Arthur McKenzie

William Arthur McKenzie (25 December 1879 — 18 July 1916) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League. He later moved to South Africa, and was killed during World War I.

For the Jamaican cricketer, see Arthur McKenzie (cricketer).

Arthur McKenzie
Personal information
Full name William Arthur McKenzie
Date of birth (1879-12-25)25 December 1879
Place of birth Sandhurst
Date of death 18 July 1916(1916-07-18) (aged 36)
Place of death Delville Wood, France
Original team(s) Geelong Grammar School
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1898 Geelong 4 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1898.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of William Kenneth McKenzie (1850-1920),[1] and Elizabeth Ann McKenzie (1854-1929), née Stoker,[2] William Arthur McKenzie was born at Sandhurst, Victoria (known as Bendigo since 1891) on 25 December 1879.[3]

Education

He attended Geelong Grammar School in 1898. Not only a fine schoolboy cricketer and footballer, he was an outstanding athlete.

At the 16 November 1898 Geelong Grammar School sports carnival he was the school's champion athlete, and was awarded the school's Championship Cup for his performance. He won the long jump by 14​1⁄2 inches (approx. 37cm), jumping 18ft. 11​1⁄2in. (approx. 5.78m), the 100 yards ("McKenzie … won easily"), the quarter mile ("McLaurin [who finished second] led till 50 yards from home, when McKenzie bolted to the front, winning by several yards"), the mile ("Belcher [who finished second] was leading until about 40 yards from the tap, but McKenzie then spurted to the front, and won by two or three yards"), and came third in the pole vault.[4]

Football

He played for Geelong in the VFL in the last four games of the 1898 football season.

Military service

Boer War

He served overseas in the 2nd Victorian Mounted Rifles in the Second Boer War (1899-1902).[5]

World War I

Permanently residing in South Africa, he enlisted in the South African Military Forces, and served overseas in the 1st Regiment South African Infantry.

Death

He was killed in action at Delville Wood, in France, on 18 July 1916.[6] He has no known grave, and is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme near Thiepval, in northern France.

See also

Footnotes
  1. "Family Notices|Deaths: McKenzie". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 6 September 1920. p. 1. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  2. "Family Notices|Marriages: McKenzie—Stoker". Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935). 21 October 1876. p. 25. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. "Family Notices|Births: McKenzie". Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918). 22 January 1880. p. 3. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  4. "GRAMMAR SCHOOL SPORTS". Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929). 17 November 1898. p. 2. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  5. Murray, P.L., Official Records of the Australian Military Contingents to the War in South Africa, 1899-1902, A.J. Mullett, Government Printer, (Melbourne), 1911, at page 237.
  6. Although he was immediately identified as "missing in action", he was not officially declared to be "killed in action" until more than a year later: see Deaths: McKenzie, The Bendigonian, (Thursday, 11 October 1917), p.7.

References
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