Herbert "Boxer" Milne (8 February 1884 – 20 December 1930) 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 for the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

and South Melbourne Football Club 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 ...

(VFL) during the early 1900s.

Family

The son of John Milne (1855-1921), and Mary Lavinia Milne, née Landorf, Herbert Milne was born at

Benalla, Victoria Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative centr ...

on 8 February 1884. One of his two brothers, Hector Norman Milne (1880-1960), who played two seasons (1899-1900) with Richmond and two seasons with North Melbourne (1902-1903) in the VFA, enlisted in the First AIF (Service no.953) and lost an eye from a bayonet wound whilst serving.

Football

Fitzroy

A follower, Milne had a distinguished career at Fitzroy where he won

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

awards in both 1908 and 1910. As part of a strong Fitzroy side he played in four successive Grand Finals, winning back to back flags in 1904 and 1905. He was also a Victorian interstate representative and appeared in the Australasian Championship, which took place at Melbourne in 1908.

South Melbourne

Milne crossed to South Melbourne in 1911. ::"After an internal political dispute in the summer of

ate Ate or ATE may refer to: Organizations * Active Training and Education Trust, a not-for-profit organization providing "Superweeks", holidays for children in the United Kingdom * Association of Technical Employees, a trade union, now called the Nat ...

1910, Milne was one of ten Fitzroy players to leave for other clubs." — Donald (2005), p.59. In 1912, he played in their Grand Final loss to Essendon. He suffered a knee injury in this game and retired as a result.

Military service

Milne enlisted in the First AIF in July 1915, and served overseas with the 14th Field Ambulance. In late 1917 suffered serious wounds when hit by machine gun bullets in his left thigh.

Death

An employee of the

Vacuum Oil Company Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...

, he died at sea near Colombo, Sri Lanka when returning to Australia on the P & O's ''S.S. Moldavia'', from a business trip to England. He was buried at sea, near Columbo.Deaths: Milne, ''The (Melbourne) Herald'', Tuesday, 6 January 1931), p.15.
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Footnotes

References

League Football: The South Melbourne Team, ''The Weekly Times'', (Saturday, 13 June 1908), p.25.

J.W., "Obituaries", ''The Australasian'', (Saturday, 17 January 1931), p.41.

First World War Nominal Roll: Private Herbert Milne (7886), collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.

First World War Embarkation Roll: Private Herbert Milne (7886), collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.

First World War Service Record: Private Herbert Milne (7886), ''National Archives of Australia''.
*

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Herbert 1884 births 1930 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Fitzroy Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club premiership players Mitchell Medal winners Sydney Swans players VFL/AFL premiership players Australian military personnel of World War I People who died at sea