Rupert Major Downes CMG KStJ (1885 - 1945)

Ancestors

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Formative years 1.2 The Great War 1.3 Inter-war period 1.4 Second World War 2 Sources 2.1 See also

Biography

Major General Dr Rupert Major Downes CMG KStJ VD FRACS MS MD MB BS was an Australian soldier, general, surgeon and historian in the first half of the 20th century.

Doctor Rupert Major Downes

Formative years

Rupert Major Downes was born on 10th February 1885 in Mitcham, South Australia (Australia). He was the youngest of fifteen children, only five of whom survived to adulthood, of Colonel (later Major General) Major Francis Downes, a British Army officer, and his wife, Helen Chamberlain. ^[1] After service in the Crimean War, Colonel Francis Downes served as commandant of the colonial forces of South Australia and retired with the rank of Major General in the Australian Army in 1902, setting his son an excellent example of service. ^[2]

Rupert attended the University of Melbourne, graduating with the double degree of Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS) in 1907. He served his residency at Melbourne Hospital and became a general practitioner in Malvern, Victoria, but soon returned to the university to pursue a doctorate of medicine (MD), which was awarded in 1911. He also did the coursework for a Master of Surgery (MS), and this degree was conferred in 1912. With the aditional interest of health in military service, he joined the militia, being commissioned as a Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1908 and promoted to Major in 1913. ^[2]

Rupert married Doris Robb on 20th November 1913 in St John's Church of England, Toorak, Victoria. ^[3] They had three children:

1. Rosemary Major Downes (1914-)
2. Valerie Major Downes (1918-)
3. John Rupert Major Downes (1922-33)

The Great War

Rupert transferred to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 2nd October 1914, assuming command of the 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; making him the youngest Lieutenant Colonel in the AIF at the time. The unit embarked for Egypt on the transport Chilka in February 1915 and departed Alexandria for Gallipoli on 17th May 1915. After the evacuation of Gallipoli, Rupert was appointed Assistant Director of Medical Services (ADMS) of the newly formed ANZAC Mounted Division; being promoted to Colonel. As a result of aggressively tackling the problems of disease, sanitation and inadequate supplies of potable water, he reduced rates of disease among Australian and New Zealand troops to well below those of British troops serving alongside them. Rupert was visited by his wife early in 1917, and sent her home pregnant with their second child. In 1917, he became Deputy Director of Medical Services (DDMS) of the Desert Mounted Corps. In October 1918, with victory near, he was confronted by his most serious medical crisis. Damascus contained over 3,000 sick and wounded Turkish soldiers, many of them in appalling condition. For his service in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, Rupert was Mentioned in Despatches, equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry, four times^[4][5][6][7] and was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).^[8][2] For his war service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Inter-war period

Returning to Australia, Rupert became an honorary consulting surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and honorary surgeon at Prince Henry's Hospital. He became a foundation fellow of the College of Surgeons of Australasia in 1927, and president of the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association in 1935. He lectured on medical ethics at the University of Melbourne, writing the course textbook. He was also Victorian State Commissioner of the St John Ambulance Brigade, which he led for 25 years, and was president of the St John Ambulance Association for eight years. In 1930, he was appointed a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John (CStJ) and later became a Knight of Grace of the order (KStJ). ^[2]

In 1930, Rupert's son John, fell seriously ill with meningitis. Despite the best efforts of eminent medical practitioners, John succumbed to toxaemia and died in 1933, at the age of ten years. The failure of modern medicine to save his son affected Rupert deeply, and led him to abandon his civilian medical career in favour of his military one. In 1934 he was appointed Director General of Medical Services, the Australian Army's most senior medical officer, with the rank of Major General. He also served as head of the medical services of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 1927. He was awarded the Voluntary Officers Decoration (VD) in 1932 for twenty years service as a militia officer. ^[2]

Rupert Downes was one of the few who believed that further global war was inevitable. In 1934, being acutely aware that a large army would require mobilisation of the country's doctors, he pushed for all doctors to be prepared for either military service or direction by civil authorities. He presided over a major effort to stockpile medicines and medical equipment required for such a mobilisation. With the help of the Department of Health and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, most of this was delivered by July 1939. He began a tour of military and other medical centres in India, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, France, the United States and Canada. While in London, he arranged for Doris and Valerie to be formally presented to the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace by Ethel Bruce, the wife of Stanley Bruce, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Rupert foresaw a major war being fought in the islands to the north of Australia and took steps to obtain specialist services for such warfare whilst in London. The outbreak of the Second World War caused him to curtail the North American leg of his tour, and return to Australia in October 1939. ^[2]

Second World War

In his role as DGMS, Rupert pressed for the construction of major military hospitals in the capital cities. He argued that, after the war, they should be handed over to the Repatriation Commission for the care of sick and disabled ex-service personnel. Despite strong opposition on the grounds of cost, he won his case in October 1940. Time soon vindicated his judgement; and the major military hospitals in the state capital cities, the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney, the Austin Hospital in Melbourne and Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane remain his greatest legacy. ^[2]

He was appointed to the newly created post of Inspector General of Medical Services (IGMS). As IGMS, he toured extensively; visiting all the Australian states and overseas locations where Australian troops had been sent, including Papua and New Guinea, Malaya, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), India and East Africa. ^[2]

In 1944 he accepted a commission to edit the medical series volumes of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–1945. As part of this, in March 1945, he decided to accompany Major General George Alan Vasey to New Guinea, where Vasey's 6th Division had encountered an atabrine-resistant strain of malaria in the Aitape-Wewak campaign. On 5th March 1945, the RAAF Lockheed Hudson aeroplane in which they were travelling crashed into the sea about 370 metres from Machans Beach, just north of the mouth of the Barron River near Cairns. ^[9] Downes and Vasey were killed along with all nine other Australian service personnel on board. Their bodies were recovered and buried in Cairns War Cemetery with full military honours. ^[2] For this war service he was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, 1939-1945 War medal and Australian Service Medal 1939-1945.

Rupert was survived by Doris, Valerie and Rosemary. A memorial service was held in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne on 9th March 1945. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons established the triennial Rupert Downes Memorial Lecture in his honour. The subject of the lecture is 'related to some aspect or aspects of military surgery, medical equipment (military and civil), the surgery of children, neurosurgery, general surgery, medical ethics or medical history; these being subjects in which Downes was particularly interested'. ^[2]

To the amazement and dismay of his colleagues, Rupert Downes' military services from 1919 until his death were accepted by both the Army and successive federal governments without any mark of distinction being bestowed upon him. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ South Australia Birth Index #345/172 1885
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} Wikipedia profile: Rupert Downes; accessed 22 May 2018
3. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #8556/1913
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches 1 Dec 1916; accessed 10 Mar 2020
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches 12 Jan 1918; accessed 10 Mar 2020
6. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches 22 Jan 1919; accessed 10 Mar 2020
7. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Mention in Despatches 5 Jun 1919; accessed 10 Mar 2020
8. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George; accessed 10 Mar 2020
9. ↑ Queensland Death Index #C1494/1945

See also

• Hill, A J. 'Downes, Rupert Major (1885–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1981j accessed online 10 Mar 2020.
• Australian War Memorial biography; accessed 10 Mar 2020.