Harold William Corbett (1890 – 3 May 1917) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and soldier who served in World War I and died on the Western Front.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Harold William Corbett | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 March 1890 Waterloo, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 3 May 1917 (aged 27) Bullecourt, France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Halfback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | Australian Army | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1915-1917 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Sergeant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unit | 19th Battalion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Claude Corbett (brother) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby League
editBrought up in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Corbett attended Waverley Public School. He played for the Eastern Suburbs and Annandale clubs of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. Corbett was in the Easts' squad during their first and second premiership years of 1911 and 1912. He was the 56th player to play first-grade for Eastern Suburbs.
His father William Francis Corbett (1857–1923) and brother Claude Corbett were both well-known Sydney sporting journalists.[1]
War service
edit
Harold also gave his occupation as "Journalist" when he enlisted in the first AIF in 1915. He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A21 Marere in August 1915 as a Sergeant in the 19th Battalion of the 5th Brigade (New South Wales).[2] The 19th Battalion had been raised in 1915 and was first sent to Gallipoli where it fought against the Turks, before being withdrawn from the peninsula and being sent to France in early 1916, where it served in the trenches along the Western Front as part of the Australian Corps.
In 1917, the 19th Battalion was involved in the attack on German forces after their retreat to the Hindenburg Line. Corbett was killed in action on 3 May 1917 being the first day of battle of Second Bullecourt.[3] He has no known grave but is commemorated at the Commonwealth Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux.[4]
Bibliography
edit- Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
Online sources
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Cunneen, Chris (1891). "Claude Gordon Corbett (1885–1944)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 8. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "H Corbett war record". Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
- ^ Middleton, David (24 April 2010). "Footy stars taken on battlefield". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Sergeant Harold William Corbett". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 21 December 2023.