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Fred Wimbridge

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Fred Wimbridge
Personal information
Full name Fredrick John Wimbridge
Date of birth (1893-03-09)9 March 1893
Place of birth Broomehill, Western Australia
Date of death 4 December 1977(1977-12-04) (aged 84)
Place of death Perth, Western Australia
Height 188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb)
Position(s) Utility
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1911–16, 1919, 1928–29 Perth 105
1920–1924 West Perth 47 (56)
1925 South Melbourne 8 (12)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1929.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Fredrick John "Fred" Wimbridge (9 March 1893 – 4 December 1977) was an Australian rules footballer who played in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Family

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The son of David Arthur Wimbridge (1860–1926),[2] and Eliza Wimbridge (1863-1934), née Gorman,[3] Fredrick John Wimbridge was born at Broomehill, Western Australia on 9 March 1893.

He married Robina Vera Millikan (1898–1959) on 10 August 1920.

Football

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Wimbridge started his career at Perth and was their leading goal-kicker in 1915 when he kicked 36 goals.[4]

He then spent two seasons away from the League on war service but returned to Perth in 1919.

The following year he joined West Perth and topped their goal-kicking in 1921 with 30 goals.[4] Despite playing as a forward that season, he made two appearances for Western Australia at the Perth Carnival as a fullback.[4] He represented Western Australia on one further occasion.[4]

He was already 32 when he made his way to South Melbourne, with whom he would play eight games in the 1925 VFL season.[5] His best performance was a five-goal haul in a win over Footscray at Lake Oval.[5]

After two years playing elsewhere in Victoria, Wimbridge returned to his original club Perth.[4] He participated in the 1928 and 1929 seasons and then retired, having played 105 games for Perth.[4][6]

Military service

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He enlisted in the First AIF in October 1916, served overseas, and returned to Australia in June 1919.[7][8]

Bravery award

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Wimbridge was awarded a Bronze Medal by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia in 1925, for conspicuous bravery when he risked his life in assisting the eventual rescue of four women from drowning.[9]

The four women, none of whom could swim, had been swept out to sea by the strong undertow of a rip at a beach in Mandurah, south of Perth, on Sunday, 23 March 1924. Three men were involved in the rescue: Wimbridge, Arthur Donald Lakeman (1896-1924), and Redvers Henry Buller Huxtable (1899-1985).[10] Lakeman drowned in the process of the rescue; one of the four women rescued was his wife, another was his sister.[11][12][13]

Death

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He died at Perth, Western Australia on 4 December 1977.

See also

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Notes

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References

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  • Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-920910-78-5.
  • World War One Nominal Roll: Private Frederick Wimbridge (3173), collection of the Australian War Memorial.
  • World War One Service Record: Private Frederick Wimbridge (3173), National Archives of Australia.
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