Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ronald Lennox HENDERSON was born in Toowoomba, Queensland on 12th April, 1879

His parents were Ronald Campbell HENDERSON & Mary Catherine WARREN

Captain HENDERSON Ronald Lennox                              Australian Medical Corps
 
Ronald Henderson was born in Toowoomba on 12th April 1879, the only child of Ronald (snr) and Mary Henderson. Six weeks after Ronald’s birth, his father died. Mary Henderson remarried Mr William White and she and Ronald lived in the White residence in Toowoomba North. When Ronald was old enough, he may have attended a local primary school or was perhaps privately tutored, after which he attended Townsville Grammar School. At that time, all secondary education in the colony of Queensland was provided by either Grammar schools or Catholic schools. It is possible William White paid for Ronald’s education as there is no record of him obtaining a scholarship in the Annual Scholarship Examinations.
 
On completion of his secondary education at Townsville, Ronald travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland, to begin studying medicine and surgery. This would have been a significant financial undertaking which was probably again met by the White family. After graduation, Ronald returned to Australia in 1903 and worked as a country doctor in the Cooma district and the Richmond River valley of NSW. In 1905, Ronald married Claire Richardson and continued with his medical practice in Lismore. Claire gave birth to twins in 1909; Stanley Lennox and Mary Kathleen known as Molly; but tragedy struck in 1913 when Claire died. The four year old twins were looked after by Ronald’s sister in law in Toowoomba and it appears that Ronald left Lismore and set up a practice at Crows Nest.
 
Upon the outbreak of war, Ronald enlisted in the Australian Medical Corps in Sydney with the rank of Captain on 27thJuly 1915. The following day, Ronald married his former wife’s sister, Augusta. Three days later, Ronald boarded the former Royal Mail Steamer “Orontes” for overseas. The embarkation documents show that Ronald had allocated about half of his pay of 19 shillings a day to be allocated to his new wife and the twins at Crows Nest. The voyage proceeded via Fremantle and Colombo disembarking at Suez. Ronald reported to the AMC Headquarters in Cairo where he was directed to proceed to Alexandria and then board a hospital ship returning to the Dardanelles. Ronald began working at the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital on the island of Lemnos, about 100 miles from the Anzac beach head.
 
All medical cases evacuated from the beach at Anzac Cove by hospital ships would, depending on their seriousness be off loaded at the field hospitals on Lemnos or be taken directly to permanent hospitals in Cairo or on Malta. The hospitals on Lemnos were accommodated in tents and medical staff performed their duties often under trying circumstances. When the decision was made to abandon the Gallipoli campaign, the hospitals on Lemnos were dismantled and all staff and equipment were sent back to Egypt. Ronald arrived at Alexandria from Mudros Harbour on Lemnos on 21st January 1916.
 
One month later, Ronald was attached to the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the AIF as the Regimental Medical Officer. On 16th March, the 2nd Battalion as part of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division AIF embarked at Alexandria and sailed to the southern French port of Marseilles. Upon disembarking, the troops boarded trains for the long journey to northern France in the Armentieres sector of the Western Front.
 
The Armentieres sector, within the British section of the Western Front, was used extensively to introduce newly arrived battalions to the routines of trench warfare. Half of the men in the 1st Division were Gallipoli veterans whilst the other half were fresh reinforcements taken on in Egypt. Battalions spent a few days in the front-line positions during which they engaged in patrolling no man’s land at night or occasional trench raids to gather intelligence. On 29th June 1916, the 2nd Battalion had just moved into the support trenches at Fleurbaix after being relieved when a barrage of medium and heavy artillery fell into the billet area wounding several men including Ronald. He had sustained a wound to his leg but remained on duty.
 
The much-awaited summer offensive on the Somme began on 1st July 1916. By the end of that month, the 1stAustralian Division had gone into action at Pozieres, taking the village and then rotating in and out of the line as the battle for Pozieres spilled over into August. A little more than a kilometre from Pozieres was the heavily fortified Mouquet Farm where again the AIF was engaged. The AIF’s part in the Somme campaign came at a great cost. Casualties across the four divisions amounted to 23,500 killed wounded and missing. Ronald would have been very busy during the months of action at the Regimental Aid Post dealing with wounded. After a brief rest, the 2nd Battalion moved north into Belgian Flanders where it fought to defend the city of Ypres for six weeks before returning to the Somme for the winter. During this period in the Ypres salient, Ronald was recommended for the award of Mentioned in Despatches. One of the main tasks of the RMO was to keep soldiers healthy and even when the battalion was out of the line, Ronald would have been closely monitoring hygiene around food and latrines. He would also provide remedies to prevent trench feet or conditions such as scabies. Sickness amongst the ranks often accounted for more men being unavailable for duty than combat operations.
 
Ironically, during the particularly harsh winter of 1916/16, Ronald contracted bronchial pneumonia and was taken to England. Upon discharge he returned to France, only to contract a case of measles which was noted as severe. In February he also contracted measles. In April 1917, Ronald finally rejoined the 2nd Battalion as the medical officer. During his absence, the front line on the Somme had progressed several kilometres eastward as the Germans withdrew to a heavily fortified line of trenches and pill boxes which the British named the Hindenburg Line. During March and April 1917, the four divisions of the AIF carefully followed the German withdrawal; encountering solid resistance. Near Hermies, the 2nd Battalion was ordered to capture the town on the 9th April 1917, and which was achieved in a relatively short time. Ronald conscripted a number of German prisoners who had surrendered to assist with the collection of wounded. In this way, he was able to deal with all the wounded that had come into the Regimental Aid Post, as well as a number of wounded Germans within a few hours. Ronald then proceeded to out into no man’s land seeking any wounded who had been missed, all the while coming under enemy fire. For this action, Ronald was recommended to be awarded the Military Cross for his devotion to duty under fire. Although the village of Hermies had been taken, the formidable defences of the Hindenburg Line still lay in front of the British Forces. Ronald’s Military Cross was promulgated on 17th April. He may have been presented with the purple and white medal ribbon which he could wear on his tunic but it is unlikely that the actual medal was presented at that time.
 
Several unsuccessful attempts were made by British and Australian units to breach the Hindenburg Line during April. More attempts were planned for May and the 2nd Battalion was included in the plan to move only a few kilometres north from Hermies to Beugny. The battalion moved up to the start line on the evening of 2nd May 1917.
 
At 10:30 on 3rd May, a German artillery barrage fell on the 2nd Battalion lines. Ronald Henderson was severely wounded in the head by shrapnel and shell splinters. He was removed from the battlefield and quickly loaded onto an ambulance train where, reaching Boulogne, the carriages rolled straight on to a ferry for the crossing to London where the carriages rolled off and continued on the British rail network. Ronald was admitted to the Royal Herbert Hospital in the London suburb of Woolwich.
 
The wound to the left side of his skull had penetrated into his brain and there were many slivers of metal and other foreign material embedded which surgeons declined to attempt to remove. For most of his stay at Woolwich, Ronald was conscious but blind. His wife had been informed of his condition and she determined to go straight away to London to be at Ronald’s side. In spite of surgery to ease pressure on his brain, Ronald’s condition gradually declined. His step brother who was fighting in a British regiment came to England and nursing staff read the letters that had arrived from Augusta and the twins to him.
 
Ronald died of his wounds on 31st July 1917 aged 38. He was buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery outside London on 4th August 1917. Ronald’s wife and his two children had not made it to England in time. At his burial, a firing party of 100 was in attendance and 20 buglers from the Post Office Battalion provided the final tributes. Ronald’s step brother and sister-in-law represented the family.
 
Augusta stayed in England for a time with relatives but finally returned home to Crows Nest. Augusta was granted a pension of £3/17/6 a fortnight and the twins, then aged eight, received a £1 each a fortnight. Stanley, as Ronald’s closest living male relative received his father’s medals, Military Cross, 1914/15 Star, Empire Medal and Victory Medal. As the beneficiary of his father’s estate, Stanly also took possession of Ronald’s personal effects which included all uniform items, personal items and toiletries and a folding bed. Augusta and the twins left Crows Nest and settled in Toowong.
 
The family chose the following inscription for Ronald’s headstone: WE THANK OUR GOD ON EVERY REMEBRANCE OF HIM.