Arthur Magill

MAGILL, Arthur- – – SPC 1902-1909

DoB:- – 1893, Winton, near Benalla, VIC

Father:- – Arthur Magill

Mother:- – Mary Jane, nee Devoy

Service No:- 6800

Rank:- – Private, Gunner

Unit:- – 4th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB)

Arthur Magill enlisted in the AIF on 26 July 1915, at the age of 21 years and nine months. He was a single man, who worked as a clerk. He was five feet, two and three quarter inches tall, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair.

Private Magill embarked from Melbourne on 18 November 1915 aboard the Wiltshire, disembarking at Suez on 15 December. After undergoing further training in Egypt, he proceeded from Alexandria to Marseilles, France on 19 March 1916.

He was admitted to hospital in the field on 31 January 1917 with a severe case of venereal disease. He was transferred to a CCS (Casualty Clearing Station) on 8 February, and then to the hospital in Etaples that dealt specifically with venereal diseases on 15 February.

Gunner Magill was discharged to duty at the end of April 1917, but was in and out of hospital frequently throughout the remainder of the year. By March 1918 he was returned to Australia on the Kenilworth Castle for -‘a change’.

Arthur Magill settled back into his life in the north of Victoria, the electoral rolls showing that he resumed his career as a bank clerk, and later bank manager, in Echuca. He married Eunice Nellie Kennedy in 1920, and they moved to Block 227 Redcliffs, Mildura. Arthur and Eunice had one son, Kenneth Arthur.

The College could not find any records to show when Arthur died or where he was buried. He disappears from the electoral rolls in 1931.