Mendelsohn, Oscar Adolf
ASC Master 1915
Long periods of illness on reaching England. Did not cross to the front. Left army to work in English postal service. Note interesting letter explaining how AIF officers selected. Australian Dictionary of Biography article describes the life and character of Adolf.
Mendelsohn, Oscar Adolf (1896–1978)
ByRay Marginson
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15, (MUP), 2000
Oscar Adolf Mendelsohn (1896-1978), polymath, bon vivant and public analyst, was born on 12 July 1896 at Nanango, Queensland, sixth child of Saul Mendelsohn, a storekeeper from Berlin, and his Brisbane-born wife Abigail, née Rosensweig. Educated at All Saints Grammar School, Melbourne, and at Petersham Superior Public School, Sydney, Oscar studied chemistry at Sydney Technical College where he was influenced by (Sir) Ian Clunies Ross(Father of our twoOld Boys. Ed.) He found work as a shift-chemist with G. & C. Hoskins Ltd, Lithgow, and then as a teacher at All Saints College, Bathurst. On 29 December 1915 he enlisted as a gunner in the Australian Imperial Force. Based in England (from September 1916), he was found to be medically unfit for general service. Mendelsohn was discharged from the army on 27 May 1917 to take up an appointment as chemist in the Chief Postal Censor's Department, London. In December he returned to Australia and obtained a post at Army Headquarters, Melbourne, as an assistant-censor specializing in the chemistry of espionage.
At St Andrew's Anglican Church, Summer Hill, Sydney, on 14 April 1916 Mendelsohn had married 18-year-old Merle Winifred Todd; they were to be divorced in 1932. In 1919 he enrolled at the University of Melbourne (B.Sc., 1923); there, he was impressed by Professor W. A. Osborne, 'the first true food scientist I met'. On graduating, he borrowed money to set up an analytical laboratory; over the next decade he developed an unrivalled knowledge of the food industry and of alcoholic beverages. O. A. Mendelsohn & Co., public analysts, gradually expanded from Flinders Street, Melbourne, to Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Mendelsohn represented the Commonwealth government at the World Dairy Congress in London (1928) and undertook a mission abroad for the Victorian government to investigate the potato industry (1929). He travelled extensively between the wars, particularly to the United States of America. In 1929 and at a by-election in the following year he stood unsuccessfully as a Nationalist candidate for the seat of Caulfield in the Legislative Assembly. On 7 December 1939 he married Edna Millward Smale at the Church of Christ, Swanston Street, Melbourne; she was aged 23.
During World War II Mendelsohn served (1942-45) in the Royal Australian Air Force; he rose to acting squadron leader as a staff officer and chemical adviser at Air Force Headquarters, Melbourne. From 1947 to 1959 he ran a grazing property at Lara, near Geelong, previously owned by the Armytage family. In his later years Mendelsohn was professionally known for his work in forensic chemistry, and as an expert graphologist and consultant on disputed documents. His monograph, Suspected Documents and Outrageous Liars (Melbourne, 1976), was crammed with anecdotes of human frailty.
Outside his professional field, Mendelsohn had wide interests. He gained a national reputation for promoting civilized attitudes to eating and drinking, and founded the long-running Fellowship of Trenchermen. Among his many works were The Earnest Drinker (London, 1950), Drinking with Pepys (London, 1963), TheDictionary of Drinkers and Drinking (London, 1965) and From Cellar and Kitchen (Melbourne, 1968). One curious work included 1187 synonyms for the adjective 'drunk'. He possessed an excellent palate for wine, detested 'Black Velvet' (stout and champagne) and favoured Calvados.
Under the name of Oscar 'Milsen', Mendelsohn composed and published songs and other musical pieces. He conducted the Royal Australian Air Force choir (1943-46), and founded and conducted the Pentridge gaol choir (1961-64) and the South Melbourne Choral Society. His book, A Waltz with Matilda (Melbourne, 1966), advanced the now discounted theory that Australia's alternative anthem was written not by A. B. Paterson but by Harry Nathan, organist at the Anglican Cathedral, Townsville, Queensland. An art collector and friend of artists such as Max Meldrum and Percy Leason Mendelsohn donated many works to the National Gallery of Victoria.
As State president (1964-71) of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, Mendelsohn presided over an increase in membership from fifty to five hundred, and played a major part in the establishment of a range of literary prizes, including the Barbara Ramsden and the Victorian short story awards. He was an inveterate contributor to reviews and newspapers, and a familiar voice on Australian Broadcasting Commission programmes. Described as a man who flourished on controversy and enjoyed being a lone voice, he delighted in public speaking and was good at it. As honorary vice-president of the Humanist Society, he attacked—through the Rationalist—efforts to introduce religion in state schools. From World War II he was an active member of the Australian Labor Party.
Oscar Mendelsohn was foundation president of the Australian Association of Consulting Chemists, a founding member (fellow 1962) of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a councillor of the Australian Consumers' Association and the initiator of the Australian Pure Food Society. In 1975 he was appointed O.B.E. Survived by his wife, their son and two daughters, and by the two sons of his first marriage, he died on 5 January 1978 at Heidelberg and was cremated.
MENDELSOHN, Berrol Lazar
Published on February 16, 2014 by Glenn in 18th Battalion, 53rd Battalion, 55th Battalion
Lieut Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn
18th, 53rd, 55th Battalion AIF
Mosman Council
Son of Saul Mendelsohn and Abigail Mendelsohn née Rosensweig. His mother lived at ‘Ullenbar’, 67 Raglan Street, Mosman, at the time of his enlistment, and death.
Lieut. Berrol Mendelsohn, whose death in action occurred somewhere in France on July 20, was a native of Esk, 25 years of age, and second son of the late Mr. S. Mendelsohn, of Queensland, and of Mrs. Mendelsohn, Ullenbar, 67 Raglan street, Mosman. He was attached to the Naval Brigade from a lad, and when compulsory training was inaugurated he obtained a commission in the 19th Infantry, in charge of the machine-gun section, and quickly mastered the details. He earned special commendation at Liverpool encampment, 1913, for the smart manner his men performed their work, taking less than half British Army standard time to bring their gun into and out of action. He was well known in swimming circles, having been a member of the Bondi Club for many years, and won many prizes, including the right to hold the Kelly Challenge Cup for a year. He left for Egypt as lieutenant in charge of reinforcements on July 28, 1915, and was immediately sent to Gallipoli, and stationed at Quinn’s Post, remaining at his post until the evacuation. He was transferred to one of the newly-formed battalions training in the desert. He left for the battlefields of France, where his first engagement has proved his last. He joined the Pardrian Rubber Co. shortly alter leaving school, and remained with the firm for nine years, until be enlisted. Lieutenant Mendelsohn’s youngest brother, Oscar, left recently with artillery for the Front.
The Queenslander, Saturday 2 September 1916
Killed overnight in the German trenches, Battle of Fromelles.
Buried in the mass grave established by the German Army for Australian and British dead at Pheasant Wood, his identity disc returned to the British War Office.One of the men positively identified when the mass grave was found in 2007, and interred 2010 in the newly built Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery.
Author Dies
Melbourne author and composer Oscar Adolf Mendelsohn died at his Eaglcmont home early yesterday morning after a three month illness, aged 81.
The Canberra Times 6/1/78 P.3