Bill Maxwell

For the American golfer, see Billy Maxwell. For other people with similar names, see William Maxwell.

Bill Maxwell
Personal information
Full name	William Maxwell
Date of birth	(1882-04-12)12 April 1882
Place of birth	Caulfield, Victoria
Date of death	12 October 1917(1917-10-12) (aged 35)
Place of death	Passchendaele salient, Belgium
Original team(s)	Collegians (MJFA)
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1909	Melbourne	2 (1)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1909.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

William Maxwell (12 April 1882 – 12 October 1917) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Family

The son of Charles Frederick Maxwell (1849–1889),[2] and Eliza Jane Maxwell (1852–1925), née Mooney,[3][4] William Maxwell was born at Caulfield, Victoria on 12 April 1882.[5]

Education

He was educated at Scotch College, in St Kilda,[6][7] formerly known as the Hofwyl School,[8] an entirely different institution from the Scotch College, then in East Melbourne, now in Hawthorn.[9]

Football

Recruited from Collegians in 1909,[10] he played his first match for Melbourne against Essendon on 10 July 1909.

His second, and last match for Melbourne, in which he kicked his only VFL goal, was against Geelong on 21 August 1909.[11]

Military service

Maxwell served as a lieutenant with the 38th Battalion during World War I.[12] He left Australia on 20 June 1916 on HMAT Runic (A54).[13]

He was wounded in the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917[14] but recovered from his injuries and rejoined his battalion three months later.[15]

Death

Maxwell was killed in action on 12 October 1917 at the First Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium.[16][12][17][18]

He has no known grave[19] and is commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium.[20]

See also

• List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service

Notes

1. Holmesby & Main (2014), p.562.
2. Deaths: Maxwell, The Argus, (Wednesday, 5 June 1889), p.1.
3. Marriages:Maxwell—Mooney, The Argus, (Friday, 1 May 1874), p.1.
4. Deaths: Maxwell, The Argus, (Monday, 16 February 1925), p.1.
5. Births: Maxwell, The Argus, (Thursday, 27 April 1882), p.1.
6. Service Record.
7. St. Kilda Scotch College, The Prahran Telegraph, (Saturday, 25 December 1897), p.3.
8. Scotch College (1878-1902), St Kilda Historical Society.
9. A Scotch College in St Kilda, Great Scot, December 2010.
10. The League: Essendon v. Melbourne, The Herald, (Saturday, 10 July 1909), p.6.
11. Geelong v. Melbourne: A Win for Melbourne, The Geelong Advertiser, (Monday, 23 August 1909), p.6.
12. "Details – William Maxwell". Australian Defence Force Academy. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
13. Embarkation Roll.
14. 317th Casualty List.
15. "Killed In Action". The Age. Melbourne. 6 November 1917. p. 6. Retrieved 23 April 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
16. 359th Casualty List.
17. Roll of Honour.
18. Died on Service: Maxwell, The Argus, (Friday, 9 November 1917), p.1.
19. Red Cross Bureau.
20. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

References

• Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
• World War One Embarkation Roll: Second Lieutenant William Maxwell, collection of the Australian War Memorial.
• World War One Nominal Roll: Lieutenant William Maxwell, collection of the Australian War Memorial.
• World War One Service Record: Lieutenant William Maxwell, National Archives of Australia.
• Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, 1914-18 War: 1DRL/0428: Lieutenant William Maxwell, in the collection of the Australian War Museum.
• Australia's Roll of Honor: 317th Casualty List: Severely Wounded: Victoria, The Age, (Tuesday, 3 July 1917), p.6.
• 359th Casualty List: Killed in Action, The Herald, (Thursday, 29 November 1917), p.9.
• Lieutenant William Maxwell, Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
• Roll of Honour: Lieutenant William Maxwell, Australian War Memorial.

External links

• Bill Maxwell's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Bill Maxwell at AustralianFootball.com
• Bill Maxwell, at Demonwiki.