REYNELL, Walter Rupert
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | Unspecified British Units |
| Born: | Payneham, South Australia, 5 July 1885 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | St Peter's College and University of Adelaide , South Australia |
| Occupation: | Medical Practitioner |
| Died: | London, England, 21 March 1948, aged 62 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Hackney St Peter's College Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Captain, Officer, Unspecified British Units |
|---|
Biography
Published Biographies
Blood Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australian who Served in World War 1, C Verco, A Summers, T Swain & M Jelly. July 2014
Royal College of Physicians, London
Walter Rupert Reynell b. 4 July 1885 d.21 March 1948
Richard R Trail [Brit.med.J., 1948, 1, 666; Lancet, 1948, 1, 578.]
(Volume V, page 345)
Additional Biography
Early Life
Walter Rupert (Rupert) Reynell was born on the 5th of July 1885 at Payneham, South Australia, the son of Walter Reynell (1846 – 1919) and Emily Bakewell (1851 – 1887). Rupert's father was Walter Reynell, of Elder Smith & Co., and the family own the fine vintage estate of Reynella, where the first vines in the South Australia were planted. Rupert was the youngest of five children.
Education
Rupert attended Queen’s School, Barton Terrace, North Adelaide, from 1895 to 1901 and St Peter’s College in 1902.
Rupert was a fine sportsman and represented St Peter’s College in the inter-collegiate cricket and football teams in 1902.
Adelaide University
In 1904, Walter commenced a diploma in electrical engineering at the School of Mines and subjects toward a Bachelor of Science degree at Adelaide University.
Further details of Rupert’s academic and sporting achievements are detailed in a newspaper report (see document) from March 1906 when Rupert was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
University Sport
Football
Rupert represented Adelaide University in the Intervarsity Match against Melbourne University in 1904. In 1905 he played for the University against a combined Colleges side.
Tennis
Rupert played A Grade tennis for Adelaide University in the 1904/05 and 1905/06 seasons.
Rupert was selected to play tennis for South Australia against Victoria on two occasions but was unable to play on one occasion due to a clash with rowing commitments.
Rowing
Rupert was a member of the Adelaide University Boat Club and he rowed with them at the South Australian Association Champion Eight race on the Port River in February 1905 and in the Maiden Senior Fours at the Junior Regatta in March 1905.
He was a member of the Adelaide University eight at the Intervarsity boat races in 1905 and 1906. He rowed for University in the Summer Regatta in December 1905 and the Autumn Regatta in April 1906.
Rupert represented South Australia at the Australian Eights in May 1905 and May 1906.
Oxford University
On the 26th of July 1906, Rupert left onboard the Mooltan for London and commenced his studies at Oxford University in October 1906. In a change of direction from his Adelaide studies, Rupert commenced studying for a Bachelor of Arts at Oxford.
In July 1907, Rupert represented Oxford in an Intervarsity tennis match against Cambridge and March 1908, Rupert won the heavy weight Intervarsity Boxing competition.
Rupert was selected to represent Oxford at the Tennis Intervarsity again in July 1908 and in 1909, he captained the Oxford Intervarsity Tennis team to a win over Cambridge.
Having gained his BA at Oxford on the 11th of July 1908, Rupert commenced studying medicine. While at Oxford University Rupert became a member of the Oxford troop of the Royal Colonials.
In 1910, he entered Guy’s Hospital, where he was later house physician and house surgeon. Rupert gained his Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (an initial qualification in medicine) in 1912 and graduated from Oxford in 1913 with a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Medicine.
World War I
On the outbreak of World War I, Rupert joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (R.A.M.C), with the rank of captain and he then served in France with the Australian Voluntary Hospital.
Tragically for the Reynell family, Rupert’s older brother Carew, a Lieutenant Colonel in the 9th Light Horse Regiment, was killed in Action at Gallipoli on the 28th of August 1915, aged 31 years.
Rupert was recalled from the western front to take charge of the Coulter Hospital (a large military hospital) in London.
On the 7th of June 1916 Rupert married Una Mary Shaw-Stewart at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, London. Rupert them moved with Una to the Military Hospital at Seale Hayne (a military neurasthenic hospital for the treatment of soldiers suffering from shell shock), near Newton Abbott in Devon.
Rupert and Una’s two eldest children, Peter Carew Reynell (b. 1917) and Joan Katherine Reynell (b. 1918) were born during WWI. Rupert gained his Doctor of Medicine from Oxford in 1918 and became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians.
Post War Career and Family Life
Rupert returned to Australia onboard the Margha in February 1919. He was still in Australia when his father, Walter Reynell, passed away in April 1919. Rupert left Australia on the 14th of May 1919 onboard the Blue Funnel liner, Ascanius.
After the war, he became neurological specialist to the Ministry of Pensions and in 1919 was appointed to the honorary staff of the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases and later to that of the Royal Northern Hospital. Thereafter an increasing amount of his time was taken up by a growing psychiatric private practice.
Rupert and Una had three further children, Michael John Reynell (b. 1920 – d. 1945), Anne Lenore Reynell (b. 1923), Antony Charles Reynell (b. 1930) and.
Rupert became a leading Harley Street specialist in nervous diseases. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1943.
World War II
In early 1940 Rupert again joined the RAMC and served at the Hospital for head Injuries at Oxford. Sadly, his son, Michael, was killed in action during WWII.
Post WWII
After WWII, Rupert returned to London. He retired from the West End Hospital in 1946.
Death
Rupert passed away on the 21st of March 1948 aged 63. His obituary was published in the British Medical Journal (see document).
Authors: EE (Beth) Filmer & Rob O'Shannassy
For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project (in the period 2015-2019) please see the document attached.
Submitted 16 June 2025 by Eleanor Filmer
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Walter Rupert Reynell
b.4 July 1885 d.21 March 1948
MA Oxon(1913) BM BCh Oxon(1913) DM Oxon(1918) MRCS LRCP(1912) MRCP(1918) FRCP(1934)
Walter Rupert Reynell was born in Adelaide. His father was Walter Reynell, wine grower, of Reynella, South Australia, and his mother was Emily, daughter of William Bakewell, solicitor, of Adelaide. He was the youngest of a family of five and his childhood was spent among the family vineyards. He was educated at Queen’s School and St. Peter’s College, Adelaide, where physics became his first interest. He soon showed an aptitude for ball games, and he rowed for South Australia. In 1906 he obtained a Rhodes scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied chemistry, and boxed and played lawn tennis for the University.
In 1910 he entered Guy’s Hospital where he was later house physician and house surgeon. On the outbreak of World War I he joined the R.A.M.C, with the rank of captain and served in France with the Australian Voluntary Hospital. He was then recalled to the Coulter Hospital in London. This was a fortunate appointment for him as Una Mary, daughter of the Rev. C. R. Shaw Stewart, was working there as a V.A.D. They were married in June 1916 and then moved to the Military Hospital at Seale Hayne. Here he had the pleasure of working again with his old teacher, Arthur Hurst, the physician whom, throughout his life, he loved and admired above all others.
At Seale Hayne remarkable results were obtained in the treatment of shell shock by relatively superficial suggestion. This formed the subject of his D.M. thesis, and determined his subsequent move into the field of psychiatry. After the war he became neurological specialist to the Ministry of Pensions and was appointed to the honorary staff of the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases in 1919, and later to that of the Royal Northern Hospital. Thereafter an increasing amount of his time was taken up by a growing psychiatric private practice.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War he became a specialist in neuropsychiatry at the Military Hospital for Head Injuries at Oxford, where he carried out original work on the value of psychometric tests in assessment and prognosis. After demobilisation he resumed practice in London until his final illness. He had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Peter Carew, was elected F.R.C.P, in 1962.
Rupert Reynell was by nature a retiring man who shunned the committee and the public occasion. He preferred the company of his family and a small circle of close friends to that of a wider circle of acquaintances, and was at his happiest and his best at the small dinner party rather than the big reception. He remained a formidable tennis player well into his fifties, and enjoyed skiing; each winter he led to the Bernese Oberland a large party consisting indiscriminately of family, friends, professional colleagues and patients.
Richard R Trail
[Brit.med.J., 1948, 1, 666; Lancet, 1948, 1, 578.]
(Volume V, page 345)
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