{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Fred Wimbridge | image = | fullname = Fredrick John Wimbridge | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|3|9|df=yes}} | birth_place = Broomehill, Western Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|1977|12|4|1893|3|9|df=yes}} | death_place = Perth, Western Australia | height = 188 cm | weight = 82 kg | position = Utility | club1 = Perth | years1 = 1911–16, 1919, 1928–29 | games_goals1 = 105 | club2 = West Perth | years2 = 1920–1924 | games_goals2 = 47 (56) | club3 = South Melbourne | years3 = 1925 | games_goals3 = 8 (12) | statsend = 1929 | careerhighlights = }}
'''Fredrick John "Fred" Wimbridge''' (9 March 1893 – 4 December 1977) was an Australian rules footballer who played in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).<ref>Holmesby & Main, (2007).</ref>
==Family== The son of David Arthur Wimbridge (1860–1926),<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84161744 Obituary: The Late Mr. David Arthur Wimbridge, ''The (Perth) Daily News'', (Friday, 6 August 1926), p. 3.]</ref> and Eliza Wimbridge (1863-1934), née Gorman,<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32782014 Deaths: Wimbridge, ''The West Australian'', (Saturday, 20 January 1934), p.1.]</ref> Fredrick John Wimbridge was born at Broomehill, Western Australia on 9 March 1893.
He married Robina Vera Millikan (1898–1959) on 10 August 1920.
==Football== Wimbridge started his career at Perth and was their leading goal-kicker in 1915 when he kicked 36 goals.<ref name=FPF>AustralianFootball.com.</ref>
He then spent two seasons away from the League on war service but returned to Perth in 1919.
The following year he joined West Perth and topped their goal-kicking in 1921 with 30 goals.<ref name=FPF/> Despite playing as a forward that season, he made two appearances for Western Australia at the Perth Carnival as a fullback.<ref name=FPF/> He represented Western Australia on one further occasion.<ref name=FPF/>
He was already 32 when he made his way to South Melbourne, with whom he would play eight games in the 1925 VFL season.<ref name=AFLTables>AFL Tables.</ref> His best performance was a five-goal haul in a win over Footscray at Lake Oval.<ref name=AFLTables/>
After two years playing elsewhere in Victoria, Wimbridge returned to his original club Perth.<ref name=FPF/> He participated in the 1928 and 1929 seasons and then retired, having played 105 games for Perth.<ref name=FPF/><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70204143 Wimbridge Retires, ''The Albany Advertiser'', (Tuesday, 29 April 1930), p. 3.]</ref>
==Military service== He enlisted in the First AIF in October 1916, served overseas, and returned to Australia in June 1919.<ref>Nominal Roll.</ref><ref>Service Record.</ref>
== Bravery award == Wimbridge was awarded a Bronze Medal by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia in 1925, for conspicuous bravery when he risked his life in assisting the eventual rescue of four women from drowning.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78447668 Wimbridge: Presentation for Bravery, ''The (Perth) Daily News'', (Friday, 21 1925), p. 8.]</ref>
The four women, none of whom could swim, had been swept out to sea by the strong undertow of a rip at a beach in Mandurah, south of Perth, on Sunday, 23 March 1924. Three men were involved in the rescue: Wimbridge, Arthur Donald Lakeman (1896-1924), and Redvers Henry Buller Huxtable (1899-1985).<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31876128 Conspicuous Bravery: Royal Humane Society Awards, ''The West Australian'', (Monday, 24 August 1925), p. 8.]</ref> Lakeman drowned in the process of the rescue; one of the four women rescued was his wife, another was his sister.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149690331 Lakeman Drowning Fatality, ''The South Western Advertiser'', (Friday, May 1924), p. 3.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78063774 A Mandurah Tragedy: Gallant Rescue from Drowning: Hero Loses his Life, ''The (Perth) Daily News'', (Monday, 24 March 1924), p 8.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31222623 The Mandurah Fatality, ''The West Australian'', (Wednesday, 26 March 1924), p. 8.]</ref>
==Death== He died at Perth, Western Australia on 4 December 1977.
==See also== * 1921 Perth Carnival
==Notes== {{reflist|1}}
==References== * {{cite book|last=Holmesby|first=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim|title=The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers| publisher=BAS Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1-920910-78-5}} * [https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1068944/large/5364550.JPG World War One Nominal Roll: Private Frederick Wimbridge (3173), collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.] * [https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8855372 World War One Service Record: Private Frederick Wimbridge (3173), ''National Archives of Australia''.]
==External links== * {{AFL Tables|ref=F/Fred_Wimbridge.html}} * [https://waflfootyfacts.net/player/stats.php?PlayerID=6956 Frederick Wimbridge, at ''WAFL FootyFacts''.] * {{AustralianFootball|fred%2Bwimbridge/4459}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimbridge, Fred}} Category:1893 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Category:Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Category:Sydney Swans players Category:Perth Football Club players Category:West Perth Football Club players Category:Australian military personnel of World War I Category:Australian military personnel of World War II Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen