for service in the First World War and as Lieutenant Colonel de Crespigny left South Australia on 20 May 1915 aboard RMS Mooltan,[6] bound for Alexandria, Egypt, where he would serve as registrar and secretary of the 3rd Australian General Hospital.
De Crespigny left Egypt for Gallipoli in August 1915, then on 28 September to the army hospital at Mudros, on Lemnos, where he served as second in command.
He returned to command at Rouen as temporary colonel and was mentioned in despatches 9 June 1917 by Sir Douglas Haig and was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order.
[7] De Crespigny re-enlisted on 25 June 1918[8] and left aboard SS Gaika on 6 August, disembarking in London on 13 October, where he served as consulting physician[2] at AIF headquarters.
[11] He was largely responsible for creation of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS), for which the foundation stone was laid in August 1937[12] and opened May 1939.
[13] The memorial plaque to Sir Joseph Verco in the Frome Road building was instituted at de Crespigny's instigation.
[18] De Crespigny died of hypertensive cardio-vascular disease[2] at his Adelaide Hills home aged 70, after having spent some time in hospital.
He had for a long time suffered from heart trouble, which had been accepted by the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated board as related to his war service.
[1] Sir Constantine de Crespigny married Beatrix Hughes (23 April 1884 – 11 November 1943) on 11 September 1906 at Beaufort, Victoria.
Sir Constantine de Crespigny married secondly Mary Birks Jolley (1915 – 1994), a "music through movement" teacher of "Rendlesham", Wentworth, NSW on 13 December 1945, quietly at the Lady Chapel, St Peter's Cathedral.
Mary de Crespigny was a qualified exponent of the Dalcroze method of music education in recognition of her "long and faithful work" with Heather Gell, and on the recommendation of Anne Addison, principal of the Kindergarten Training College in Adelaide.