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Dr Hugh Kingsley WARD

Rank	Reg/Ser No	DOB	Enlisted	Discharge/Death	Board
Lieutenant	RAMCSR King's Royal Rifle Corps	26 years	1913	1919	3

Captain Hugh Kingsley Ward (1887-1972)

Booklet

A man of incredible ‘grit’ and determination in all he undertook, Hugh Kingsley Ward (fondly known as Tuppy), achieved academic excellence by being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University (UK), the Rockefeller Fellowship to Harvard University (USA) and later returning to Australia to accept the position of Chair of Bacteriology at the University of Sydney.  

As a sportsman, Hugh Ward competed in many disciplines, achieving the ultimate goal of rowing for Australia at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. 

On the battlefield, Dr Ward’s ‘grit’ was displayed in the sacrifices he made for his fellow man, being awarded the Military Cross and later two Bars; he was Mentioned in Despatches twice for his gallantry.  The first the Military Cross citation in 1916 read:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during operations.  He has shown an utter contempt for danger, going to any and every place, however exposed, in which there were wounded men.  He has himself been wounded by a shell while carrying out this work.”

Early life and family background

Hugh Kingsley Ward was born at Petersham, Sydney on 17 September 1887.   He was the youngest of eight children four of whom survived to adulthood to Frederick William Ward (1847-1934) and Amy Ada née Cooke.

Hugh’s father, Frederick William Ward, a journalist, was born in Taranaki, New Zealand in 1847; he was the fourth son of Rev. Robert Ward a Primitive Methodist missionary and his wife, Emily nee Brundle.   Frederick attended Wesley College and Seminary in Auckland and saw active service as a scout when the Maori Wars engulfed Taranaki in 1863-64.

Frederick was accepted for the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1866 and he was first sent to Brisbane and then Newcastle (NSW).   As an early advocate of Methodist union, he resigned in 1869 to join the Wesleyan Church at Mudgee, then served at St Leonards, Sydney (1870-71), Bathurst (1872-74) and Ashfield (1875).  On 22 March 1873, he married 19-year-old Amy Cooke from St Leonards, Sydney.

Hugh’s father left the ministry in 1876 to devote himself to journalism and the following year he became the editor of the Wesleyan Weekly Advocate.  This position provided him with a vital contact with the Fairfax family’s organisation and from 1879-1884 Ward edited their weekly, the Sydney Mail and the evening paper, the Echo (1883-84). 

Ward left Fairfax in 1884 and headed up a powerful editorial team recruited to revitalize the ailing Daily Telegraph.   By 1888 the newspaper had exceeded circulation expectations but Ward resigned in 1890.  He travelled to London to immerse himself in the newspaper world there, working as a cable correspondent for The Age.  The severe weather and continuous night work took its toll and he returned to Australia after 12 months.

Described by a friend as ‘a big man with striking red hair and a voluminous beard, outspoken, progressive with unflagging energy’, he was soon appointed editor of the Brisbane Courier.   Frederick Ward resigned this position in 1898 to become principal leader-writer for the Melbourne Argus. 

In 1903, Hugh’s father was reinstated as editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph.  The University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1909 when he attended the first Imperial Press Conference in London.  From that time on he used and was referred to as “Dr Ward”.

Frederick Ward retired from the Daily Telegraph in 1914; he then edited the Brisbane Telegraph until December 1920.   (This tenure would probably account for Dr Hugh Kingsley Ward’s name being listed on the Saint Andrew’s Honour Boards.)

Frederick William Ward, retired to Kirribilli, Sydney where he died in 1934, being survived by two sons, Leonard Keith Ward (1879-1964) a geologist and public service head, Hugh Kingsley Ward and two daughters, Bertha “Betty” Ward and Mrs Winifred Body.   Leonard B. Ward, Ivan Egmont Ward, Noel K. Ward all died as infants and his eldest daughter Ruby Estelle Ward died in Oxford, England in 1919 when she was 44.

Bertha “Betty” Ward trained in England as an actress being successful on the English stage in the 1920s.  She returned to Australia a decade later and working as a Sydney stage producer.  When in England both before and after the war, Hugh lived with his sister until he returned to Australia around 1926.

Hugh’s other sister, Winifred Ward served as a nurse during the war.  Winifred married Major Malcolm Body M.C. (Royal Field Artillery) during the war in September 1918 in London.  After the war they lived at Trangie, New South Wales where Malcolm Body’s family owned the famous ‘Bundemar’ Stud for merino sheep. 

Hugh’s education and training

Hugh Ward was educated at Scotch College Melbourne from 1899 until 1902 while his father was employed in Melbourne at the Argus.  Scotch College was an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school located at East Melbourne.  (The school later moved to Hawthorn, and is the oldest surviving secondary school in Victoria.)

When Hugh was 15, the family relocated to Sydney for his father’s work and Hugh was enrolled at Sydney Grammar School.

Hugh was heavily involved in sports and while at Sydney Grammar he was a member of the school first eleven which won the cricket championship of the Great Public Schools in the 1904-05 season.  He also won his colours for athletics while at this school.

Some extracts from the school magazine, The Sydneian (shown in the Photo Gallery) refer to him by the nickname “Tuppy”.  In particular, the 1905 November issue (Vol.185, School Notes, Page 20) states:

“H. K. Ward (“Tuppy”) has been away this quarter through illness – taking things easy on the mountains.  His many friends particularly those who remember him as a promising hurdler, will hear with some anxiety that he has already put on two stone in weight and is still going strong!”

Subsequent to Hugh Ward leaving school, the March 1906 issue of The Sydneian records information on H. K. Ward as follows:

“1st XI, 1904; All Schools’ Sports, 1904; Prefect, 1904-5; Sydneian Staff, 1905.”

Sydney University

After leaving school, Hugh attended the Sydney University in 1906 where he was enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine.   He is reported in the Sydney Grammar School Old Boys Column of the May 1907 issue of The Sydneian as receiving 2nd Class Honours in Biology and 1st Class Honours in Inorganic Chemistry.  He passed his 2nd year examination in 1908 with credit and his third year in 1909 with distinction. 

Hugh continued his sporting activities playing with the University second-grade team, was captain of the St. Paul’s College XI, representing the college at football and B grade tennis.

In March 1908 The Sydneian (Vol.195, p29) reported:

“Tuppy” Ward has been steadily improving as an oarsman and will row with the Varsity Senior Eight on March 21st.”

On 30 April, 1910 Hugh rowed (as stroke) for New South Wales team in the Inter-State Eight Oar Championship on the Derwent River in Hobart.  The NSW team won the championship.

Hugh Kingsley Ward graduated with first-class honours from the University of Sydney in 1910, with a Bachelor of Medicine (MCMB) and was a junior Resident Medical Officer (RMO) at the Sydney Hospital in 1910-1911.

Rhodes Scholar (1911)

After his final Medical Examinations in December 1910, Hugh Ward was selected as a New South Wales Rhodes Scholar.  The scholarship entitled him to travel to Oxford University to undergo a three-year course commencing in 1911.

He departed for Oxford and resided at New College, Oxford University. While there he worked in the Department of Bacteriology graduating with a diploma in Anthropology and Public Health at the end of 1913. 

Henley Regatta

Hugh’s main sport while at Oxford was rowing and he represented New College in 1912, rowing against the Sydney Rowing Club at the Henley Royal Regatta.  The Sydney Eights won the Grand Challenge Cup that year.  

Olympic rower (1912)

After the Henley Royal Regatta, Hugh was chosen to replace Keith Heritage, from the Sydney Rowing Club, in the Australian Men’s Eight to compete at the 1912 Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm. The team was defeated in the semifinals by the Leander team.  Hugh continued to row for the Oxford University team in 1913 and 1914. 

Enlistment and service

War was declared just as Hugh Ward was completing his course at Oxford and he enlisted at Aldershot, England in 1913.  

On the 5 August 1914 at Aldershot, Hugh was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Army Medical Corps Special Reserve (RAMCSR) attached to the 1st Division, 2nd Infantry Brigade, King’s Royal Rifle Corps¹ and the 2nd Battalion.  He embarked for France a week later on 12 August 1914, serving in France and Belgium at a Casualty Clearing Station and with a field ambulance before his appointment as a Medical Officer in 1915.

Wounded at the Battle of Loos 1915

After Hugh was promoted to Captain as a Medical Officer attached to the 2nd Battalion KRRC in April 2015 he saw action at the Battle of Loos.   It was here he suffered the first of several gunshot wounds.  The French and British forces were unsuccessful on this occasion;  the battle casualties were extremely high making Hugh’s workload a heavy one.

Battle of Loos – 25 September – 19 October 1915 (extracts from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

In September 1915, the French and British armies launched a major offensive on the Western Front intending to break through enemy lines and strike a decisive blow against the German Army.  While French forces attacked in Champagne and Artois, the British First Army would attack along a 10km front between Loos and La Bassée.  This would be the British Army’s largest effort of the war so far with more than 75,000 men involved on the first day alone.  It became known at the time as ‘the Big Push’.

The industrialised mining area around Loos was difficult terrain for an offensive.  The ground was flat and open, easily swept by machine gun fire, the many pit heads and slag heaps providing defensive positions which were heavily fortified by the Germans.  Many British army battalions were formed of inexperienced wartime volunteers and their supporting artillery was short of heavy guns and shells.  To compensate, the British would use poison gas for the first time.

On 25 September 1915, the British Army launched a major attack against the German defences between the La Bassée Canal and the village of Loos (Loos-en-Gohelle).  This was the last attempt to drive the German army from France before the onset of winter 1915, but the German defences proved too strong and losses were heavy for little gain.  Due to the poor results, the Commander of British forces on the Western Front – General Sir John French - was replaced by General Sir Douglas Haig.

On the morning of 25 September 1915, after a four-day artillery bombardment, six divisions attacked through clouds of smoke and gas.  In the north of the battlefield, the gas hindered the attack of the 2nd Division along the La Bassée Canal and it was driven back with heavy casualties.  In the centre, the 9th (Scottish) Division managed to seize the formidable Hohenzollern Redoubt and the vital observation point of Fosse 8, while the 7th and 1st Divisions battled forward towards the Lens-la Bassée Road, with some units reaching the village of Hulluch.  In the south, the gas had been more successful and the 47th (London) Division reached the distinctive spoil heaps known as the Double Crassier, while the 15th (Scottish) Division swept through the village of Loos and on the stronghold of Hill 70.

By nightfall, reserves were urgently needed to exploit the gains. But by the time the 21st and 24th Divisions saw action the following day they were already exhausted by a long march and German reinforcements were counter-attacking.  Despite hard fighting, the British reserves suffered heavy casualties and were driven back until the arrival of the Guards Division stabilised the position.  Fosse 8 and the Hohenzollern Redoubt were lost during the following days and an attempt to regain them on 13 October by the 46th (North Midland), 12th (Eastern) and 1st Division ended in failure.

Casualties on 25 September were the worst yet suffered in a single day by the British army, including some 8,500 dead.  In total, the battle resulted in casualties of more than 50,000, of whom some 16,000 lost their lives.

Wounded at the Battle of the Somme 1916 and awarded the Military Cross

Once again Captain Hugh Ward suffered a gunshot wound at the Somme in 1916.   He was awarded the Military Cross for attending to his men despite being wounded in the collarbone himself.

The Battle of the Somme:  On 1 July 1916, after a weeklong artillery bombardment of German positions, the infantry assault began. Starting along a line from Maricourt to Foucaucourt-en-Santerre, the French Sixth Army drove the German Second Army from its front-line defences north and south of the river Somme, while divisions of the British Fourth Army took the villages of Montauban and Mametz.

In the north between the Albert-Bapaume Road and Gommecourt, British forces made little progress and suffered heavy losses attacking formidable defences, many of which had survived the artillery barrage.  By the end of the first day, the British Army had suffered some 57,000 casualties, including more than 19,000 killed.

For 141 days the operations continued and men from every part of Britain and across the British Empire took part.  Volunteers from many other countries fought as part of the British Army.  Both sides committed huge quantities of manpower and munitions to the struggle.

The Military Cross - Instituted by Royal Warrant on 28th December 1914, the Military Cross was a decoration for gallantry during active operations in the presence of the enemy by individuals in the British Army, the Indian Army or the Colonial Forces.  Commissioned officers with the rank of Captain or below or Warrant Officer were eligible for the award.  

Bar - From August 1916, an individual could receive one or more Bars to the Military Cross.  Recipients of the medal are entitled to use the letters M.C. after their name.  The Military Cross (M.C.) is the British Army equivalent of the Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) and Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.).

Wounded and taken as Prisoner of War (POW) at Nieuport 1917

At Zeebrugge in June 1917, Hugh was again wounded, the injury being described as a GSW (gunshot wound).  A portion of a report handwritten by Captain H. K. Ward on the events of the 10 July 1917 is shown in the Photo Gallery and transcribed as follows: 

“Report of Capt. H. K. Ward R.A.M.C. attached to 2nd Batt, 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division, B.E.F. on the action of Nieuport-les-Bains, Belgium, July 10th 1917.

On the morning of 10.7.17, the 2/K.R.R.C. was holding the line in the sector of the Dunes with its left resting on the N. Sea, and its right in touch with 1st Northamptons.  For the preceding 6 days in the line, the enemy had bombarded with trench-mortars and howitzers fairly steadily and had registered the bridge-heads over the R. Yser with 8 in. howitzers pretty thoroughly.

A heavy bombardment started about 8 am on the morning of the 10th July, and the bridges (3) were soon reported broken by shell-fire, and in a short while the only communication possible with the rear was by pigeon.  Visual signaling was tried but found impossible owing to the drifting smoke and dust.

I was in the right company (‘B’ coy) front line up till midday and by that time all the officers were killed or wounded.   Lt Gott was subsequently sent by the C.O. to command the company but was severly wounded on the way up.”

Hugh Wards heroic actions were also reported in The London Gazette of 1919 at the time of his commendation and reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on the 10th July 1917, when, after an intense bombardment of several hours, the enemy attacked the battalion sector east of Neuport Bains.  During the bombardment he went up to the front line and remained in attendance on a badly wounded officer until he died.  He was subsequently wounded while attending another officer, but continued looking after many other wounded men until he returned to the dressing station, when he worked for over two hours in the open, and when the enemy approached he stood outside to prevent them bombing the wounded.”

Action of Nieuport Les Bains, 10 July 1917.

Extracts of a private report by Captain Humphrey Butler, Adjutant, 2nd Bn. K.R.R.C. to his father Lt Col. Lewis Butler.

“From 8 a.m. to 8.15 a.m. the Germans started an intense bombardment of the Battalion sector. At 8.15 a.m. the firing ceased and did not begin again until 9.50 a.m. when an intense bombardment of the whole sector again began. The shelling went on without pause until 1 p.m. when there was a lull for ten minutes. At 1.10 p.m. the bombardment again started and went on without pause until 3 p.m. when there was a lull until 3.10 p.m.

It started again at 3.10 p.m. and at 6 p.m. there was a lull of fifteen minutes until 6.15 p.m. At 6.15 p.m. the shelling became more intense than ever, and at 7.15 p.m. the enemy attacked. They had sent a party around by the beach before they made the frontal attack, so the attack came from our front and rear simultaneously. By 8 p.m. the enemy captured the whole sector. As the Battalion had raided the enemy tranches the night before, we all thought when the bombardment started that, it was merely a heavy retaliation for the raid…

Our Medical Officer, Captain Ward, R.A.M.C. did splendid work and was seen directing men which way to go, the Germans being then only a dozen yards away. There is good reason to think that he, the Intelligence Officer and 2nd Lt. Taylor were captured. They were all three wounded. Altogether the Battalion lost 17 officers out of 20, and about 481 other ranks out of about 520 other ranks.

I am going over with a patrol tonight to try and find the Colonel. Ill let you know if I’m successful.”

During this battle Captain Hugh Ward was captured at Nieuport, Belgium (Lombaertzyde or Lombartzyde) on 10 July 1917 and taken to Karlsruhe POW camp.   On 1 December 1917 he was transferred to Freiburg POW Camp.   As a prisoner of war it was reported he did not get on well with his captors, and spent much time in solitary confinement. 

After eight months as a POW, Hugh was exchanged for a German medical officer. He was repatriated to England on 23 February 1918. 

Gassed at Arras 1918

The Second Battles of Arras occurred in September 1918.    On 2 September 1918, the Battle of the Drocourt-Queant Line, located at Dury, was an extension of the Hindenburg Line running between two French villages from which it gained its' name.   This battle resulted in a British/Canadian victory.

Hugh Ward had returned to duty, attached as an RMO to the British forces, and was part of this encounter.  During this time he was gassed.

Mentioned in Despatches – represented by a bronze oak leaf which could be worn on the ribbon of the British Victory Medal.  This is not an award of a medal, but a commendation of an act of gallantry.

To be “Mentioned in Despatches” is when an individual is mentioned by name and commended for having carried out a noteworthy act of gallantry or service.  A Despatch is an official report written by the senior commander of an army in the field.  It would give details of the conduct of the military operations being carried out. From the time of the Boer War the Despatches were published in the London Gazette in full or in part. The phrase “Mentioned in Despatches” was used for the first time in a newspaper article by Winston Churchill (Morning Post, 6th October 1898).

An individual could be mentioned in despatches more than once.  As with the Victoria Cross, this commendation for an act of gallantry could be made posthumously.

In 1919 Army Order 166/1919 confirmed that individuals “Mentioned in Despatches” would receive a certificate. This included personnel of the British Navy, Army and Air Force, and Indian Dominion, Colonial, Egyptian Forces and members of the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A. and British civilians male and female.

In 1920 Army Order 3/1920 authorized the issue of an emblem to signify that an individual had been “Mentioned in Despatches” between 4th August 1914 and 10th August 1920.

Captain Hugh Kingsley Ward was demobilized as a Medical Officer attached to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1919.     

Post War

Hugh returned to Oxford after the war, working in the Oxford University Bacteriology Department under Professor Dreyer until 1923.  The Medical Research Council of Oxford University awarded him the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1923 while he was working at the Department of Pathology.

Rockefeller Fellow, Harvard (1923-1924)

At the age of 35 years he departed from Southampton aboard the White Star Liner Canopic on 26 September 1923 bound for New York to continue his study at Harvard University.

Oxford University (1924-1926)

After a year in the United States of America (USA) he returned to London aboard the Olympic arriving on 29 August 1924 from New York.  He returned to Oxford University and remained there until 1926 when he accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Bacteriology at Harvard University.

While at Harvard, the head of the department asked Hugh to introduce a young man to research in infectious disease.  The young man, J. F. Enders, had no biological training, but had developed an interest through researching for his PhD thesis on the influence of epidemic disease on English literature.  They worked and published together, and became firm friends.  Enders became Hugh Ward's most distinguished pupil, being awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on poliomyelitis. 

Marriage & Family

Assistant Professor Bacteriology Harvard (1926-1934)

Hugh and his wife, Constance, lived in Harvard until 1934 when Hugh accepted the position of Professor at the Sydney University.  He was a member of the British Medical Association (BMA) publishing many papers for medical journals in his area of expertise.

Bosch Professor at Sydney University (1935- 1952)

Hugh Kingsley Ward was appointed to the Bosch Chair of Bacteriology at the Sydney University commencing in 1935.  This was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 20 September 1934 that year.  He also held the position of Honorary Consulting Bacteriologist at the Sydney Hospital.  In 1938 he was admitted as a foundational Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP).

Hugh gave undergraduate teaching a high priority.  P. M. de Burgh reports evidence of this in Hugh’s story on RACP College Roll on-line:

“…Practical classes played an important role; he worked as a demonstrator, thus giving many students an opportunity to talk to him.  Lectures were unhurried; there were no histrionics.  A few well-chosen words conveyed much information. Current ideas were presented clearly and simply. He was exceptional in that there was no attempt to hide areas of doubt and ignorance; they were not glossed over but brought out and discussed, as a challenge and a hope for the future. He was well ahead of his time in the selection of what is or is not suitable background material for medical students. None of the standard textbooks for medical students resembled his course of 1935; twenty years later some were beginning to incorporate his ideas…”

As Bosch Professor of Bacteriology at Sydney University, Hugh along with two other microbiologists greatly influenced medical research in Australia.  He was a founding member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (1936), and chairman of the Australian National Research Council (1952-53), helping pave the way for the newly-formed Australian Academy of Science. Hugh served on the interim council (1948-51) and the council (1951-53) of the Australian National University.

In his description of Hugh, P. M. de Burgh continues:

“A large man, in later years slow-moving, who seldom smiled; a somewhat daunting figure, but in fact he was extremely kind.  Almost obsessional about equal opportunity and treatment for students, he would spend much time looking for some virtue in those who performed poorly.  Those who failed were interviewed, their problems identified, and the reasons for their results explained, with benefit to many in later years. The great majority of his research had a practical application.  He worked on clinically important infections, studying the organism and the host reactions to them.” 

When Hugh retired from the university in 1952 he resigned from over 30 committees.   Following this he became a medical officer with the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (1952-69) and co-authored his only book, Walsh and Ward’s A Guide to Blood Transfusion (1957).  He retired from the Transfusion Service in 1969, spending his remaining years reading widely on the arts, current affairs and history, which had always been of great interest to him.

One of Hugh’s positions at Sydney University was Chairman of the Sports Union grounds committee in 1937 and he continued in that role until 1951, giving much of his time to the promotion of sport at the University.  In appreciation of his work, the University of Sydney opened the H. K. Ward Gymnasium in his honour in 1967 although the building was demolished in 2012 to build a more modern facility.

An article around that time about the HK Ward Gymnasium by Andrew Tilley on the Sydney University Sport & Fitness website of 10 February 2012 and an extract reads as follows:

“It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing structure on a campus built around a Gothic wonder in the Great Hall, but the HK Ward Gymnasium holds myriad memories for the thousands of sportsmen and women who’ve used its facilities.

Conveniently located adjacent to the University’s two main ovals on a pathway leading to the Faculty of Veterinary Science, St. John’s College and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the HK Ward building is due for demolition, making way for a $385 million state-of-the-art Centre for Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (CODCD) building.

The clubs using HK Ward and the facilities it houses are to be relocated to a new $9.5 million addition to the Sports & Aquatic Centre at Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness’ (SUSF) Darlington campus…

The HK Ward Gymnasium was completed in 1967 at a cost of $112,000 after the Sports Union had decided to erect a large, brick sports hall surrounding the existing corrugated aluminum gymnasium – also known as the HK Ward Gymnasium – which was then divided in two to provide facilities for judo and weight training. A basketball court took up most of the space in the new hall which was also available for badminton, volleyball, karate and tennis.

In its early days, the gymnasium housed one of the first free weights rooms in Sydney, attracting many elite weightlifters to the facility. Other long-term users have been the Boxing Club and martial arts clubs. It also houses a group fitness room, an international standard sports hall (used as a training centre for the Australian handball team during the 2000 Olympics), and an ergonometric training facility. It also once housed a sports store. …”

Passing 

Hugh Kingsley Ward passed away in the Sydney Hospital on 22 November 1972, aged 85.  His wife Constance also passed away the same year in New South Wales, aged 81 years.  A son, John Robert Ward and a daughter, Jennifer, survived them.

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Note:   Sincere thanks to Nick Ateer of Brisbane who contacted me in early October 2022.  Nick, while still a schoolboy in 1972, made an exciting discovery of a box of photographs, letters, albums, postcards and a medal at a Strathpine tip.  He recently discovered there was a link between these treasures and Hugh Kingsley Ward.   

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Researched and written by Miriam King, Brisbane, February 2018 ©  Revision August 2018, January 2022, October 2022 ©

 

 

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