Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

MAGAREY Cromwell MB BS

1864-1940

Cromwell Magarey was born on 5th June 1864 at Enfield, South Australia.  He was the son of Thomas Magarey and Elizabeth, nee Verco, and the brother of Alexander Thomas Magarey and uncle of Archibald Campbell Magarey. He was educated at Prince Alfred College. Magarey was one of the first six students to study medicine at the Medical School of the University of Adelaide. The school opened at the beginning of 1885 and his fellow students were Charles Hope, A. F. Lynch, F. Goldsmith, A. F. Joyce, and James Robin. Magarey then went to England to further his studies. After completing his studies in London he married Sophia Mildred Sandilands at St Paul’s, Newton Abbot, Devon, on 25th August 1891. He returned to Australia with his new wife within days of his marriage.  He was a public vaccinator and medical examiner in 1892. Magarey became Chair of the Barrier Tramway Company Limited formed for the purpose of promoting the passage of a bill through the New South Wales Parliament for the construction of a railway from Cockburn to Broken Hill, via Thurkaringa and the Pinnacles. The select committee passed the Bill but it failed in the legislative council and the company was wound up voluntarily in October 1908.

Magarey enlisted to join the AIF on 3rd Dec 1915 at the age of 51 years and 6 months, his wife Sophia was named as his next of kin. They lived at that time at 62 Beulah Road, Norwood, South Australia. He was described as 5ft 8ins, and weighed 13st 8lb. He was appointed and assigned to a transport ship for one voyage only, he returned from the Suez on the Ayrshire with invalided soldiers from the war. His appointment was terminated on 31st March 1916. There is no record of any medals issued to him.

Magarey returned to his practice at Norwood on his return from the war, and he remained at his practice there for 40 years. Cromwell Magarey died 15th June 1940 at his home in Malvern and was buried at Magill. He was survived by his four daughters and son Ivan Sandilands Magarey. Magarey’s 13 roomed house on the corner of Sydenham Road and Beulah Road, Norwood was bought by the government to be used as a centre for ‘spastic’ children in 1950.  His daughter Mildred Kathleen Magarey was inducted as the first Deaconess in the Church of England at St Peter’s Cathedral Adelaide on 1 May 1926. She was attached to the parish of St Mary Magdalene in Moore Street, Adelaide.

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