Clarence Read arrived in Sydney in February
1895 as ship’s surgeon on the Rome. Newly
qualified from the University College, London he
was 25, the third son of surgeon dentist Henry
Barton Read and Emma nee Morrell of Finsbury
Square, London and Shipbourne, Kent. While
living in London he had served with the Royal
Horse Artillery.
In April 1899, at St. Thomas Church, North Sydney,
Clarence wed Ethel Maude McNall, and they
made their home at Lia , Gordon Road (630
Pacific Higffway), Chatswood, Sydney. During
1913 he entered a joint practice at Roseville with
Dr Richard Lewis de Teissier Prevost who served
from August to October 1914 with the AN&MEF
in New Guinea. It was Clarence
who found Dr Prevost on the early morning of 5
November 1914, killed when his car overturned
on his way to attend a patient.
By the beginning of 1915 Clarence Read had
established rooms in Macquarie Street, Sydney
but within months had enlisted. Ranked Major,
he left Sydney on 15 May 1915 on RMS Mooltan
with the 3rd Australian General Hospital (AGH).
The 3rd AGH remained in operation at Mu~
until the end of the Gallipoli camp
December 1915 when it was re-established in
Abbassia, Egypt. Read, by then aged 45, returned
to Australia on SS Eup , arriving home
8 August 1916 to resume private practice.
Clarence and his wife Ethel lived in Chatswood
until his death in May 1951. Their two sons
served in World War II. John Henry Clarence
Read enlisted in the RAN on II February 194
at discharge on 10 May 1945 be was Lieutenan –
Commander with HMAS Penguin. The
second son Tom Clarence Read enlisted on 3
August 1942, on discharge on 4 August 1945 he
was a Major with the Corps Troops Ammunition
Park. The husband of their daughter Margaret,
John Craig Harper, enlisted on 1 January 1940,
serving with HQ Lae, New Guinea but died of
injuries, accidentally received, on 3 September
1944, leaving Margaret and their two young
children.
Rallying the Troops: a World War I Commemoration~ Volume III
Officers of the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Abbassia, Egypt
This hospital was formerly at Lenmos, but after the evacuation of Gallipoli it was removed to Abbassia. No. 1 and No. 2 hospitals are in France Back Row (Left to Right): Captain Lawton (Melbourne), Captain Mathews (Sydney), Captain Kelleway (Melbourne), Captain Encole, Lieut. Glen, Captain Macleod, Lieut. Hill (N.S.W.), Captain Lowe (Sydney), Captain Anderson (Western Australia). Second Row: Lieut. Marshall (Sydney), Major Read (Sydney), Captain Steuart (Melbourne), Major Stewart, Major Morton (Sydney), Major Wassell, Lieut. Hazlitt (Sydney), Captain Markham. Front Row: Major Gibson (Brisbane), Lieut. -Colonel Martin (of the Lister Institute, London, and formerly of Sydney University), Lieut.-Colonel Stawell (Melbourne) Colonel Newmarch, C.M.G., O.C. (Sydney), Lieut. -Colonel McKnight, Major Trethowan (Western Australia), Major Smith (Sydney) Sydney Mail Wednesday 5 July. 1916.
