Charles Gordon Timms | |
---|---|
Born | 1884 Winchelsea, Victoria |
Died | 1958 |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1914 – c.1919 1939 |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | Royal Army Medical Corps |
Battles/wars | First World War |
Awards |
Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross & Three Bars |
Charles Gordon Timms OBE, MC & Three Bars (1884–1958) was a doctor, decorated officer in the British Army, and rugby union player who played for the Lions. He was one of the minority of rugby players who was never capped for a home nation to play for the Lions. He is also one of four soldiers to have been awarded the Military Cross four times, all in the First World War.
Timms was born at Mount Hesse Station, near Winchelsea, Victoria, in Australia. His father owned the sheep farm. Like his brother Alec, he was educated at Geelong College – where he played cricket and Australian rules football – and then travelled to Scotland to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he played for the Edinburgh University club. Although he never played for the Scotland team, he was one of three players from Scotland on the 1910 British Lions tour to South Africa, playing as a centre three-quarter.
After he qualified as a doctor, Timms worked in London. He joined the British Army after the outbreak of the First World War, being commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 10 October 1914. He served in France as medical officer of the 7th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers from September 1915, and was promoted to temporary captain on 10 October 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on four occasions, all for attending to wounded men under heavy fire.