Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Frederick Henry and Frances Maria (nee (Smythe) Lewis. Husband of Winnifred Letitia Lewis nee Bonython.

Doctor Lewis served with the 11th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps during World War I. He died aged 87 years.

LEWIS Eric Henry ED MD

1884-1972

Eric Henry Lewis was born on 1st August 1884 in Gawler, South Australia, son of a solicitor Frederick Henry Lewis and his wife Francis Maria, nee Smythe. He was educated at Gawler South Grammar School and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide graduating in 1906. He then undertook residency at the Adelaide Hospital in 1907.  After his residency Lewis entered general practice in Gawler, and in 1913 was appointed Medical Officer of Health for Gawler and the Barossa District. He was commissioned as honorary captain in the AAMC Reserve in 1913 and appointed Area Medical Officer for Gawler. He married Winifred Letitia Bonython, the niece of Sir Langdon Bonython the proprietor and editor of the Adelaide Advertiser, in November 1916.

Lewis was commissioned in the AIF on 22nd January 1917.  He was 32 years old and named his new wife of High St, Gawler as his next of kin. He embarked from Melbourne in May 1917, and landed at Devonport in July. After initial training at the AAMC Depot at Parkhouse, Lewis was posted to 1 ADH at Bulford Camp on the Salisbury Plain England.  He received orders to proceed to France on October 1917. He passed briefly through 2 AGH and was posted to 11 FdAmb at the height of the third battle of Ypres. He began to suffer from fevers, assumed to be trench fever in December of 1917.  He was posted as RMO of 42 Bn for several weeks, and then to 3 Pioneer Bn. in May 1918.  The fevers returned and Lewis was evacuated to the British Red Cross Hospital at Rouen in September 1918. He was evidently very ill, although the diagnosis appears somewhat loose, septicaemia in one report, pleurisy in another. Tuberculosis seems to have been excluded, so the presentation may represent the complications of influenza.  Lewis was returned to England, and within two weeks shipped back to Australia on the AHS Karoola, with his appointment terminated on the 11th October 1919.  He was issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

He convalesced at Mt Lofty before returning to his practice in Gawler in 1919. Lewis became a staunch member of the community; he was a strong supporter of the Boy Scout Movement. His authority as Medical Officer of Health was extended to ‘Greater Gawler’ in 1933. He was recalled to duty to service 18 LH MG Regt in 1940, which was based on the Cheltenham Racecourse, and the same year was awarded the ED.  He continued to serve until 1945. Eric Henry Lewis died at Walkerville in 12th July 1972 and was cremated at Centennial Park.

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