High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Major General Rupert Major Downes CMG, KStJ, VD, FRACS (10 February 1885 – 5 March 1945) was an Australian soldier, general, surgeon and historian in the first half of the 20th century. Downes attended the University of Melbourne, graduating with his medical degrees in 1907. He returned to the university to pursue a Doctor of Medicine degree, which was awarded in 1911.