Wilfrid Heron | |||
---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||
Full name | Wilfrid Ledlie Heron | ||
Date of birth | 20 July 1894 | ||
Place of birth | Brighton, Victoria | ||
Date of death | 1 July 1942 | (aged 47)||
Place of death | SS Montevideo Maru, near Philippines | ||
Original team(s) | Melbourne Grammar | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1913–14 | University | 23 (5) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1914. | |||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Wilfrid Ledlie Heron (20 July 1894 – 1 July 1942) was an Australian rules footballer who played with University in the Victorian Football League in 1913 and 1914.[1]
Wilfrid Heron was born in Brighton, the second child of the prominent banker Herbert Ledlie Heron and Lilian Jessie Howard. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School[2] before commencing employment with the pastoral company Dalgety & Co.[3] During this period he played football for University and after a goalless first season in 1913, scored five goals during the 1914 VFL season. A career highlight was scoring two goals against a strong Essendon side in Round 2.[4]
He enlisted to serve shortly after the commencement of World War I, having already spent several years serving in the Army Reserve.[5] He was Mentioned in Despatches for “various acts of conspicuous gallantry during May/Jane 1915 at Gallipoli“ before he was shot and lost his right eye.[6] He was invalided home but later returned to serve in France, was injured again, and then served in England as Adjunct at a Training Unit for the rest of the war.[7]
After the war he became a plantation owner at Rabaul in Papue New Guinea.[8] He married Madge Laurence Clapin in June 1929 but she died in January 1933, shortly after the birth of their daughter.[9] In November 1934 he married Audrey May Clapperton[10] and he continued to manage the Tovakundum Estate plantation in Rabaul, making frequent trips back to Melbourne.
He was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese after the Battle of Rabaul (1942). He subsequently died as a civilian prisoner of war when the SS Montevideo Maru, an unmarked POW ship, was sunk by a US submarine.[11]