Percy William Vaughan (28 May 1871 – 5 October 1945), known as Colonel Vaughan, was a bank manager and officer in the Australian Army.
The second son of Rev. Canon John Vaughan (1841 – 20 December 1918)[1] and Annie Vaughan (died 1 August 1926) of Sydney, he was born in Hereford, England, and came to Australia with his parents at the age of ten,[2] and was educated at Sydney Grammar School.
He joined the City Bank of Sydney and by 1903 was manager of the bank's Kiama branch[3] and Newcastle by 1909.[4] He was still an employee when made JP in May 1914,[5] and around that time joined the Commonwealth Bank as first manager of their Newcastle branch.[2] He joined the Commonwealth Bank in 1914.[6] and was still managing the Newcastle branch in June 1915.[7] In August 1915 he left the bank as he had enlisted for overseas service; his replacement was G. A. Ball, previously of the Dubbo branch.
In 1900 he was one of four Lieutenants of the Sydney Light Horse Volunteers (later 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers) under Captain Robert Roland Thompson.[8] and was sent to South Africa during the Boer War. The Australian Horse became the First Australian Horse in 1901 and Vaughan was appointed Lieutenant. He was promoted to Captain in 1905, Major in 1912. At the outbreak of WWI he was made Provost marshal for the Newcastle district, then demobilised.[9]
Around November 1915 he applied for a commission in the First AIF, and as Major Vaughan was put in charge of the NSW camp in Egypt. In November 1916 promoted to Lieut. Colonel in charge of a training unit in France.[10]
He was a longtime sufferer from laryngitis, and was repatriated in 1918 due to this chronic condition, and his appointment was terminated in March 1918.[11]
He was given the honorary rank of Colonel in May 1931.Vaughan succeeded A. S. Douglas as manager of the Hobart branch in April 1918.[12]
He moved to Adelaide in June 1919, taking over from acting manager M. B. Young.[13] In August 1919 he was appointed to the Central War Loan Committee of South Australia.[14]
He left for Melbourne in September 1928, replacing W. H. Kelman as manager; his replacement in Adelaide was T. C. Irving.
He retired in 1937. He died at his home at Washington Street, Toorak, and his remains were cremated at Springvale.[6]
Vaughan married Ellen Linda Montague Sandy (10 September 1883 – 1965), eldest daughter of J(ames) Montague Sandy (died 16 July 1921)[16] and Evaline Martha Sandy, née Backhouse (died 2 January 1925), on 26 September 1903.[3]
In 1915 lived at "Blenheim" on Burwood Rd, Burwood, Victoria, the home of the Sandy family.