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Charles Napier FINN OBE

FINN

Date of birth21 February 1879
PlaceInvercargill, New Zealand
ParentsPeter Thomas and Rose (nee Champ) Finn
Date of death24 March 1942
PlaceAt home at 865 Toorak Road, Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Age63
Scotch Year(s)1892

Service record and post-war life

New Zealand-born Charles Finn was a 35-year-old oculist (opthalmologist) when he enlisted in Perth, Western Australia, on 14 November 1914. He was allotted as a Captain to the 4th Field Ambulance and embarked from Fremantle on 30 December 1914. He landed at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915 and remained there until he went to Lemnos on 20 September 1915.

In November 1915 he contracted jaundice and dysentery and was hospitalised at the 2nd Australian General Hospital (2nd AGH) in Egypt for some two months. While there he was transferred as an officer to the 2nd AGH. He arrived in France in April 1916 and was hospitalised there in July 1916 with lobor pneumonia (one source calls it ‘respiratory neurosis’). He spent two months with the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station.

On 14 November 1916, two years after he enlisted, Charles was promoted to Major. He returned to Australia in July 1919. He was Mentioned in Despatches in May 1919 and in the same month was appointed OBE. His recommendation (not reproduced below as the AWM copy is barely legible) said he had ‘served continuously with the Australian Imperial Force since the 11th November, 1914, and has been especially brought to notice for his good work.’

Charles continued practice as an oculist. He married Ethel Margaret ‘Dolly’ Castles (d. 1971) in 1919. She was the leading soprano in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. They had two daughters. Charles died in 1942 at home in Toorak.

Photographs and Documents:

finnCN

Photograph of Captain Charles Finn at Gezireh, Egypt, probably in 1915. The eye charts behind him suggest that he was continuing his work as an oculist.

Sources:

  1. Australian War Memorial – Honours and Awards
  2. Mishura Scotch Database
  3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, FINN C N
  4. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=97562

Page last updated: 11 November 2015