Dr W C Grey of the Auburn Methodist Church was one of the first men to be commissioned as an officer in the AIF. William Charles Grey, age 39 years 7 months, and a graduate in medicine from Sydney University, was a local doctor who lived with his wife Louisa at Benarty, Victoria Avenue, Lidcombe.
Less than three weeks after the declaration of war, Dr Grey applied for a commission in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He was commissioned major and appointed to N°2 General Hospital, then being prepared for service overseas. Major Grey embarked on the hospital ship HMAT A55 Kyarra on 28 November 1914 and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt on 13 January 1915. Major Grey served in several medical units in Egypt then, on 1 January 1916, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Heliopolis, then treating many soldiers just returned from Gallipoli.
At the end of 1916, Lieutenant-Colonel Grey spent several months in England before returning to Australia on the Wiltshire in December 1916. Having served in the Medical Corps for over two years, Dr Grey had to once again build up his medical practice in Auburn and Lidcombe. He was a much-respected local doctor when he died in 1930 age 56.
Further reading:
- Auburn remembers : remembering the men of Auburn who gave their lives in the First World War 1914-1918, by Ron Inglis (Auburn, NSW : Cumberland RSL sub-Branch, 2020)