Howard Boyd Graham was born on 30th August 1891 at Ascot Vale, Victoria, son of John Duncan Graham and Jane Graham, nee Austin. He was educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne, graduating MB BS in 1915.
Boyd enlisted in the British Royal Army Medical Corps on 12 May 1915, becoming a Temporary Lieutenant. A year later, on 12 May, he became a Temporary Captain, and in January 1918 an Acting Major. For most of the war he served with the 64th Field Ambulance, part of the 21st Division. He was temporarily a Regimental Medical Officer, but also Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services (DADMS) of both his division and corps. He was presumably with them in the battle of the Somme in 1916. He was gassed on 4 October 1917 and wounded on 23 October 1918. Boyd was Mentioned in Despatches on 21 December 1917 and 25 May 1918. He won a Distinguished Service Order on 18 January 1918 and a Military Cross on 26 July 1918. The citation for the latter said that while in charge of 300 stretcher-bearers, he had safely evacuated wounded under heavy shell and machine-gun fire. On one occasion his dressing station had been heavily shelled, leading to high casualties, but he had rallied the bearers and led them and 54 casualties to safety. He was demobilised on 25 July 1919.
Boyd became resident at Melbourne Hospital, and for about 18 months before 1923 was resident medical officer and assistant pathologist at Children’s Hospital, where, in 1923, he became its inaugural medical superintendent. As a passionate book collector Boyd was vice-president of the Australian Book Collectors’ Society.
Boyd was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Australian Army Medical Corps in World War II. He was Assistant Director of Medical Services to the Volunteer Defence Corps (Victoria) and Executive Officer of the Victorian Medical Coordination Committee.
He was President of the BMA Victorian Branch in 1942. The issues of major concern were mostly related to the war and its impact on medical services and supplies. Registration of alien doctors was a topic prompted by the influx of ‘displaced persons’. He was initiator of the Museum of the Medical Society of Victoria. He was elected to Fellowship of the AMA.
Boyd took a particular interest in medical history. He wrote a long article in the Medical Journal of Australia (August 16, 1952, p.213) “Happenings of the now long past: the centenary of the Medical Society of Victoria” which documented the early years of the medical profession’s organisations and pioneers in Victoria.
He died at Eltham in 1965. He had married Adele Norma Metzner (d. 1984) in 1925, and their son, Nigel Graham and grandson attended Scotch.
Last updated: 26 February 2025
Main source: Scotch College Honours & Awards website; MJA 1966, pp.464-465 and 599.
Article by Dr Allan Mawdsley OAM