COWAN, Darcy Rivers Warren
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 November 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | Unspecified British Units |
| Born: | Norwood, South Australia, 8 August 1885 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Prince Alfred College, St. Peter's College, University of Adelaide (MBBS., 1908) |
| Occupation: | Medical Practitioner |
| Died: | North Adelaide, South Australia, 9 June 1958, aged 72 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Payneham Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide University of Adelaide WW1 Honour Roll, Norwood Football Club War Veterans |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Nov 1914: | Enlisted Lieutenant, Officer, Unspecified British Units |
|---|
Biography
Published Biographies
Philip Woodruff, 'Cowan, Sir Darcy Rivers Warren (1885–1958)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cowan-sir-darcy-rivers-warren-9845/text17415, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 30 April 2017.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, (MUP), 1993
Blood, Sweat and Fears, Medical Practitioners and Medical Students or Served in World War 1: Christopher Verco, Annette Summers, Tony Swain & Michael Jelly. (Army Health Services Historical Group)
Additional Biography
Education and Sport
Prior to studying medicine at Adelaide University (1903 - 1908), Darcy Cowan was educated at Mrs. Hübbe’s Knightsbridge School (Knightsbridge is now Leabrook) and Prince Alfred College (PAC). A solid but not brilliant student at PAC, he completed the Junior Examinations in 1900, University of Adelaide Senior Entrance Examinations in 1901 and Higher Examination in 1902.
Sport was a greater interest and while at PAC he played 1st XV111 football (1900, 1901 & 1902).
Darcy also played 1st X1 Cricket for PAC in 1901 (awarded silver medal) and 1902. In his two intercollegiate matches against St Peter's College he had three innings for three ducks!
While at PAC he also participated in the intercollegiate athletics contests, and finished 2nd in the Long Jump.
While still in his final year at PAC, Darcy was considered good enough to be selected to play a League Football game for Norwood against Sturt on 2nd August 1902. His older brother Leslie was also in the side at the time (at various times three other brothers also played football for Norwood).
Darcy was a duel premiership player in 1904 & 1907 (both times Norwood defeated Port Adelaide) and played a total of 29 games. In 1907 Norwood went on to defeat Carlton, the Victorian premiers, on Adelaide Oval to become Champions of Australia.
Adelaide University
Darcy enrolled in the Medical Faculty in 1903 and graduated MB. BS. in 1908.
Sport for University
On leaving school at the end of 1902, he continued with all his favorite sports; playing cricket, football for Norwood and University and participating in athletics, winning the Adelaide University Championships Long Jump event in 1903. He also played in tennis tournaments and lacrosse while studying medicine at Adelaide University.
Football
Although playing league football with Norwood he also played in the four intervarsity matches (1904, 1905, 1907 & 1908) played between Adelaide and Melbourne Universities.
In 1907 Cowan played only 5 games for Norwood (including the winning grand final team), deciding to play the majority of the football season with University and was awarded a Blue for outstanding performances. In 1908 (his final year of medicine), he only managed one league game with Norwood and that years Intervarsity contest against Melbourne. His sporting priority was now Lacrosse.
Lacrosse
By 1905, it was apparent that Lacrosse had also become one of Darcy Cowan's favourite winter sports. He played in the local competition for University and the Intervarsity matches from 1905 - 1909. The first grade team included many of his cricket team mates. He was awarded a Blue for Lacrosse in 1908.
Tennis
Cowan was also a fine tennis player and from his earliest years at Adelaide University competed in the annual tennis championships and represented the University in the Intervarsity tournaments of 1908 and 1909. In 1909 he was awarded a Blue for tennis which made him the first "Triple Blue" for Adelaide University.
Cricket
In the summer, with Adelaide University not yet having an official team, he joined the Erindale Cricket Club. In February 1905 he and Brother Leslie were members of an "unofficial" Adelaide University team that played a match against his old school. Many of the players from both sides would soon become regular University players after their admission to the South Australian Cricket Association competition in 1908/09.
Having regular success with both bat and ball, Darcy was proving to be a useful all-rounder while continuing to play with Erindale through to the end of the 1907-08 season.
In 1908/09 season he was a member of the first Adelaide University Cricket Club team. Although nearing the end of his medical degree he was able to play two seasons for University and claimed 57 wickets with his medium pacers and occasional leg-breaks but had little satisfaction with the willow.
After finishing with the University Club, and completion of his medical residency he appeared briefly for East Torrens in the first three A Grade matches of 1912-13, but failed to create much of an impression. In 1914 he travelled to England with his wife Effie (nee Cox) who he had married in 1910.
War Service, Medicine & Latter Years (Refer to published biographies)
Although medicine then dominated Cowan’s life, he showed an enduring interest in tennis, being a founding member of the Kensington Gardens tennis club. During his office of chairman of the South Australian Lawn Tennis Association, the Memorial Drive courts were brought to a state of excellence. His love for cricket also endured and he put on the creams for the occasional game, including matches where the Adelaide Hospital Consultants took on the Resident Medical Officers. In the 1930s, interstate cricket teams often played tennis at Cowan’s residence at North Adelaide.
Sir Darcy Rivers Warren Cowan was knighted for his work in tuberculosis research in 1955. He died on 9 June 1958 at Calvary Hospital, North Adelaide, and was buried in Payneham cemetery. He was survived by his wife. They had no children.
Profile added with the permission of the author Rob O'Shannassy.
For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project please see the document attached.
Submitted 9 June 2025 by Eleanor Filmer
Biography contributed by Sharyn Roberts
Excerpt from Blood Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australian who Served in World War 1. Courtesy of the Authors
Darcy Rivers Warren Cowan was born on the 8th August 1885 at Norwood, Adelaide. He was one of eight children of James Cowan, a merchant from Ireland, and his wife Sarah Ann, nee Warren. His father was a prosperous flour miller and investor in Broken Hill; subsequently he was a Member of Parliament in South Australia. Cowan was educated at Prince Alfred College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide where he won a triple Blue in lacrosse, football and tennis, and also played cricket. He married Effie Hewitt Cox on the 19th April 1910; they were to remain childless. Cowan was in England with his wife at the outbreak of WWI; on the 5th November 1914 he was appointed temporary lieutenant in the RAMC. Returning to South Australia, on the 22nd May 1916 he joined the AAMC Reserve as an honorary captain.
Cowan was an honorary physician to the Adelaide Hospital in 1924-35 where he furthered his interest in tuberculosis, and was especially concerned that the disease was infecting nurses and doctors occupationally exposed to it. He visited the United States of America to investigate methods of control of tuberculosis in 1937. As a result of his determination in the control and treatment of tuberculosis the Chest Clinic at the Adelaide Hospital was established. This included a ward for tuberculosis patients, of which Cowan was physician-in-charge from 1938 to 1950. He founded the South Australian Tuberculosis Association in 1943. Then in 1948 he helped to form the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis in Australia and forged links with kindred societies in Britain and America. Cowan founded Northcote Home, which was a residence for children whose parents were in hospital with tuberculosis. He also founded Bedford Industries, which offered work opportunities for the rehabilitation of those afflicted with tuberculosis. This later became a factory at Panorama, SA, which provided those with different mental and physical disabilities with work opportunities. He was involved with the James Brown Memorial Trust which owned and managed Kalyra Sanatorium and Estcourt House, Grange from 1947 to 1957. Cowan was also President (1935-36) of the South Australian branch of the British Medical Association. He became a foundation fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938. Cowan was knighted in 1955 for his work on tuberculosis. Despite a busy life he enjoyed gardening and was an office-holder in the South Australian Lawn Tennis Association; he had helped to organize the Davis Cup challenge rounds at Memorial Drive in 1952 and 1956. He belonged to the Adelaide Club from 1929 and was a life member of the BMA. Sir Darcy Rivers Warren Cowan died on 9 June 1958 at Calvary Hospital, North Adelaide, and was buried at Payneham cemetery. He was survived by his wife Effie. He was commemorated by the Australian Laennec Society with the establishment of the Sir Darcy Cowan prize for research into respiratory disease.
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