Sam Campbell (footballer)

Samuel Cleland "Sam" Campbell (12 March 1891 – 21 October 1918) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Sam Campbell
Personal information
Full name Samuel Cleland Campbell
Date of birth 12 March 1891
Place of birth Ballarat, Victoria
Date of death 21 October 1918(1918-10-21) (aged 27)
Place of death Freetown, British Sierra Leone
Original team(s)

Spensley Street Methodists

Clifton Hill
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1910 Collingwood 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1910.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

He died of illness (influenza), in British Sierra Leone, while on active service in World War I.

Family

One of the eight children of John Campbell (1836–1913) and Johanna McIntosh Campbell (1848–1915), née Matheson,[1] he was born in Ballarat, Victoria on 12 March 1891.[2]

His cousin, Sapper George McLarty (5386), who also served in the First AIF, died of pneumonia at Chester Military Hospital, in England, on 4 November 1918.[3]

Footballer

Aged 19, recruited from Spensley Street Methodists,[4] he played his only senior VFL match for Collingwood, against Carlton, at Princes Park, on 30 April 1910 (round one). Carlton won by 28 points, 9.9 (63) to 5.5 (35).[5]

Soldier

Enlisting with the First AIF on 14 May 1918, giving his occupation as clerk, and his status as single, he was engaged as part of the 12th General (Victorian) Reinforcements. He died, on active service, in transit to the United Kingdom.

Death

Private Samuel Cleland Campbell died of influenza on 21 October 1918 in a military hospital, having been put ashore from HMAT Barambah (A37) in Freetown, British Sierra Leone, en route to the United Kingdom.

Eleven of the men that had left Cape Town, South Africa with Campbell on the (overcrowded and insanitary) HMAT Barambah on 6 October 1918 had already died — ten of whom were buried at sea[6] — from the influenza epidemic that had broken out on board after embarkation, by the time the transport ship reached Freetown on 20 October 1918.[7][8][9][10][11]

He was admitted to the ship's hospital on 14 October 1918, seriously ill with influenza.

He was put ashore on 20 October 1918, and admitted to the military hospital at Tower Hill in a critical condition, suffering from influenza and pneumonia. He died the next day (i.e., seven days after his presentation for treatment).

He is buried at the Freetown (King Tom) Military Cemetery, in Sierra Leone. His name is located at panel 185 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.

See also
  • List of Victorian Football League players who died in active service

Footnotes
  1. Deaths: Campbell, The Ballarat Courier, (Thursday, 30 September 1915), p.2.
  2. He was named Samuel Cleland Campbell in memory of an elder brother of the same name who had died, aged three, in 1889.
  3. "Roll of Honour – George McLarty (5386)". awm.gov.au.
  4. "Old Boy, "Club Notes", The Argus, (Friday, 29 April 1910), p.9". nla.gov.au.
  5. Carlton's Strong Side: To Good for Collingwood, The Argus, (Monday, 2 May 1910), p.5; Carlton (9.9) Beat Collingwood (5.5), The Age, (Monday, 2 May 1910), p.11.
  6. Smith (2010), p.244.
  7. Service Record, p.56.
  8. Alleged Insanitary Transport: South Australian Soldiers on Board: Twenty-Five Deaths in Six Days, The (Adelaide) Register, (Saturday, 23 November 1918), p.7.
  9. The Troopship Barambah, The Age, (Monday, 25 November 1918), p.9.
  10. Life on a Troopship: The Case of the Barambah: A Ministerial Statement: Seventeen Deaths, The Leader, (Saturday, 30 November 1918), p.37.
  11. Troopship Scandals: Accumulating Evidence: Disgusting Transport Conditions: Overcrowding and Underfeeding: Dirt, Disease, and Damnation, The (Perth) Truth, (Saturday, 4 January 1919), p.5.

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.