Wilfrid Heron

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
Personal information
Full name Wilfrid Ledlie Heron
Date of birth (1894-07-20)20 July 1894
Place of birth Brighton, Victoria
Date of death 1 July 1942(1942-07-01) (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 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]

References
  1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Bas Publishing. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
  2. "Melbourne Church of England Grammar School Team". Referee. Sydney, Australia. 18 December 1912. p. 12.
  3. "CAREERS OF THE FALLEN". The Age. Victoria, Australia. 15 May 1915. p. 12.
  4. "FOOTBALL". The Argus. Victoria, Australia. 4 May 1914. p. 6.
  5. "Discovering Anzacs: Wilfrid Ledlie Heron". National Archives of Australia.
  6. Cullen, Barbara (2015). Harder than football : league players at war. Richmond, Victoria: Slattery Media Group. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-9923791-4-8.
  7. "LIEUTENANT W. L. HERON". Bendigo Advertiser. Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1916. p. 5.
  8. "RABAUL". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 26 November 1932. p. 13.
  9. "Family Notices". The Age. Victoria, Australia. 27 January 1933. p. 1.
  10. "WEDDING". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 3 December 1934. p. 4.
  11. "Casualty Details: Wilfrid Ledlie Heron". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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