medical curiosity locally. His complaint reawakened his interest in medicine and determined him to proceed with his medical studies. Momentarily, however, political leanings held sway, and he was persuaded to carry Labour's banner in the Senate elections in 1917, when the conscription issue was at its height. In 1918 he went to Melbourne, where, at Newman College, in the course of his medical studies, he published books and pamphlets.

To complete his studies, he went to Dublin, arriving there in 1920 when the Sinn Fein rebellion was at its height. As a student of the University College and Rotunda, his days were enlivened by several "Black and Tan" raids at his home, but he emerged unscathed. His vacation days were spent at Edinburgh, where he was treated for his blood disease and practically cured.

Qualifying at Dublin in 1922, he practised at Camberwell (London) and later in Harley-street, where he abandoned a lucrative practice several years ago so that he might see his mother before she died in Western Australia. He was, however, too late.

His leisure in England was spent in exploring the archives of the British Museum for matter relating to the history of his native State, and the results of his research have been donated to the Western Australian Historical Society. Literary pursuits, also, occupied much of his time, and his work in this direction resulted in the production for the first time in English of the Papyrus Ebers. This exacting task, which required his learning both the German and ancient Egyptian languages, took five years to complete and its production involved study in Berlin and Vienna. His location at Harley-street prompted his writing an historical survey of that famous medical quarter which he entitled "Round About Harley-street." His latest volume. "Off With His Head!" was published in 1935.

In 1912 he married Miss Vera McAdam, of Perth, who died some years ago in England. His only daughter Patricia, who had intended joining her father later in England, is nursing in Perth. For several years in the early 1930s Dr. Bryan, under the penname of "Physicus," was a regular contributor to the Life and Letters pages of '"The West Australian" and was the medical correspondent of this journal. He was closely associated with the Returned Soldiers' League and was for some time a member of the State executive of that organisation.

Source: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46350229