Most decorated · 14 medals and honours, 1 for gallantry
Colonel Charles Hercus
Charles Hercus was a Christchurch house surgeon and dentist who joined the NZ Medical Corps in 1914, served at Gallipoli and in Palestine, and rose to be the medical officer in charge of health for the ANZAC Mounted Division. He won a DSO, an OBE and four mentions in despatches, then became Otago's professor of public health, dean of its medical school, and Sir Charles Hercus.
14medals and honours
1of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
Birthday Honours, 3 June 1918 · Egypt and Palestine · Major, New Zealand Medical Corps; Assistant Director of Medical Services, ANZAC Mounted Division
Gazetted: London Gazette supplement 30717, p. 6489, dated 3 June 1918 (published 31 May 1918)
Hercus was a doctor and dentist who left a Christchurch house surgeon's post to join the New Zealand Medical Corps in August 1914. He sailed in October 1914 as a captain, served with the NZ Mounted Rifles Field Ambulance at Gallipoli, and was said to be the only man to go ashore there carrying a microscope. In Egypt and Palestine he became assistant director of medical services to the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division with the rank of major from January 1917, responsible for the health of the mounted troops. His malaria-control work in Palestine, built on education and discipline of the troops, was later held up as the model for his public health career. The DSO was in the 1918 Birthday Honours list; the Evening Post of 7 June 1918 reported it under 'For service in Egypt' alongside Colonel Chaytor's CMG. The Cenotaph, quoting a New Zealand DSO reference book, gives the citation as 'for distinguished service in connection with military operations in Egypt'. No account of a particular act survives in the sources I could read, so the award is best read as recognition of sustained medical staff work in the field (that reading is inference).
DNZB says 'awarded the DSO in 1917'; that is wrong. The Gazette and the Evening Post (7 June 1918) date it to the 1918 Birthday Honours. Cenotaph correctly says 3 June 1918.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette supplement 30717, p. 6489 (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30717/supplement/6489); Evening Post 7 June 1918 (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19180607.2.48); Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest); Online Cenotaph record C36305 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36305)
Every other medal and honour (13)
1914-15 Star1914-1915 · GallipoliQualified by sailing with the Main Body in October 1914 and serving at Gallipoli in 1915.British War Medal (1914-1920)1914-1918Standard First World War service medal.Victory Medal1914-1918Standard First World War allied victory medal.Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, Military)Birthday Honours, 3 June 1919 · Egypt and PalestineA year after the DSO, Hercus was appointed an Officer of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 Birthday Honours, listed in the Gazette as 'Hercus, Maj. Charles Ernest, D.S.O.' in a long…Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (V.D.)Inter-war (date not found) · OtagoLong-service decoration for Territorial officers. He had been in the Otago University Medical Corps before 1914 and later commanded it; Wikipedia gives him the post-nominal VD.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service MedalNot foundLong-service medal for Territorial service.New Zealand Territorial Service MedalNot foundTerritorial service medal.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service MedalNot foundLong-service award for Territorial service.Knight BachelorNew Year Honours, 1 January 1947 · DunedinHercus was knighted for his services to medical education and public health. By 1947 he had been professor of public health and bacteriology at Otago since 1922 and dean of the medical school since 1937. The Evening…War Medal 1939-1945 (with oak leaf)1939-1945 · New ZealandWartime service medal; he served at home with the NZ Medical Corps 1939-45.New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945 · New ZealandNew Zealand's medal for Second World War service, including home service.Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 19531953Commemorative medal for the 1953 Coronation.Mentioned in Despatches6 July 1917; 16 January 1918; 14 June 1918; 5 June 1919 · Egypt, Sinai and PalestineFour mentions in Egyptian Expeditionary Force despatches. I read all four Gazette entries: 'Hercus, Capt. (temp. Maj.) C. E., N.Z. Medical Corps' on 6 July 1917, 'Hercus, Maj. C. E., M.B., N.Z.M.C.' on 16 January…
His story
Dunedin, Christchurch and Otago
Born in Dunedin on 13 June 1888, he grew up in Christchurch and was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School. He was in the first class of Otago's Dental School (BDS 1911), then took his MB ChB in 1914, and was a house surgeon at Christchurch Hospital. Before the war he was in the Otago University Medical Corps, which he later commanded.
Source: Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest)
Joins the NZ Medical Corps
He resigned his hospital post and enlisted on 5 August 1914 as a medical practitioner, and sailed with the Main Body as a captain on 16 October 1914, posted to the NZ Mounted Rifles Field Ambulance.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C36305 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36305); Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest)
Gallipoli with a microscope
He served at Gallipoli with the Mounted Rifles Field Ambulance. DNZB says he was reputedly the only man to go ashore carrying a microscope, a sign of his interest in laboratory-based public health.
Source: Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest)
Sinai and Palestine; promoted major
In Egypt and Palestine he was promoted major on 31 January 1917 and became assistant director of medical services (ADMS) to the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division, the medical staff officer responsible for the division's health. The Gazette of 6 July 1917 gives his first mention in despatches, as a captain (temporary major).
Source: Online Cenotaph record C36305 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36305); London Gazette supplement 30169, p. 6772
Malaria control and the DSO
His malaria control campaign in Palestine, relying on education and discipline of the troops, later became the base of his public health teaching. A second mention followed on 16 January 1918, a third on 14 June 1918, and the DSO in the Birthday Honours of 3 June 1918, announced in New Zealand on 7 June.
Source: Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest); London Gazette 30480 p. 937, 30717 p. 6489, 30746 p. 7058; Evening Post 7 June 1918
OBE and a fourth mention
He was appointed OBE (military) in the 1919 Birthday Honours, and the Gazette of 5 June 1919 carried his fourth and last mention in despatches.
Source: London Gazette 31371 p. 6926; 31383 p. 7191
Health officer, then professor
In 1920 he became a district health officer in Christchurch, took his MD (1921) and DPH (1922), and was appointed professor of public health and bacteriology at Otago when Champtaloup died in December 1921. He was sub-dean from 1924 and dean of the medical school from 1937.
Source: Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest)
Second World War and knighthood
He served at home with the NZ Medical Corps 1939-45 and was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1 January 1947.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C36305 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36305); Evening Star 2 January 1947
Later honours and death
He gave the 1952 Banting Memorial Lecture in Toronto, received a Coronation Medal in 1953, retired in 1958, and was awarded an honorary LLD by Otago in 1962. He died in Dunedin on 26 March 1971.
Source: Te Ara, Dictionary of NZ Biography: Hercus, Charles Ernest (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4h28/hercus-charles-ernest); Wikipedia, Charles Hercus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hercus)
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
CaptainOctober 1914 · NZ Medical Corps (NZEFShoulder strap: three pipsMajorfrom 31 January 1917 · ADMS, ANZAC Mounted DivisionShoulder strap: crownColonelinter-war (date not verified) · Territorial Force, Medical CorpsShoulder strap: crown and two pips
Afterwards
After the war Hercus took the new path of public health. He was a district health officer in Christchurch from 1920, then in 1922 became professor of public health and bacteriology at the University of Otago, a chair he held until 1955 (professor of preventive and social medicine 1955-58). He was dean of the medical school from 1937 to 1958 and is credited with moving it towards a better balance between teaching and research. He chaired the BMA's National Health Insurance Investigation Committee in 1935 and helped found the Medical Research Council in 1937. He served at home with the NZ Medical Corps in the Second World War.
He was knighted in 1947, gave the 1952 Banting Memorial Lecture, and received an honorary LLD from Otago in 1962. He and Gordon Bell wrote a history of the Medical School in 1964. He died in Dunedin on 26 March 1971. The Hercus Building at Otago, the Hercus Medal and the Health Research Council's Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship are named for him.
Later awards, not counted here: War Medal 1939-1945 (oak leaf noted by the Cenotaph); New Zealand War Service Medal.
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
SERVED WW1: yes. The Cenotaph tags him 'Territorial Military Service, World War I, World War II'; nothing is mis-tagged. He is the later Sir Charles Hercus (professor of public health and dean of the Otago medical school), a New Zealander, born in Dunedin. Nothing argues against listing him.
Cenotaph lists 16 entries; the OBE appears twice (same award, counted once) and 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration' and 'Volunteer Officer's Decoration (VD)' are treated as one (VD), giving 14 items. If the two decorations were separate the total would be 15.
DNZB says DSO 1917; Gazette shows 3 June 1918 (published 31 May 1918). Wikipedia and the Cenotaph have 1918.
Mentions in despatches: DNZB and Cenotaph say four; the 1966 Encyclopaedia says five. I found four in the Gazette. One item either way.
Independently confirmed from sources I read: DSO, OBE, four MiDs (Gazette), Knight Bachelor (Papers Past, DNZB, Wikipedia), VD and 1953 Coronation Medal (Wikipedia), the WW1 trio by service. Cenotaph-only: the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal, NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal, War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal.
The Cenotaph's 'oak leaf' on the War Medal 1939-45 implies a WW2 mention in despatches, which I could not find; his home service in WW2 makes it unlikely, and it would not add an item anyway.
Only one gallantry award (the DSO); the OBE and knighthood are honours and are not counted as gallantry. The honorary LLD (1962) and Banting lecture are not medals or orders and are not counted.
The death date was given as 6 March in one search summary; the Cenotaph and DNZB both say 26 March 1971, which is used.
