World War I Commemorative Website

War Memorial Hall  c1929

Memorial Hall circa 1929
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Alexander Bruce BENNIE

BENNIE

Alexander ‘Alick’ Bennie was born on 28 February 1864 in Fitzroy, Victoria. His parents were James and Marion (née Bruce) Bennie. He attended Scotch from 1874 to 1881. He won prizes in 1877 and 1878. He was an outstanding player in the First Football XVIII in 1880 and 1881. He also played for Melbourne Football Club in those years.

Alexander was a medical practitioner when he enlisted on 31 July 1915 in Melbourne. He served in the 2nd Australian General Hospital Australian Army Medical Corps with the rank of Captain.

Alexander died on 21 April 1919 in Armadale, Victoria. He was 55 years of age.

Service record

At the University of Melbourne Alick achieved a Bachelor of Arts in 1886, Master of Arts in 1887, Bachelor of Medicine in 1889 and Bachelor of Surgery in 1889. He was a Medical Practitioner at Berwick and at Armadale, Victoria. On enlistment he was posted as a Captain to Reinforcements to the 2nd Australian General Hospital (see below). He embarked with them for Cairo, Egypt on 31 July 1915. He travelled from Egypt to Marseille, France on 4 April 1916. Alick suffered bronchial-pneumonia that month and then on 29 September was admitted to hospital in England suffering from ‘renal calculi’ (kidney stones): a problem he had suffered 10 years earlier.

In November orders were issued for him to be sent home, at his own request. His service file contains a letter from one of Alick’s superiors asking that he be permitted to return to Australia: ‘He is one of our very best’, ran the letter, ‘and most conscientious workers and I consider the mere fact of his asking to be sent back is a clear proof that he is not likely to be fit for the work.’(see below). He was discharged due to ill-health, now categorized as ‘renal calculi, haematuria [blood in the urine] and colic’. He was struck off strength on 12 November 1916, and his appointment was terminated in Australia at the end of January 1917. By then he was suffering from micturition [fainting during or shortly after urination]. That month a report by Lieutenant-Colonel Vance of the 11th Australian General Hospital attributed Alick’s ailments to ‘Active Service’ [see below] The board of which Vance was in charge said the ‘stress and strain’ of active service was responsible. Alexander died at ‘Apsley’, Armadale. An obituary in The Prahran Telegraph ascribed his death to his war service, saying: ‘The peculiar malady which he had contracted abroad [during the war] did not become active until recently, when it proved fatal.’

Alexander Bennie is buried in the Brighton Cemetery, Victoria.

Photographs and Documents:

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Application for Alick Bennie’s commission in the AIF.

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Letter from one of Alick Bennie’s superior officers suggesting he be allowed to return to Australia. Unfortunately this officer’s signature is indecipherable.

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Medical report on Alick Bennie in January 1917.

Sources:

  1. Mishura Scotch Database
  2. National Archives of Australia – B2455, BENNIE A B
  3. ‘Personal’ column, The Prahran Telegraph, 26 Apr 1919, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165120584.
  4. Scotch Collegian 1923, 1928
  5. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=20549

Page last updated: 11 November 2015