Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From the Australian War Memorial - www.awm.gov.au



Ronald Lennox Henderson was born at Toowoomba, Queensland on 12 April 1878, the only child born to Mary Catherine (née Warren) and Ronald Campbell Henderson. His father died six weeks after his birth, and Henderson’s mother remarried in 1883 to William Thomas White. They had two children, John Donald White and Eleanor Catherine White.

Henderson was educated at Townsville Grammar School where he received awards for his outstanding results. He gained his Bachelors of Medicine and of Surgery from Edinburgh University in 1903. He returned to Australia in 1905 and began work as a doctor in Adaminaby and Lismore in New South Wales, and later at Crows Nest in Queensland. He married Clare Richardson in Sydney in 1905, and they had twins, Mary Kathleen and Stanley Lennox Henderson on 2 September 1909. Following Clare’s death in 1913, Ronald married her sister Augusta Lillian Richardson on 28 July 1915.

Henderson was commissioned on 27 July 1915 and was assigned to the 1st Australian General Hospital with the rank of Captain. He left Sydney on 31 July 1915 aboard RMS Orontes and proceeded to Lemnos shortly after his arrival in Egypt. After the evacuation of Gallipoli, Henderson was transferred to the Australian Army Medical Corps and appointed Medical Officer to the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion; he then went to France.

In June 1916 Henderson was wounded in action, sustaining a gunshot wound to the leg. In late November he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He spent several weeks in hospital in England, recovering from pneumonia and measles before returning to France in March 1917.

Henderson was Mentioned in Despatches for his actions at Mt Sorrel near Ypres (gazetted 4 January 1917), and was later awarded the Military Cross for his actions at Hermies (gazetted 18 June 1917). He was wounded in action for the second time on 3 May 1917, sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. He died from these wounds on 31 July 1917, two years to the day after departing from Australia.

Henderson is buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery, England.

His half-brother, John Donald White, served as a Captain in the British Army, Eighth Middlesex Regiment, and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross.