Clifford Charles "Cliff" Burge (27 April 1892 – 14 August 1918) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. He was killed in action in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in France.

Family

The son of Charles Abraham Burge (1863-1939), and Emily Jane Burge, née Morris (1861-1947). He had two brothers, Trevor Robert William Burge (1895-1953), and Maxwell Lewis Burge (1899-1976), and two sisters, Emily Blanche Burge (1894-1895) and Emily May Burge (1897-1989).

Education

He completed his education at

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 t ...

, where he was a member of the school's First XVIII.

Football

He played five senior games for Melbourne in 1914. He was already in the army by the start of the 1915 season. In May 1919, an unidentified former Melbourne footballer, wrote to the football correspondent of ''The Argus'' as follows: ::"In 1914 the Melbourne football team, after its junction with the University, was a fine team, and succeeded in reaching the semi-finals.
Out of this combination the following players enlisted and served at the front:—
C. Lilley (seriously wounded), J. Hassett, H. Tomkins (severely wounded), J. Evans (seriously wounded), W. Hendrie, R. L. Park, J. Doubleday (died), A. Best, C. Burge (killed), C. (viz., A.) Williamson (killed), J. Brake, R. Lowell, E. Parsons (seriously wounded), A. M. Pearce (killed), F. Lugton (killed), A. George, C. Armstrong, P. Rodriguez (killed), J. Cannole (viz., Connole), A. Fraser (seriously wounded), T. Collins.
These are all players of note, and in themselves would have formed a very fine side, but there is only one of them playing at the present time, viz., C. Lilley, who, as a matter of fact, takes the field under some disability owing to severe wounds which he received on service." — ''The Argus'', 16 May 1919.

Military service

He enlisted in the First AIF on 19 February 1915. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on 2 November 1917.

Death

Having fought at Gallipoli, and having survived a German gas attack in June 1918, he was killed in action on 14 August 1918, aged 23, during fighting at Villers-Bretonneux, France, just three months before the end of hostilities. His (temporarily buried) remains were exhumed in 1920, and he was re-buried at the Villers–Bretonneux Military Cemetery.''Commonwealth War Graves Commission''.

Footnotes

References

* Hobbs, Greg (1984). ''125 yrs of the Melbourne Demons: The Story of the Melbourne Football Club from 1858 to 1983'', (Jolimont, Vic.), Melbourne Football Club. * Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. * Main, J. & Allen, D., "Burge, Clifford", pp. 26–27 in Main, J. & Allen, D., ''Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War'', Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002.
World War One Embarkation Roll: Sergeant Clifford Charles Burge (28)
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
World War One Nominal Roll: Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
Infantry: To be 2nd. Lieutenants ("Squadron Quartermaster-Sergeant Clifford Charles Burge, late 13th Light Horse Regiment"), ''Commonwealth of Australia Gazette'', No.27, (Thursday, 28 February 1918), p.380.

(Casualty List No.412) Roll of Honor: Victorian List: Wounded ("Lieut. C. C. Burge, Elsternwick (gas)"), ''The Weekly Times'', (Saturday, 29 June 1918), p.32.

The 429th Casualty List: Victorian Names: Killed in Action ("Lieut. C. C. Burge, Elsternwick"), ''The Mildura Cultivator'', (Saturday, 14 December 1918), p.2.

Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, 1914-18 War: 1DRL/0428: Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge: 24th Battalion
Collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
World War One Service Record: Second Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge (36), ''National Archives of Australia''.

Roll of Honour Circular: Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
Roll of Honour: Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge, ''Australian War Memorial''.

Lieutenant Clifford Charles Burge
'' Commonwealth War Graves Commission''.]

External links

* *
DemonWiki profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burge, Cliff 1892 births 1918 deaths People educated at Melbourne High School Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Melbourne Football Club players Australian military personnel killed in World War I Australian Army officers Military personnel from Victoria (Australia)